Assessment review checklist

To check whether you've chosen the right assessment type and incorporated innovation, ask yourself:

• Is the assessment formative or summative?
• Has variety in types of task been considered?
• Have digital and online resources been incorporated into task design and delivery?
• What authentic alternatives to examination can be used?
• Are there innovative task types available to promote student engagement?
• Does the type of task suit large classes of students?
• Does the task promote group work or collaboration? Does it conform to Policy?
• What communication skills can be developed/demonstrated in the task?
• Can the task type be adapted to incorporate graduate learning outcomes?

For more information, visit:

• Assessment types
• Assessment methods

To review your assessment against assessment design principles, ask yourself:

1. Is there constructive alignment? Do the learning outcomes, learning activities and assessment tasks align?
2. Are tasks designed on the principles of criterion-referenced, standards-based assessment?
3. Does the rationale:
   • state the purpose of the task?
   • identify the skills and knowledge that students need to demonstrate?
   • clearly link to the learning outcomes being assessed?
   • for a scaffolded task, state how this task links to other assessment tasks (e.g. builds into next task, uses information from previous task)?
4. Is the task appropriate for the stage of the course?
5. Does the task allow for student diversity?
6. Do the assessment tasks promote assessment for learning?
7. How are the graduate learning outcomes incorporated into assessment?
8. Does the design promote academic integrity and minimise opportunities for plagiarism?
9. Is every assessment task aligned to at least one subject learning outcome?
10. Is the assessment task a valid means to assess the learning outcomes?
11. Do the assessment tasks help develop the skills students will need in subsequent assessments and subjects?
12. Are the assessment tasks appropriate to the course level (AQF 7, 8, 9) and year of study?

To learn more about designing quality assessments, visit Designing and writing assessment tasks.

It's important that students understand what their performance will be assessed against. Ask yourself:

1. Does the marking criteria reflect the important content and skills that student responses need to demonstrate?
2. Are marking criteria and standards, including descriptions of the levels of performance required to achieve each passing grade, provided for every assessment task?
3. Are the marking criteria and performance standards explicit?
4. Are the marking criteria and performance standards easy to understand?
5. Does each assessment item clearly state the referencing requirements for the task (where relevant), and is this reflected in the marking criteria?
6. Are the marking criteria and performance standards measurable?
7. Are the marking criteria and performance standards able to be applied consistently by all markers and students?
8. Is the pass standard at a sufficient level to meet the standard required by the learning outcome? For example, if the outcome requires analysis, the pass level standard must also require analysis.

Marking criteria

Your assessment task should clearly communicate to students what's expected of them. Ask yourself:

• Is the task clearly written and unambiguous?
• Will students understand what they need to produce for each task?
• Will standards of performance to achieve different grades be clear to students?
• Is the grammar, spelling and formatting free of errors?
• Are referencing requirements included?
• Is it clear what students need to submit? For example:
  
  • format
  • style
  • due dates
  • elements to include.

For more on developing assessment tasks, visit Designing and writing assessment tasks.

To make sure assessment tasks are fair, ask yourself:

1. Have First-year principles been incorporated, where appropriate?
2. Are early low stakes assessment tasks included?
3. Are tasks scaffolded – between assignments, across subjects and courses?
4. Are tasks accessible to all students?
5. Is the length of assignment appropriate for the subject level and the weighting of the task?
6. Is the amount of time required appropriate for the subject level and the weighting of the task?
7. Are tasks fairly weighted compared to the effort required?
8. Are assessment tasks timed across a session to distribute student workload evenly and to consider conflicting deadlines in other subjects?

Assessment should help students prepare for their professional lives. Ask yourself:

1. Do assessment tasks meet external Professional Accreditation requirements?
2. Is assessment authentic?
3. Is there a requirement for high stakes assessment?

Assessment should meet moderation and marking requirements. Ask yourself:

1. Do the criteria and standards promote reliability in marking?
2. How much time will be required to mark each assignment?
3. How complex will the marking guide be?
4. How has assessment for large numbers of students been managed?
5. Will the grading promote decisions about student progression?
6. What type of feedback is appropriate?
7. How will timely feedback be delivered?
8. Is moderation before marking required?
9. How will you keep marking consistent across cohorts?
10. Are exemplars useful?
11. Has feedback from previous moderation of this subject been incorporated into the current offering?
12. What processes are in place to review assessment, grades and feedback?

Marking and moderation