Perspectives of Teachers and Students towards Assessment Conclusions

Along with the shift of the conception of learning as a construction of meaning by individuals, changes in assessment practices need to be involved concerning: (i) the development of an outcome-based curriculum, with assessment to address outcome objectives, (ii) the provision of formative feedback to guide learning, and (iii) the development of Criterion-Referenced Assessment, with performance descriptors to inform students how to achieve the desired goals. However, from the above discussions of the questionnaire findings and from the focus group interview results, it is found that there seem to be inadequacies between current assessment practices in the University and the above three areas under the new assessment culture. Therefore, further improvement is needed to smoothen the road towards the University's curriculum revision exercise mentioned previously.

Concerning the development of an outcome-based curriculum, the questionnaire findings and focus group interview results show that the emphasis of some teaching staff tends to be on the weighting of assessment components, and on following traditional assessment practices with the weightings of examinations and continuous assessments in some departments. Whereas assessment of students' expected learning outcomes seems not to be strong.

Since different assessment methods are necessary for assessing the different learning outcomes contained in different subjects, we suggest that the subject lecturer is clearly the person who is most familiar with the subject, should be allowed to specify what the most appropriate assessment method should be. In this way, it will be aligned with the subject's learning outcomes. There is a whole range of methods that can be used, such as; examinations, tests, quizzes (closed book, open book, with many variations), assignments, case studies, projects, practicums, presentations, poster sessions, interviewing, reflective journals, etc. The teacher must be allowed to make use of these if he/she deems them to be the most appropriate. Having said this, some professional institutions require formal examinations of subjects in order to meet their academic requirements, so there are sometimes external influences on what teaching staff is required to do when assessing students.

It is considered that under the current shift of learning and curriculum revision, staff development is necessary as well as the introduction of appropriate assessment that can address a subject's outcome objectives.

For an appropriate balance of formative and summative assessment, there seems to be a conflict between teaching staff's perceived assessment and actual practice. The focus of assessment tends to be on the summative aspect though the questionnaire survey and the focus group interview results show that staff perceive formative feedback as a very important part of assessment. There seems to be confusion between the roles of formative and summative assessment among some teaching staff, and thus reducing the impact of formative feedback on students' learning along with the assessment task. Therefore, development for staff on distinguishing the difference between formative and summative assessment and their effect on students' learning is necessary.

Concerning the development of Criterion-Referencing Assessment (CRA), it is found that the uneasy feelings of teaching staff and students about the University's Norm-Referencing Assessment (NRA) grading policy, and the growing emphasis on reflecting students' learning outcomes by appropriate grading criteria as advocated by educationalists, are very good reasons for introducing Criterion-Referencing Assessment (CRA).

The University has now carried out a revision of the curriculum of all its academic programs, particularly full-time programs, for the 2005 to 2008 triennium. This revision has also tackled the issue of ensuring that subject objectives, teaching and learning activities, and assessment are constructively aligned with an outcome-based orientation. This move towards outcome-based education in academic programs is a current international trend in higher education and is in fact now required by some professional bodies for accreditation.

With regard to the concerns expressed about the use of NRA, the University has decided to remove the percentage guidelines from its General Assessment Regulations (GAR) commencing in the 2005-2006 academic year. NRA will be replaced with CRA so that summative assessment can be more specifically aligned to a subject's objectives and teaching and learning activities. This is a refreshing move, and will have a positive impact on the total process. Moreover, it will be better aligned with the University's Strategic Objective No 1, i.e. to produce "preferred graduates" not normal ones. As previously mentioned, the grade distribution of such graduates, provided it is justified, should not be normal, but should have a positive skew.

The move from NRA to CRA however, will not be an easy task. The University has been using NRA for many years, and there will need to be a cultural change amongst teaching staff. The University will need to delegate the definition of grading criteria to faculties, individual departments and their teaching staff so that they fit their own requirements. Based on these, individual teaching staff will be able to tailor-make the grading criteria for each subject according to its expected learning outcomes. Ideally, there should also be a move to change the attitude of students so that they recognize that learning is the primary motive for studying at University rather than obtaining the highest grade possible; no easy task in any institution!

In order to bring about this change, the University has carried out the Curriculum Revision Exercise to revise the curricula of its academic programs for the 2005 2008 Triennium. Academic departments are required to review and revise their programs accordingly. To support the teachers in the revision exercise, the University has developed various materials. One of these is a Curriculum Revision Resource Book developed by the University's Education Development Centre (EDC) which provides guidelines, ideas and examples to assist program teams in each department in completing the revised programs for submitting to the University for endorsement. It contains chapters regarding program revision, including "Aligning Assessment with Intended Learning Outcomes" which guides teaching staff in developing the criteria that align with intended learning outcomes.

In addition, the EDC has organized workshops, seminars and other activities to support teaching staff in the curriculum revision exercise. One of the examples is the one-day "Symposium on the Outcome-based Approach to Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Higher Education: International Perspectives" being held during the implementation phase of the revision exercise. The Symposium will bring in international perspectives and experience on the application of outcome-based education.

مواضيع ذات صلة

An Integrated Approach to Learning, Teaching and Assessment in a Healthcare Ethics Module Conclusions

Module evaluation

Peer learning

Assessment strategy

Lecturer as facilitator

Learning and teaching strategies

The module Ethics in Healthcare

Curricula requirements

Integration what it means

An Integrated Approach to Learning, Teaching and Assessment in a Healthcare Ethics Module

Norm-referenced assessment (NRA) in teaching staff grading

Grading descriptors