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Assessing students

We assess student work so both teachers and learners can see what students know, so that teachers can know whether students have achieved the learning outcomes, and so that students know what they need to do in order to improve.

Both the selection of the assessment method and the design of the specific task are important. The quality of the questions we ask or the specific activities we design to assess students' learning is a key factor determining their ability to demonstrate and assess their learning towards the intended outcomes.

Note that assessment is integral to the everyday processes of learning and teaching throughout a course, rather than something that just happens at the end to measure student performance. In the same way, it is critical to start considering the assessment in the early planning of a course, so that the content is built around the learning outcomes and evidence of achievement of learning outcomes, rather than the assessment being built around the content, as often happens.

We have prepared a resource which presents some perspectives on assessment.

You can use this resource to underpin your course assessment strategies.

Just click on the particular title below to go to the relevant resource page:

• The Miller model
• The Dreyfus model
• Assessment rubrics
• Writing multiple choice questions
• Giving useful feedback
• Moderation