Assessing the Assessors: Critical Thinking Shazad Khan Birmingham International Academy

Overview Assessments International Students Critical Thinking/Analysis

The Quality Assurance Agency states that: “…assessment is not a linear process; it is an ongoing cycle through which staff design, set, mark, engage in dialogue about performance, review and develop… (QAA, 2013: 3).

We need to be transparent and clear about what it is that is being assessed (Haggis and Pouget, 2002) Students need to understand the rules of the game (Bloxham and West, 2004).

International Students Teacher-centred Conformity vs. Originality (Andrade, 2006)

“Assessment is derived from assidere to sit with or beside “Assessment is derived from assidere to sit with or beside. It is something we do with and for a student, not something we do to them’ (Wiggins, 1998)

International Students (IS) literature: Language challenges Cultural challenges Critical Thinking complexity of definition. Nothing on CT from an IS perspective.

Critical Thinking (CT) in HE: There is consensus on the value of CT It manifests differently across the disciplines. No standard definition of what it is (Riggs & Hellyer-Riggs, 2014)

Ontology of CT Discipline-specific or discipline-general? Formal logic; deductive reasoning; taught outside of a context Discipline-specific: non-transferable; contextual (Nicholas & Raider-Roth 2016)

Epistemology of CT: Disciplinary epistemological assumptions Knowledge Truth Validity

Students fail to demonstrate CT because tutors do not explain what is required of them (Elander et al, 2006)

What does this mean for international students? What challenges are international students face with when expressing criticality?

Bibliography Andrade, M. S. (2006) 'International Students in English-Speaking Universities: Adjustment Factors', Journal of Research in International Education, 5(2), pp. 131-154. Bloxham, S. and West, A. (2004) 'Understanding the Rules of the Game: Marking Peer Assessment as a Medium for Developing Students’ Conceptions of Assessment', Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 29(6). Elander, J., Harrington, K., Norton, L., Robinson, H. and Reddy, P. (2006) 'Complex S kills and Academic Writing: a review of evidence about the types of learning required to meet core assessment criteria', Assessment & Evaluation in Higher  Education.  , 31(1), pp. 71-90 Haggis, T. and Pouget, M. (2002) 'Trying to be Motivated: Perspectives on Learning from Younger Students Accessing Higher Education,' Teaching in Higher Education, 7(3), pp. 323-336. Nicholas, M. C. and Raider-Roth, M. (2016) 'A Hopeful Pedagogy to Critical Thinking', International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(2). Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2013) UK Quality Code for Higher Education. Gloucester: QAA. Available at: http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/quality-code-B6.pdf (Accessed: 6 August 2014).

Riggs, L. W. and Hellyer-Riggs, S Riggs, L. W. and Hellyer-Riggs, S. (2014) 'Development and Motivation in/for Critical Thinking', Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 11(1), pp. 1 Wiggins, G. 1998. Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to inform and improve Student Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.