Effective Assessment: Do students learn what we are teaching? Tricia Munn

If we wish to discover the truth about an educational system, we must look into its assessment procedures.  What student qualities and achievements are actively valued and rewarded by the system?  How are its purposes and intentions realized?  To what extent are the hopes and ideals, aims and objectives professed by the system ever truly perceived, valued and striven for by those who make their way within it?  The answers to such questions are to be found in what the system requires students to do in order to survive and prosper. The spirit and style of student assessment defines the de facto curriculum (Rowntree 1977, p.1).

A graduate of the University of South Australia:  Operates effectively with and upon a body of knowledge of sufficient depth to begin professional practice  Is prepared for life-long learning in pursuit of personal development and excellence in professional practice  Is an effective problem solver, capable of applying logical, critical, and creative thinking to a range of problems

A graduate of the University of South Australia (cont):  Can work both autonomously and collaboratively as a professional  Is committed to ethical action and social responsibility as a professional and citizen  Communicates effectively in professional practice and as a member of the community  Demonstrates international perspectives as a professional and as a citizen.

What is an aligned course design?  Move from a traditional course design whereby aims and objectives dictate content which in turn dictates assessment to ….  one where aims, objectives and graduate qualities dictate assessment with content being developed afterwards.

 Assessment indicates to students the most important points to learn and is the beginning place in influencing what students learn and how they develop both as students and as professionals.  Boud (1998) believes assessment is to both certify (summative) and to prompt learning (formative).  Summative assessment is judgemental and tests what the student knows, a final check on what has been learned  formative assessment enhances, supports and encourages learning through the feedback of rich, detailed and focused information (Wilson 1992). Purpose of assessment?

 Superior communication skills  Strong team orientation (people who enjoy working in a team)  Creative problem solving skills  Self motivation Organisations expectations of new graduates

Organisations expectations of new graduates (cont):  Superior analytical skills  Strong character  Balanced lifestyle (people who can organise their lives to include hard work and at the same time have a social life. AA is looking for people who have already some commitment to the community).  A solid academic performance. Is this part of our teaching and learning?

How?  We can only afford potential employees the assurance students have attained the Graduate Qualities if we can provide verification of their development. Assessment is the most observable way of doing this.  If the graduate qualities are demonstrated and augmented throughout the aims and objectives of the course, the assessment will also reflect and be underpinned by them.  Encouraging deep learning (as opposed to surface or strategic).

How do we do it? According to Brown (1996), ensure the assessment:  Concentrates on what is learned rather than what is taught, with a student-centred rather than a tutor-centred focus.  Allows students in on the process, by allowing them all know the rules of the game, particularly by the use of transparent, available and meaningful criteria, instead of making them play the "guess what's in teacher's mind" game.  Relates closely to the specified learning outcomes and assessing the right things, not what is easy to assess.

How (cont)  Promote lifelong learning, by helping students to evaluate their own and their peers’ achievements realistically, not just encouraging them always to rely on (tutor) evaluation from on high.  Encourage divergent outcomes rather than convergent ones, so the students have the opportunity to demonstrate their individuality rather than striving towards a single, correct answer. (Brown 1996 p 2)

What we are doing  Examine all course outlines to ascertain the connection (or lack of) between Grad Quals, Objectives and assessment  Look at the way the course is taught and how this impacts upon student learning and assessment.  A member of the Team will meet with the lecturers to discuss how the links might be strengthened.  Lecturers will also be invited to attend a training session which will look more closely at strengthening these links.

 In addition a grid mapping the Graduate Qualities incorporated into each WBSW course over the four year degree and will be developed in order for the Team to ensure each of the Graduate Qualities is covered in sufficient depth with reference to Program aims and professional body requirements. If it is discovered that a particular Graduate Quality is not, changes will be made to rectify this. Plus

 students have been exposed to new assessments and provided feedback on it and …  employers have noticed a difference. We will know we have been successful when:

 Do students learn what we are teaching?  How can we encourage deep learning? Discussion Questions