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Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence

Assessment planning.

Nicole Messier, CATE Instructional Designer January 27, 2022

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Understanding the different strategies, purposes, and functions of assessments is vital to successful assessment planning.

Assessments occur at various times throughout the learning process as well as have different purposes. Formative assessments occur during teaching and learning whereas summative assessments occur at the end of teaching and learning.

Assessments can be viewed through three broad assessment strategies:

•   Assessment for learning (AfL) is designed to adapt current instruction.
• Assessment as learning (AaL) is designed as a learning experience.
• Assessment of learning (AoL) is designed to determine if students have demonstrated progress towards proficiency of learning objectives.

Each of these strategies has a specific purpose and can help determine the type of assessment an instructor should design.

What forms of assessment do you use?

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Assessment for learning.

Assessment for learning (AfL) is the utilization of data collected from formative assessments, which are learning activities administered to students before, during, or after class. These assessments are utilized not only to inform current teaching and instruction but also provide students with immediate feedback on their learning as well as opportunities for metacognition, goal setting, and self-assessment of learning.

Examples of formative assessments categorized as Assessment for Learning (AfL)

• Polling questions before, during, or after class using EdTech tools like iClicker , Acadly , or other polling apps .
• Video questions using EdTech tools like Panopto or Echo360 .

Assessment for learning allows the instructor to respond to student feedback and adapt their teaching practices to support current students’ learning needs. Faculty can subsequently differentiate the learning experiences to meet individual students where they are with respect to the level of understanding or skill proficiency.

Example 1 – Assessment for Learning

An instructor creates a series of pre-class scenario-based questions to gauge students’ understanding of the readings and ability to apply knowledge. The instructor then adapts their lecture to focus on the concepts that students struggled to apply or misunderstood.

This example demonstrates a formative assessment because the instructor collected the data from the student responses to inform their pedagogical decisions. If the instructor wanted to encourage students to engage in the pre-class work, then they can provide extrinsic motivation by awarding points for completion.

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Assessment as learning.

Assessment as learning (AaL) is developing formative and summative assessments that utilize evidence-based learning strategies, promote self-regulation, and provide reflective learning. This type of assessment is designed to strengthen the cognitive processes of students by providing opportunities for metacognition, which is an awareness of one’s own knowledge and thinking processes as well as an ability to self-monitor one’s learning path and adapt or make changes to one’s learning behaviors.

Examples of learning activities categorized as Assessment as Learning (AaL)

• Think-pair-share – asking students to turn to their neighbor in class or small breakout groups in an online discussion and share their thoughts, ideas, or answers to a topic or question.
• Muddiest point – asking students to identify a topic or theme that is unclear, or that they do not have the confidence in their knowledge yet.
• One-minute paper – asking students to write down their thoughts as a brief essay on a topic at the end of a lecture.
• Concept map – asking students to create a diagram showing relationships between concepts.

Formative assessments can support and motivate students to develop learning strategies (e.g., study skills), including spaced practice, retrieval practice, interleaving, elaboration, concrete examples, and dual coding. Another example is providing students with the opportunities to self-assess their work during the revision process when writing a paper or creating an opportunity to self-assess their learning through a practice exam with feedback before the graded summative assessment.

Summative assessments can foster critical thinking, metacognition, communication, and problem-solving skills as well as the ability to apply knowledge learned to real-world scenarios. Examples of summative assessments include project-based learning, problem-based learning, and authentic assessments.

Example 2 – Assessment as Learning

An instructor designs an assignment as learning by utilizing three learning strategies: elaboration, concrete examples, and dual coding. In the assignment, the students are asked to develop questions (elaborate), provide original examples (concrete examples), and create visuals (dual coding) for each of the terms in their concept map (a diagram that shows relationships between concepts). This assignment was developed as learning by providing an opportunity for students to reflect on their current understanding and learning in the course. As the instructor began grading, they discovered several issues.

The first issue is that several students mixed up terms and applied incorrect examples to the terms. The instructor then uses this information to adapt their review session to clarify the misunderstanding and misconceptions of students. The second issue is that some students did not know how to create a concept map. The instructor decides that next term they will provide resources for students to build a concept map as well as share an exemplar concept map and create a grading rubric to support student understanding of assessment expectations.

This example could demonstrate a formative assessment or summative assessment. This assignment might have been given in the middle of the unit, at the end of the unit, or at the end of the course. If this example was placed at the end of the course, it could be used to encourage retrieval practice by having students create these concept maps after the learning has taken place and then present them to the class as a study session before a summative assessment such as a final exam.

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Assessment of learning.

Assessment of learning (AoL) is the utilization of data collected from summative assessments to confirm students have demonstrated adequate progress towards proficiency of learning objectives, which may translate into the overall success of student learning.

Examples of summative assessments categorized as Assessment of Learning (AoL)

• Written assignments
• Mid-term exam

Such assessments typically are assigned a higher point value relative to other assignments in the course and are sometimes referred to as “high-stakes assessments” since the outcomes of which can have a significant impact on a student’s final grade in a course. Additional guidance on rethinking high-stakes assessments is available in Section II: Rethinking Assessment in the Guidelines for Assessment in Online Environments Report .

Example 3 – Assessment of Learning

An instructor designs a final assessment that allows student choice by selecting a product for grading. Students are given three choices for their final product: presentation slides with speaker’s notes, video recording, or paper. The assignment instructions and rubric provide clear expectations to guide students on the development of their final project. The rubric explains the grading criteria allowing for consistent and objective grading, which will allow for valid and reliable data collection. This data will help the instructor to examine the course outcomes and determine elements in the course that need to be analyzed further or adjusted for the next term.

This assessment is a summative assessment that is designed to measure learning. Concepts of universal design for learning are applied in this assessment by providing student choice, clear expectations, and grading criteria. This assessment could also be viewed through the lens of assessment as learning, as students reflect, analyze, and summarize their learning.

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Why should you reflect on your assessment practices through the lens of these three assessment strategies?

A review of over 250 studies about assessment and learning determined it is the intentional use of assessment, which is the deliberate, planned, and purposeful integration of assessment with instruction as a means to gather evidence of student learning and use that information to make data-informed decisions about your teaching, that improves student achievement (Earl, 2006).

These three strategies foster the intentionality of assessment planning by shifting focus from “what data can I collect to improve student learning?” to “how can I create learning experiences as assessments?” This shift of focus from assessment of learning (AoL) being the main strategy of assessment to assessment for learning (AfL) and assessment as learning (AaL) has been occurring over the last few decades as research has shown the benefits to student learning outcomes.

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Impact of assessment as learning.

In a recent study on the effects of AaL on academic performance and student motivation (Hinduja, 2021), researchers found a significant increase when assessment as learning interventions were implemented. The assessment as learning intervention included self-assessment of coursework, identifying areas for improvement, and setting goals for actionable next steps.

As shown in figure 1, the results of the study showed that both the control and experimental group showed improvements in academic performance but the experimental group, which received the assessment as learning intervention, had a significantly higher increase in mean scores. The control group experienced a 26.3% improvement whereas the experimental group that received the intervention of AaL experienced a 65.5% improvement in academic performance, more than a 2-fold increase.

Regarding the changes in student self-reported motivation, as shown in figure 2, again both groups exhibited an increase, but the experimental group’s score was 8.87% higher than the control group. The control group experienced a 1.23% increase whereas the experimental group that received the intervention of AaL experienced a 10.1% increase in student motivation.

Figure 1. Control group’s mean score on pre-test was 8.63 and mean score on post-test was 10.9 – an increase of 26.3%. The experimental group’s mean score on the pre-test was 8.46 and the mean score on post-test was 14 – an increase of 65.5% (Hinduja, 2021).

Figure 2. Control group’s mean score on motivation (pre-test) was 14.59 and mean score on motivation (post-test) was 14.77 – an increase of 1.23%. The experimental group’s mean score on motivation (pre-test) was 14.77 and the mean score on motivation (post-test) was 16.27 – an increase of 10.1% (Hinduja, 2021).

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Elements of effective and equitable assessments.

Student performance on assessments have shown improvement when the following elements were incorporated into the teaching, learning, and assessment process (Hinduja, 2021; Schellekens, 2021):

• The instructor explains learning goals and success criteria to students. This explanation helps students understand what the demonstration of proficiency or high-quality work looks like.
• The instructor ensures alignment of assessment and learning activities in the class. This alignment will help to deter the fragmentation of the curriculum and ensure students understand the connection or relationship between what they are learning and how they are being assessed.
• The instructor creates a safe learning environment for students. This safety allows students to take risks, make errors, and engage more freely in the learning process.
• Instructor values equity and adapts the learning experience to students’ individual needs. This adaptation ensures that instructors can meet students where they are at and support individual student success.
• Instructor provides descriptive, diagnostic, and immediate feedback to students. This type of feedback will motivate and guide students with actionable steps on how to improve their performance.
• Involve students in assessing their own learning. This involvement will provide students with a sense of ownership and responsibility for their learning.
• Instructor collects, monitors, and reflects on student progress in achieving the course learning objectives. This utilization of data to make decisions, a process we refer to as reflective teaching, will ensure continuous quality improvements.
• Students and instructors are assessment literate. In other words, students need to understand the purpose behind the assessment as well as the expectations of the assessment. Instructors need to understand how to use assessment data effectively to make decisions about instruction.

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Implementing assessment for learning (AfL), assessment as learning (AaL), and assessment of learning (AoL) requires instructors to reflect on the course elements and variables that might impact their successful implementation. Some of these elements include class size, discipline, and modality.

These assessment strategies (AfL, AaL, and AoL) can be implemented in any course size from small seminar courses to large lectures. Some factors to consider regarding class size include:

• Small class sizes may allow for more formative assessments with personalized feedback.
• Larger class sizes may require instructors to utilize EdTech tools to deliver formative assessments with immediate feedback.
• Small class sizes may allow for more immediacy of feedback and descriptive or personalized feedback.
• Again, larger class sizes may require instructors to utilize EdTech tools to deliver timely and effective feedback to students.

These assessment strategies can be implemented in any type of course. One recommendation is for instructors to reflect on ways to implement assessment as learning (AaL) in major coursework.

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Another recommendation is for instructors to examine current assessments in courses that have low student success rates to identify opportunities for assessment as learning (AaL) to improve student performance.

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Major coursework.

Instructors should consider identifying opportunities for students to reflect on their learning during formative assessments. Instructors should also examine the use of formative assessments to support students’ metacognition and self-regulation skills (see an example under the What? section – Assessment as Learning). Formative assessments are also excellent opportunities to scaffold the learning process, meaning break the learning path into smaller “chunks” with periodic checkpoints (formative assessments) that ensure students move progressively toward improved understanding, skill acquisition, and greater independence in the learning process.

Next, instructors should consider identifying opportunities for students to use critical thinking skills and apply learning to real-world situations during formative and summative assessments. Also, instructors can use summative assessments to support students’ intrinsic motivation by providing the why behind the assessment and making connections to future learning and careers (see an example under the What? section – Assessment of Learning).

Low Student Success Rates

Instructors should consider examining summative assessments with low student success rates to determine first if adjustments need to be made to the assessment (e.g., unclear exam questions , insufficient explanatory guidelines or rubric provided for written assignments) and second to identify opportunities for implementing more formative assessments (AfL and AaL).

Instructors can use formative assessments (AfL and AaL) to provide students with immediate feedback and opportunities to self-evaluate their learning before summative assessments.

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The modality of your course will influence the planning and delivery methods for assessments. The use of EdTech tools can support the increased use of formative assessments in all courses, including on-campus, online synchronous, online asynchronous, and hybrid courses. EdTech tools can also increase the timeliness of delivering feedback to students in formative assessments (AfL and AaL).

In online synchronous, hybrid, and on-campus courses, polling and survey tools can be used to provide immediate feedback to students during scheduled classes. Grading tools like rubrics in Blackboard (LMS) and Gradescope , can provide descriptive feedback to students in all modalities as well. A discussion board or online quiz can be created in Blackboard (LMS) for online synchronous, online asynchronous, and hybrid courses.

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Getting started.

The following steps will support you as you examine your current assessment practices and reflect on the strategies of assessment for learning (AfL), assessment as learning (AaL), and assessment for learning (AoL) to develop or improve an assessment plan.

• What should students know and be able to do?
• What are your learning objectives?
• How can you assess the achievement of the learning objectives? (e.g., in what ways might your students demonstrate their progress towards mastery of the learning objectives?)
•  Assessment for learning (AfL) – opportunities to provide immediate feedback to students and collect data to adapt instruction to meet current students’ needs.
• Assessment as learning (AaL) – opportunities for student self-assessment, practice, and feedback on learning.
• Assessment of learning (AoL) – opportunities to provide students with authentic assessment experiences and confirm the success of the course and learning objectives.
• The third step is to continue the cycle of assessment and planning by utilizing the assessment data collected to inform continuous improvements to assessments for equitable student outcomes.

Want to learn more about formative, summative, and authentic assessments? Please visit the Resources Section – CATE website to review resources, teaching guides, and more.

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Citing this guide.

Messier, N. (2022). “Formative assessments.” Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois Chicago. Retrieved [today’s date] from   https://teaching.uic.edu/resources/teaching-guides/assessment-grading-practices/assessment-planning/

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Heading link Copy link

Articles, blogs, and websites.

Academic Planning Task Force. (2020). Guidelines for Assessment in Online Learning Environments .

Essays, UK. (2018). Assessment for Learning and Assessment as Learning Lecture. 

Gonzalez, J. (2020). 4 laws of learning (and how to follow them). Cult of Pedagogy.

Hall, W. (2020). What is assessment as learning? Enhancing teaching with data. Century.

National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. (n.d.) Assessment of/for/as learning. 

Weinstein, Y., Sumeracki, M., Caviglioli, O. (n.d.). Six strategies for effective learning. The Learning Scientists.

Tan-En Chang, D., Jones, J.L., Hartsfield, D.E., (2020). Technology-based activities as formative assessments in higher education classrooms. Optimizing higher education learning through activities and assessments . DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-4036-7.ch012

Eruditio, A. (2021). Assessment as Learning (AaL): What is it & Practical Examples

REFERENCES Heading link Copy link

Berry, R. (2013). The assessment as learning (AaL) framework for teaching and learning – the AaL Wheel. Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Dann, R. (2014). Assessment as learning: blurring the boundaries of assessment and learning for theory, policy, and practice.

Earl, L. (2003). Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximize student learning. Corwin Press.

Earl, L.M., Katz, S. (2006). Rethinking classroom assessment with purpose in mind – Assessment for learning, assessment as learning, assessment of learning. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Crown in Right of Manitoba.

Harrison, C., Könings, K., Schuwirth, L. & Wass, V., Van der Vleuten, C. (2017). Changing the culture of assessment: the dominance of the summative assessment paradigm. BMC Medical Education. 17. 10.1186/s12909-017-0912-5.

Hinduja, P., Thomas, M., Siddiqui, S. (2021). The effects of assessment as Learning (AaL) on ESL students’ academic performance and motivation in the light of self-regulated learning (SRL) theory. FWU Journal of Social Sciences. 14. 26-42. 10.51709/FW12723.

Lam, R. (2018). Understanding assessment as learning in writing classrooms: The case of portfolio assessment. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research. 6. 19-36.

Muttaqin, S. (2020). A proportional allocation of formative and summative assessment: A quest of shaping an effective assessment policy. Hikmah: Journal of Islamic Studies. 16. 1. 10.47466/hikmah.v16i1.164.

Robertson, S., Humphrey, S., Steele, J. (2019). Using technology tools for formative assessments. Journal of Educators Online. Volume 16, Issue 2.

Schellekens, L., Bok, H., de Jong, L., van der Schaaf, M., Kremer, W., van der Vleuten, C. (2021). A scoping review on the notions of Assessment as Learning (AaL), Assessment for Learning (AfL), and Assessment of Learning (AoL). Studies in Educational Evaluation. Volume 71 .

Weinstein, Y., Sumeracki, M., Caviglioli, O. (2019). Understanding how we learn – A visual guide. Routledge.

Center for Teaching

Assessing student learning.

Forms and Purposes of Student Assessment

Assessment is more than grading, assessment plans, methods of student assessment, generative and reflective assessment, teaching guides related to student assessment, references and additional resources.

Student assessment is, arguably, the centerpiece of the teaching and learning process and therefore the subject of much discussion in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Without some method of obtaining and analyzing evidence of student learning, we can never know whether our teaching is making a difference. That is, teaching requires some process through which we can come to know whether students are developing the desired knowledge and skills, and therefore whether our instruction is effective. Learning assessment is like a magnifying glass we hold up to students’ learning to discern whether the teaching and learning process is functioning well or is in need of change.

To provide an overview of learning assessment, this teaching guide has several goals, 1) to define student learning assessment and why it is important, 2) to discuss several approaches that may help to guide and refine student assessment, 3) to address various methods of student assessment, including the test and the essay, and 4) to offer several resources for further research. In addition, you may find helfpul this five-part video series on assessment that was part of the Center for Teaching’s Online Course Design Institute.

What is student assessment and why is it Important?

In their handbook for course-based review and assessment, Martha L. A. Stassen et al. define assessment as “the systematic collection and analysis of information to improve student learning” (2001, p. 5). An intentional and thorough assessment of student learning is vital because it provides useful feedback to both instructors and students about the extent to which students are successfully meeting learning objectives. In their book Understanding by Design , Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe offer a framework for classroom instruction — “Backward Design”— that emphasizes the critical role of assessment. For Wiggins and McTighe, assessment enables instructors to determine the metrics of measurement for student understanding of and proficiency in course goals. Assessment provides the evidence needed to document and validate that meaningful learning has occurred (2005, p. 18). Their approach “encourages teachers and curriculum planners to first ‘think like an assessor’ before designing specific units and lessons, and thus to consider up front how they will determine if students have attained the desired understandings” (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005, p. 18). [1]

Not only does effective assessment provide us with valuable information to support student growth, but it also enables critically reflective teaching. Stephen Brookfield, in Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, argues that critical reflection on one’s teaching is an essential part of developing as an educator and enhancing the learning experience of students (1995). Critical reflection on one’s teaching has a multitude of benefits for instructors, including the intentional and meaningful development of one’s teaching philosophy and practices. According to Brookfield, referencing higher education faculty, “A critically reflective teacher is much better placed to communicate to colleagues and students (as well as to herself) the rationale behind her practice. She works from a position of informed commitment” (Brookfield, 1995, p. 17). One important lens through which we may reflect on our teaching is our student evaluations and student learning assessments. This reflection allows educators to determine where their teaching has been effective in meeting learning goals and where it has not, allowing for improvements. Student assessment, then, both develop the rationale for pedagogical choices, and enables teachers to measure the effectiveness of their teaching.

The scholarship of teaching and learning discusses two general forms of assessment. The first, summative assessment , is one that is implemented at the end of the course of study, for example via comprehensive final exams or papers. Its primary purpose is to produce an evaluation that “sums up” student learning. Summative assessment is comprehensive in nature and is fundamentally concerned with learning outcomes. While summative assessment is often useful for communicating final evaluations of student achievement, it does so without providing opportunities for students to reflect on their progress, alter their learning, and demonstrate growth or improvement; nor does it allow instructors to modify their teaching strategies before student learning in a course has concluded (Maki, 2002).

The second form, formative assessment , involves the evaluation of student learning at intermediate points before any summative form. Its fundamental purpose is to help students during the learning process by enabling them to reflect on their challenges and growth so they may improve. By analyzing students’ performance through formative assessment and sharing the results with them, instructors help students to “understand their strengths and weaknesses and to reflect on how they need to improve over the course of their remaining studies” (Maki, 2002, p. 11). Pat Hutchings refers to as “assessment behind outcomes”: “the promise of assessment—mandated or otherwise—is improved student learning, and improvement requires attention not only to final results but also to how results occur. Assessment behind outcomes means looking more carefully at the process and conditions that lead to the learning we care about…” (Hutchings, 1992, p. 6, original emphasis). Formative assessment includes all manner of coursework with feedback, discussions between instructors and students, and end-of-unit examinations that provide an opportunity for students to identify important areas for necessary growth and development for themselves (Brown and Knight, 1994).

It is important to recognize that both summative and formative assessment indicate the purpose of assessment, not the method . Different methods of assessment (discussed below) can either be summative or formative depending on when and how the instructor implements them. Sally Brown and Peter Knight in Assessing Learners in Higher Education caution against a conflation of the method (e.g., an essay) with the goal (formative or summative): “Often the mistake is made of assuming that it is the method which is summative or formative, and not the purpose. This, we suggest, is a serious mistake because it turns the assessor’s attention away from the crucial issue of feedback” (1994, p. 17). If an instructor believes that a particular method is formative, but he or she does not take the requisite time or effort to provide extensive feedback to students, the assessment effectively functions as a summative assessment despite the instructor’s intentions (Brown and Knight, 1994). Indeed, feedback and discussion are critical factors that distinguish between formative and summative assessment; formative assessment is only as good as the feedback that accompanies it.

It is not uncommon to conflate assessment with grading, but this would be a mistake. Student assessment is more than just grading. Assessment links student performance to specific learning objectives in order to provide useful information to students and instructors about learning and teaching, respectively. Grading, on the other hand, according to Stassen et al. (2001) merely involves affixing a number or letter to an assignment, giving students only the most minimal indication of their performance relative to a set of criteria or to their peers: “Because grades don’t tell you about student performance on individual (or specific) learning goals or outcomes, they provide little information on the overall success of your course in helping students to attain the specific and distinct learning objectives of interest” (Stassen et al., 2001, p. 6). Grades are only the broadest of indicators of achievement or status, and as such do not provide very meaningful information about students’ learning of knowledge or skills, how they have developed, and what may yet improve. Unfortunately, despite the limited information grades provide students about their learning, grades do provide students with significant indicators of their status – their academic rank, their credits towards graduation, their post-graduation opportunities, their eligibility for grants and aid, etc. – which can distract students from the primary goal of assessment: learning. Indeed, shifting the focus of assessment away from grades and towards more meaningful understandings of intellectual growth can encourage students (as well as instructors and institutions) to attend to the primary goal of education.

Barbara Walvoord (2010) argues that assessment is more likely to be successful if there is a clear plan, whether one is assessing learning in a course or in an entire curriculum (see also Gelmon, Holland, and Spring, 2018). Without some intentional and careful plan, assessment can fall prey to unclear goals, vague criteria, limited communication of criteria or feedback, invalid or unreliable assessments, unfairness in student evaluations, or insufficient or even unmeasured learning. There are several steps in this planning process.

• Defining learning goals. An assessment plan usually begins with a clearly articulated set of learning goals.
• Defining assessment methods. Once goals are clear, an instructor must decide on what evidence – assignment(s) – will best reveal whether students are meeting the goals. We discuss several common methods below, but these need not be limited by anything but the learning goals and the teaching context.
• Developing the assessment. The next step would be to formulate clear formats, prompts, and performance criteria that ensure students can prepare effectively and provide valid, reliable evidence of their learning.
• Integrating assessment with other course elements. Then the remainder of the course design process can be completed. In both integrated (Fink 2013) and backward course design models (Wiggins & McTighe 2005), the primary assessment methods, once chosen, become the basis for other smaller reading and skill-building assignments as well as daily learning experiences such as lectures, discussions, and other activities that will prepare students for their best effort in the assessments.
• Communicate about the assessment. Once the course has begun, it is possible and necessary to communicate the assignment and its performance criteria to students. This communication may take many and preferably multiple forms to ensure student clarity and preparation, including assignment overviews in the syllabus, handouts with prompts and assessment criteria, rubrics with learning goals, model assignments (e.g., papers), in-class discussions, and collaborative decision-making about prompts or criteria, among others.
• Administer the assessment. Instructors then can implement the assessment at the appropriate time, collecting evidence of student learning – e.g., receiving papers or administering tests.
• Analyze the results. Analysis of the results can take various forms – from reading essays to computer-assisted test scoring – but always involves comparing student work to the performance criteria and the relevant scholarly research from the field(s).
• Communicate the results. Instructors then compose an assessment complete with areas of strength and improvement, and communicate it to students along with grades (if the assignment is graded), hopefully within a reasonable time frame. This also is the time to determine whether the assessment was valid and reliable, and if not, how to communicate this to students and adjust feedback and grades fairly. For instance, were the test or essay questions confusing, yielding invalid and unreliable assessments of student knowledge.
• Reflect and revise. Once the assessment is complete, instructors and students can develop learning plans for the remainder of the course so as to ensure improvements, and the assignment may be changed for future courses, as necessary.

Let’s see how this might work in practice through an example. An instructor in a Political Science course on American Environmental Policy may have a learning goal (among others) of students understanding the historical precursors of various environmental policies and how these both enabled and constrained the resulting legislation and its impacts on environmental conservation and health. The instructor therefore decides that the course will be organized around a series of short papers that will combine to make a thorough policy report, one that will also be the subject of student presentations and discussions in the last third of the course. Each student will write about an American environmental policy of their choice, with a first paper addressing its historical precursors, a second focused on the process of policy formation, and a third analyzing the extent of its impacts on environmental conservation or health. This will help students to meet the content knowledge goals of the course, in addition to its goals of improving students’ research, writing, and oral presentation skills. The instructor then develops the prompts, guidelines, and performance criteria that will be used to assess student skills, in addition to other course elements to best prepare them for this work – e.g., scaffolded units with quizzes, readings, lectures, debates, and other activities. Once the course has begun, the instructor communicates with the students about the learning goals, the assignments, and the criteria used to assess them, giving them the necessary context (goals, assessment plan) in the syllabus, handouts on the policy papers, rubrics with assessment criteria, model papers (if possible), and discussions with them as they need to prepare. The instructor then collects the papers at the appropriate due dates, assesses their conceptual and writing quality against the criteria and field’s scholarship, and then provides written feedback and grades in a manner that is reasonably prompt and sufficiently thorough for students to make improvements. Then the instructor can make determinations about whether the assessment method was effective and what changes might be necessary.

Assessment can vary widely from informal checks on understanding, to quizzes, to blogs, to essays, and to elaborate performance tasks such as written or audiovisual projects (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). Below are a few common methods of assessment identified by Brown and Knight (1994) that are important to consider.

According to Euan S. Henderson, essays make two important contributions to learning and assessment: the development of skills and the cultivation of a learning style (1980). The American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) also has found that intensive writing is a “high impact” teaching practice likely to help students in their engagement, learning, and academic attainment (Kuh 2008).

Things to Keep in Mind about Essays

• Essays are a common form of writing assignment in courses and can be either a summative or formative form of assessment depending on how the instructor utilizes them.
• Essays encompass a wide array of narrative forms and lengths, from short descriptive essays to long analytical or creative ones. Shorter essays are often best suited to assess student’s understanding of threshold concepts and discrete analytical or writing skills, while longer essays afford assessments of higher order concepts and more complex learning goals, such as rigorous analysis, synthetic writing, problem solving, or creative tasks.
• A common challenge of the essay is that students can use them simply to regurgitate rather than analyze and synthesize information to make arguments. Students need performance criteria and prompts that urge them to go beyond mere memorization and comprehension, but encourage the highest levels of learning on Bloom’s Taxonomy . This may open the possibility for essay assignments that go beyond the common summary or descriptive essay on a given topic, but demand, for example, narrative or persuasive essays or more creative projects.
• Instructors commonly assume that students know how to write essays and can encounter disappointment or frustration when they discover that this is sometimes not the case. For this reason, it is important for instructors to make their expectations clear and be prepared to assist, or provide students to resources that will enhance their writing skills. Faculty may also encourage students to attend writing workshops at university writing centers, such as Vanderbilt University’s Writing Studio .

Exams and time-constrained, individual assessment

Examinations have traditionally been a gold standard of assessment, particularly in post-secondary education. Many educators prefer them because they can be highly effective, they can be standardized, they are easily integrated into disciplines with certification standards, and they are efficient to implement since they can allow for less labor-intensive feedback and grading. They can involve multiple forms of questions, be of varying lengths, and can be used to assess multiple levels of student learning. Like essays they can be summative or formative forms of assessment.

Things to Keep in Mind about Exams

• Exams typically focus on the assessment of students’ knowledge of facts, figures, and other discrete information crucial to a course. While they can involve questioning that demands students to engage in higher order demonstrations of comprehension, problem solving, analysis, synthesis, critique, and even creativity, such exams often require more time to prepare and validate.
• Exam questions can be multiple choice, true/false, or other discrete answer formats, or they can be essay or problem-solving. For more on how to write good multiple choice questions, see this guide .
• Exams can make significant demands on students’ factual knowledge and therefore can have the side-effect of encouraging cramming and surface learning. Further, when exams are offered infrequently, or when they have high stakes by virtue of their heavy weighting in course grade schemes or in student goals, they may accompany violations of academic integrity.
• In the process of designing an exam, instructors should consider the following questions. What are the learning objectives that the exam seeks to evaluate? Have students been adequately prepared to meet exam expectations? What are the skills and abilities that students need to do well on the exam? How will this exam be utilized to enhance the student learning process?

Self-Assessment

The goal of implementing self-assessment in a course is to enable students to develop their own judgment and the capacities for critical meta-cognition – to learn how to learn. In self-assessment students are expected to assess both the processes and products of their learning. While the assessment of the product is often the task of the instructor, implementing student self-assessment in the classroom ensures students evaluate their performance and the process of learning that led to it. Self-assessment thus provides a sense of student ownership of their learning and can lead to greater investment and engagement. It also enables students to develop transferable skills in other areas of learning that involve group projects and teamwork, critical thinking and problem-solving, as well as leadership roles in the teaching and learning process with their peers.

Things to Keep in Mind about Self-Assessment

• Self-assessment is not self-grading. According to Brown and Knight, “Self-assessment involves the use of evaluative processes in which judgement is involved, where self-grading is the marking of one’s own work against a set of criteria and potential outcomes provided by a third person, usually the [instructor]” (1994, p. 52). Self-assessment can involve self-grading, but instructors of record retain the final authority to determine and assign grades.
• To accurately and thoroughly self-assess, students require clear learning goals for the assignment in question, as well as rubrics that clarify different performance criteria and levels of achievement for each. These rubrics may be instructor-designed, or they may be fashioned through a collaborative dialogue with students. Rubrics need not include any grade assignation, but merely descriptive academic standards for different criteria.
• Students may not have the expertise to assess themselves thoroughly, so it is helpful to build students’ capacities for self-evaluation, and it is important that they always be supplemented with faculty assessments.
• Students may initially resist instructor attempts to involve themselves in the assessment process. This is usually due to insecurities or lack of confidence in their ability to objectively evaluate their own work, or possibly because of habituation to more passive roles in the learning process. Brown and Knight note, however, that when students are asked to evaluate their work, frequently student-determined outcomes are very similar to those of instructors, particularly when the criteria and expectations have been made explicit in advance (1994).
• Methods of self-assessment vary widely and can be as unique as the instructor or the course. Common forms of self-assessment involve written or oral reflection on a student’s own work, including portfolio, logs, instructor-student interviews, learner diaries and dialog journals, post-test reflections, and the like.

Peer Assessment

Peer assessment is a type of collaborative learning technique where students evaluate the work of their peers and, in return, have their own work evaluated as well. This dimension of assessment is significantly grounded in theoretical approaches to active learning and adult learning . Like self-assessment, peer assessment gives learners ownership of learning and focuses on the process of learning as students are able to “share with one another the experiences that they have undertaken” (Brown and Knight, 1994, p. 52).  However, it also provides students with other models of performance (e.g., different styles or narrative forms of writing), as well as the opportunity to teach, which can enable greater preparation, reflection, and meta-cognitive organization.

Things to Keep in Mind about Peer Assessment

• Similar to self-assessment, students benefit from clear and specific learning goals and rubrics. Again, these may be instructor-defined or determined through collaborative dialogue.
• Also similar to self-assessment, it is important to not conflate peer assessment and peer grading, since grading authority is retained by the instructor of record.
• While student peer assessments are most often fair and accurate, they sometimes can be subject to bias. In competitive educational contexts, for example when students are graded normatively (“on a curve”), students can be biased or potentially game their peer assessments, giving their fellow students unmerited low evaluations. Conversely, in more cooperative teaching environments or in cases when they are friends with their peers, students may provide overly favorable evaluations. Also, other biases associated with identity (e.g., race, gender, or class) and personality differences can shape student assessments in unfair ways. Therefore, it is important for instructors to encourage fairness, to establish processes based on clear evidence and identifiable criteria, and to provide instructor assessments as accompaniments or correctives to peer evaluations.
• Students may not have the disciplinary expertise or assessment experience of the instructor, and therefore can issue unsophisticated judgments of their peers. Therefore, to avoid unfairness, inaccuracy, and limited comments, formative peer assessments may need to be supplemented with instructor feedback.

As Brown and Knight assert, utilizing multiple methods of assessment, including more than one assessor when possible, improves the reliability of the assessment data. It also ensures that students with diverse aptitudes and abilities can be assessed accurately and have equal opportunities to excel. However, a primary challenge to the multiple methods approach is how to weigh the scores produced by multiple methods of assessment. When particular methods produce higher range of marks than others, instructors can potentially misinterpret and mis-evaluate student learning. Ultimately, they caution that, when multiple methods produce different messages about the same student, instructors should be mindful that the methods are likely assessing different forms of achievement (Brown and Knight, 1994).

These are only a few of the many forms of assessment that one might use to evaluate and enhance student learning (see also ideas present in Brown and Knight, 1994). To this list of assessment forms and methods we may add many more that encourage students to produce anything from research papers to films, theatrical productions to travel logs, op-eds to photo essays, manifestos to short stories. The limits of what may be assigned as a form of assessment is as varied as the subjects and skills we seek to empower in our students. Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching has an ever-expanding array of guides on creative models of assessment that are present below, so please visit them to learn more about other assessment innovations and subjects.

Whatever plan and method you use, assessment often begins with an intentional clarification of the values that drive it. While many in higher education may argue that values do not have a role in assessment, we contend that values (for example, rigor) always motivate and shape even the most objective of learning assessments. Therefore, as in other aspects of assessment planning, it is helpful to be intentional and critically reflective about what values animate your teaching and the learning assessments it requires. There are many values that may direct learning assessment, but common ones include rigor, generativity, practicability, co-creativity, and full participation (Bandy et al., 2018). What do these characteristics mean in practice?

Rigor. In the context of learning assessment, rigor means aligning our methods with the goals we have for students, principles of validity and reliability, ethics of fairness and doing no harm, critical examinations of the meaning we make from the results, and good faith efforts to improve teaching and learning. In short, rigor suggests understanding learning assessment as we would any other form of intentional, thoroughgoing, critical, and ethical inquiry.

Generativity. Learning assessments may be most effective when they create conditions for the emergence of new knowledge and practice, including student learning and skill development, as well as instructor pedagogy and teaching methods. Generativity opens up rather than closes down possibilities for discovery, reflection, growth, and transformation.

Practicability. Practicability recommends that learning assessment be grounded in the realities of the world as it is, fitting within the boundaries of both instructor’s and students’ time and labor. While this may, at times, advise a method of learning assessment that seems to conflict with the other values, we believe that assessment fails to be rigorous, generative, participatory, or co-creative if it is not feasible and manageable for instructors and students.

Full Participation. Assessments should be equally accessible to, and encouraging of, learning for all students, empowering all to thrive regardless of identity or background. This requires multiple and varied methods of assessment that are inclusive of diverse identities – racial, ethnic, national, linguistic, gendered, sexual, class, etcetera – and their varied perspectives, skills, and cultures of learning.

Co-creation. As alluded to above regarding self- and peer-assessment, co-creative approaches empower students to become subjects of, not just objects of, learning assessment. That is, learning assessments may be more effective and generative when assessment is done with, not just for or to, students. This is consistent with feminist, social, and community engagement pedagogies, in which values of co-creation encourage us to critically interrogate and break down hierarchies between knowledge producers (traditionally, instructors) and consumers (traditionally, students) (e.g., Saltmarsh, Hartley, & Clayton, 2009, p. 10; Weimer, 2013). In co-creative approaches, students’ involvement enhances the meaningfulness, engagement, motivation, and meta-cognitive reflection of assessments, yielding greater learning (Bass & Elmendorf, 2019). The principle of students being co-creators of their own education is what motivates the course design and professional development work Vanderbilt University’s Center for Teaching has organized around the Students as Producers theme.

Below is a list of other CFT teaching guides that supplement this one and may be of assistance as you consider all of the factors that shape your assessment plan.

• Active Learning
• An Introduction to Lecturing
• Beyond the Essay: Making Student Thinking Visible in the Humanities
• Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
• Classroom Response Systems
• How People Learn
• Service-Learning and Community Engagement
• Syllabus Construction
• Teaching with Blogs
• Test-Enhanced Learning
• Assessing Student Learning (a five-part video series for the CFT’s Online Course Design Institute)

Angelo, Thomas A., and K. Patricia Cross. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers . 2 nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993. Print.

Bandy, Joe, Mary Price, Patti Clayton, Julia Metzker, Georgia Nigro, Sarah Stanlick, Stephani Etheridge Woodson, Anna Bartel, & Sylvia Gale. Democratically engaged assessment: Reimagining the purposes and practices of assessment in community engagement . Davis, CA: Imagining America, 2018. Web.

Bass, Randy and Heidi Elmendorf. 2019. “ Designing for Difficulty: Social Pedagogies as a Framework for Course Design .” Social Pedagogies: Teagle Foundation White Paper. Georgetown University, 2019. Web.

Brookfield, Stephen D. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995. Print

Brown, Sally, and Peter Knight. Assessing Learners in Higher Education . 1 edition. London ;Philadelphia: Routledge, 1998. Print.

Cameron, Jeanne et al. “Assessment as Critical Praxis: A Community College Experience.” Teaching Sociology 30.4 (2002): 414–429. JSTOR . Web.

Fink, L. Dee. Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. Second Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2013. Print.

Gibbs, Graham and Claire Simpson. “Conditions under which Assessment Supports Student Learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education 1 (2004): 3-31. Print.

Henderson, Euan S. “The Essay in Continuous Assessment.” Studies in Higher Education 5.2 (1980): 197–203. Taylor and Francis+NEJM . Web.

Gelmon, Sherril B., Barbara Holland, and Amy Spring. Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement: Principles and Techniques. Second Edition . Stylus, 2018. Print.

Kuh, George. High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter , American Association of Colleges & Universities, 2008. Web.

Maki, Peggy L. “Developing an Assessment Plan to Learn about Student Learning.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 28.1 (2002): 8–13. ScienceDirect . Web. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. Print.

Sharkey, Stephen, and William S. Johnson. Assessing Undergraduate Learning in Sociology . ASA Teaching Resource Center, 1992. Print.

Walvoord, Barbara. Assessment Clear and Simple: A Practical Guide for Institutions, Departments, and General Education. Second Edition . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Print.

Weimer, Maryellen. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Second Edition . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2013. Print.

Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding By Design . 2nd Expanded edition. Alexandria,

VA: Assn. for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2005. Print.

[1] For more on Wiggins and McTighe’s “Backward Design” model, see our teaching guide here .

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• Reflecting & Assessing
• Challenges & Opportunities
• Populations & Contexts

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Center for Teaching Innovation

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• Accessibility Quick Guide
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Online Assessment Strategies

Assessing student learning online can be challenging, especially in courses that were designed to be taught in-person. There are a number of strategies and tools that can help you develop or refine assessments that effectively measure student learning in your class setting. On this page we share “What Works: New Ideas in Grading and Assessment.”

Assessment Strategies

Assessing engagement and interaction.

As you consider ways students can engage and interact online , think about how to use student groups, collaborative writing, group reading and annotation, and online discussions:

• Set up a discussion in Canvas
• Grade a discussion in Canvas
• Use Ed Discussion for student engagement

Peer Assessments

Having students assess each other provides students opportunities to reflect on their own learning, improve their course work, and develop life-long skills in providing constructive feedback:

• Creating Peer Assessments in Canvas
• Grading in Turnitin’s PeerMark

Creating frequent, low-stakes opportunities for students to assess their own learning and for instructors to gauge how students are learning contributes to successful online classes. Additionally, adding quizzes to videos can keep students engaged and active as they learn the course material.

• Learn how to use Quizzes in Canvas

Assessment Tools

Canvas tools.

In addition to the above, it may be helpful to know about other Canvas tools, including outcomes and rubrics, as you develop or refine your assessment plan.

• Outcomes: Linking assessments directly to your learning outcomes can make the course design more meaningful to students, just as it helps you keep your course outcomes aligned with your assessments. Consider using Canvas Outcomes to help make this explicit
• Assignments : there are many ways to use assignments to provide students to practice using the knowledge and skills they are building
• Gradebook: understanding the Canvas Gradebook can help as you develop your assessment plan
• You might also want to consider Gradescope to make grading more efficient and effective
• Rubrics : using a well-designed rubric can help manage your ability to provide useful feedback to students, and helps you communicate clear expectations

• OU Homepage
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Course Assessment

Over the past two decades, colleges and universities across the United States have faced increased demands to show evidence that students are meeting appropriate educational goals.  Designing and implementing assessments at the course level is quite instrumental in ensuring that students are not just learning the material, but also providing important information to instructors on the extent of the progress students are making in attaining the intended learning outcomes of the course. A formal process of assessing a course can help instructors effectively facilitate student learning by:

• Promoting a clearer and better comprehension of course expectations for their work and how the quality of their work will be evaluated.
• Ensuring clarity regarding teaching goals and what students are expected to learn.
• Cultivating student engagement in their own learning.
• Fostering effective communication and feedback with students.
• Providing increased information about student learning in the classroom, leading to adjustments in pedagogical styles as the course progresses.

Assessment at the course level addresses the following critical questions:

• What  do you want students to  know  and  do  upon completion of your course?
• And  how  will you know if they get there?

These questions provide an excellent opportunity for classroom assessment process to directly address concerns about better learning and effective teaching. Below is a simple process of instructors can use to developing a course assessment plan:

Remote/Online Assessment Techniques

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to huge challenges regarding the teaching and assessment of student learning process in higher education.  As a result of this, the Office of Academic Assessment has developed and put together resources to assist faculty as they continue to develop and/or adopt assessment strategies appropriate for and applicable to the current online/remote teaching and learning.  As you continuously refine aspects of your course in the online environment, you may find the following best practices and answers to frequently asked questions relating to online assessment particularly helpful and useful. Please feel free to reach out to the Office of Academic Assessment for consultations to help provide insights regarding practical, classroom or course-level assessments appropriate for online or remote environment.

To Get Started

Given that during the Fall 2020 semester, most tests and examinations were delivered to students digitally, irrespective of course modality, and the same is expected to continue in spring 2021, we strongly encourage all faculty to plan assessments well in advance of scheduled delivery.  This will help ensure that online or remote assessment continues to not only be rigorous, but also appropriate and meaningful to the teaching and learning process. Below are useful questions to ask you may ask yourself:

• What do you expect students enrolled in your course to know and do upon completion of the course?  How can they demonstrate what they learned through your course?
• If you intend to use open-book for some of the online or remote assessments, do you have examples of questions you can ask students that target conceptual, application, or require them to demonstrate higher-order thinking?
• Can your students demonstrate understanding in a less traditional format such as a presentation, portfolio, or project?
• If you usually use multiple-choice questions, can you reduce the number of lower- questions and replace with items requiring students demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving skills? Could questions be written so students need to show a practical application of what they've learned?

Helpful Insights to Consider

• Make your instructions and course expectations very clear to students. One way to do this is to embed details of your course assignments expectations in your syllabus.  For instance, do you allow your students to use notes or other outside materials? Can they collaborate? Are the assignments or exams timed? Communication is particularly important in an online/remote environment.
• Besides multiple-choice type assessments/exams, many alternative forms of assessments may require the use of rubrics to (1) help you determine the quality of student work, (2) allow your students see what you're looking for and, (3) make grading consistent and fair.
• Whenever possible, give your students an opportunity to engage in your desired forms of assessments prior to the most important and final exams, so this isn't the first time they're being asked to engage in a new assessment activity. Even if these practice opportunities are formative (i.e., ungraded), giving them the opportunity to practice and get feedback (from you, your TAs, or their peers) can help them be successful, particularly if prior assessments/assignments in your course were in different formats.
• There’s no doubt that students will be navigating unusual new schedules and conflicting priorities as everyone faces the ongoing COVID-19 challenges. Whenever possible, have the assessments/assignments available for them for multiple days as this will give them flexibility.

Best Practices/Options in Remote/Online Assessment

The tumult and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the teaching and learning process across institutions of higher education.  This is particularly evident in assessment of student learning process, which continues to be challenging, especially in courses that were designed to be taught fully in-person or using the blended format. There are various practical and authentic assessment strategies and tools that can help faculty create or fine-tune assessment to better determine the degree to which students are learning in your class.  On this page, we chare several assessment options you may consider applying to your class in addition to using Quiz tools in Canvas.

Assessing Engagement and Interaction

Developing strategies for promoting student engagement online during the ongoing pandemic is difficult. However, there are ways to continue deeper learning and engagement despite these challenges such as maintaining constant communication, listening to and (where possible) accommodating student needs, creating a welcoming atmosphere, building strong relationships with students and, offering both synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities as a means to ensuring equity.

Peer Assessment

Peer assessment (or “peer review”) is mostly used as a technique for students to assess their fellow students’ work. This typically involves students evaluating and providing feedback to their peers using a rubric or a set of assessment criteria. A well-designed peer assessment process can potentially lead to increase in student motivation and engagement, and help students in development of self-awareness, reflecting on the feedback and enhancing the quality of their own work.

• Creating Peer Assessments in Canvas

Repeated Low-Stakes Assessments

The remote teaching and learning process can be very beneficial if students are engaged and active. One of the strategies to accomplish this is to use brief, more regular assessments such as collaborative projects, weekly writing assignments, short problem sets or quizzes as they provide students a much better and firm foundational knowledge and practice with the planned course materials particularly at this time when high stakes assessments/examinations are not optimal. If you are considering to use low stakes assessments, ensure that objectives of the assessments/assignments are guided by your course student learning outcomes.

• How to use quizzes in Canvas
• Canvas quiz options to randomize questions
• Classroom Assessment Techniques offer a variety of simple but very effective and practical strategies for low-stakes formative assessments.

Student Research/Term Papers

Whether required for individual students or required as a group, research projects/term papers of a variety of lengths and complexity work well in a remote learning environment. Given that students develop research papers/projects throughout the semester, requiring them to submit portions of the project (e.g., the introduction and thesis, the literature review) at different times can be quite beneficial in ensuring quality of the project. In addition, grading each portion of the project separately using a rubric and providing feedback to students not only helps them refine aspects of the project, but also minimizes the possibility that students will be able to plagiarize work.

Course Assessment Tools in Canvas

In addition to the above recommendations, please take a look at the assessment resources available in Canvas as they may be very helpful as you develop or refine assessment plan for your course.

• Learning Outcomes : It is crucial to ensure that student learning outcomes (SLOs) in your course are directly aligned with assessments – this makes the design of the course more helpful and meaningful to students.
• Assignments : Assignments provide students excellent opportunities to demonstrate knowledge and skills/abilities learned in a course.
• Gradebook : understanding the Canvas Gradebook can be very helpful as you develop assessment plan for your course.
• Rubrics : using a well-designed rubric(s) can help you communicate clear expectations regarding assignments/projects in your course, evaluate the quality of student work/projects and manage your ability to provide useful feedback to students.

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The term assessment is generally used to refer to all activities used to gauge learner progress. When thinking about assessments for your course, it is important to tie them to the concrete goals and objectives that were stated at the beginning. Provide feedback to learners early and often so they feel they are supported.

Note that the terms “assessment” and “evaluation” are often used interchangeably, but they each have distinct definitions:

Assessment refers to how you will collect tangible data in your course in order to monitor whether the learning objectives and outcomes are being fulfilled. Simply stated, assessments determine what students learned and how they learned it.

Evaluation refers to your overall judgment on whether the course has met the learning outcomes and objectives you conveyed at the beginning of the course.

In the evaluation phase of your online course, you will examine the data that you collected through the assessments in order to make this judgment about whether the course was successful. As such, the assessments you develop are crucial components for evaluating your course.

While you will be assessing learners’ performance, perpetuate a learner-centered environment by creating opportunities for feedback from the learners on whether they believe these goals and objectives are being supported by the course activities and the resources made available to them. Additionally, teaching them techniques for self-assessment will allow them to chart their own growth throughout the course and take more ownership of their learning.

Types of Assessments

Resources for exploration, assessment 2.0.

Bobby Elliot, Scottish Qualifications Authority

The author provides tips for modernizing assessment methods: > scribd.com

Assessment and Collaboration in Online Learning

Karen Swan, Jia Shen, and Starr Roxanne Hiltz

This paper explores collaborative activity, including exams: > citeseerx.ist.psu.edu

Online Resources for Higher Education Assessment

St. John’s University

Resources for understanding assessment: > stjohns.edu

Objective Assessment

Objective assessment is a form of questioning which has a single correct answer. Examples of objective assessments are multiple choice, true/false, matching, and mathematical equations.

Typically, objective assessments are easy to deliver online. Because the questions within the objective assessment have corresponding answers, a program can evaluate and score these responses, which is especially helpful for courses with a large number of students. Objective assessments also provide immediate feedback to the learners so that they can learn from their mistakes and continue working. The challenge for you is to create quality questions that accurately measure knowledge and skills. When designing the questions, determine what makes a response correct versus incorrect.

Subjective Assessment

Subjective assessment is a form of questioning which may have more than one correct answer. Examples of activities that respond to this type of question include essays, short answer, and oral questions.

Because subjective assessment assignments are more open-ended and are not tied to one specific correct response, it is important that they are evaluated against a set of clearly defined criteria and questions, often in the form of a rubric. When you are creating a subjective assessment rubric, you can codify the expertise and scoring process. One of the biggest advantages of subjective assessments is that they provide you with an authentic and more expansive understanding of each learner’s knowledge of a subject. This will help you assess the learning that is taking place at a higher level, whereas objective assessments are targeted to the lower to middle testing levels.

One factor to consider about subjective assessments is the amount of time it will take you to provide feedback to the learners, and scaling your process to meet the number of students in your course. Create feedback timelines and set expectations with your learners about when they should anticipate hearing back from you. Also consider developing a peer review process where learners assess each other’s work.

Formative Assessment

Instructors leverage formative assessments to modify teaching and learning activities to improve learner performance. These assessments typically involve qualitative feedback for both the learner and teacher that focuses on the details of content and performance.

Formative assessment is integrated throughout an effective online course; the learning goals and outcomes are inherent in each activity and assignment. This will allow you to continuously take inventory of how well specific concepts are being understood. For learners, formative assessments reveal the areas in which they are excelling as well as where they need more work. Because this type of assessment is not attached to a grade or measurement, learners can work through their weaknesses without the fear of failure. Formative assessment is especially useful when it is used to adapt the experience to meet the needs of the learners and help learners monitor their own progress.

Examples of formative assessment:

A language instructor asks students to record an audio greeting using particular nouns and verbs of a given language. The instructor records audio responses to each of the students with feedback on their greeting that details recommendations. An instructor asks learners to reflect in an online journal about concepts covered in a given module in the context of a current event. The instructor can assess how much learning was absorbed and applied in real-world context.

Summative Assessment

Summative assessment is the process of evaluating or measuring learning at the end of a unit or course to determine achievement of the pre-stated learning objectives and course outcomes.

Examples of summative assessments:

• Research Papers

Formal Assessment

Formal assessments are attached to activities that quantify the knowledge gained. Taking an online exam where the results are recorded is one example. A score is usually provided to both the learner and the instructor in a formal assessment, and is used to measure a learner’s performance, which may affect their final grade.

Offering a test towards the beginning of the course that has very little weight attached to it in terms of a grade is an effective way to alleviate learners’ anxiety and prepare them for what is to come. Provide feedback about the incorrect answers so the learners understand why a response is wrong.

Informal Assessment

Informal assessments are similar to formal assessments in the sense that they can be written, and usually provide feedback to the learner and the instructor. The main difference is that the feedback or score does not contribute to a learner’s final grade. Learners can use this guidance to adjust the areas in which to focus their studies.

Informal assessments usually occur in a more casual manner and may include observation, inventories, checklists, rating scales, peer and self-evaluation, and discussion. An informal assessment provides an indication as to how a learner will perform on a formal assessment.

Examples of informal assessment:

• Practice quizzes or tests
• Reflection videos or blog posts
• Group journal entries

Knowledge checks placed within a learning resource can be an informal way to help students determine whether or not they have understood the material. In an online learning environment it is especially helpful to provide students with regular opportunities to monitor their own learning as they move through various topics. Providing questions that check for the understanding of key concepts will help students identify and address any learning gaps in their studies.

• Faculty & Staff

Assessment, rubrics, and grading

Assessment is a word that almost no one loves. It’s often associated with prescriptive testing regimes and a heavy-handed culture of accountability. But assessment is actually central to the entire educational mission because, without it, we can’t say with any degree of confidence that learning has occurred. Ultimately, the goal of assessment transcends simply determining whether learning has happened. Effective assessment aims to collect and analyze information in the service of improving teaching and learning .

Creating assessments

When designed effectively, assessments can provide instructors with information and feedback they can use to improve students’ learning and their teaching. Learn more about designing effective assessments.

Having access to a rubric before the start of an assignment can help students better understand your expectations and what constitutes success in an assignment. Instructors often find that rubrics help improve the consistency of their grading and provide more efficient ways to provide learners with valuable feedback. Learn more about rubrics.

Grading is an extremely complex task and an important part of the instructional process. Grading serves as a feedback loop between the instructor and the student – providing each with information about how to improve. To be effective, your grading and grading policy should be consistent with the learning objectives for your course. Learn more about grading.

Constructing tests

Designing tests is an important part of assessing students’ understanding of course content and their ability to apply their learning. Whether you use frequent, low-stakes assessments (e.g., quizzes) or infrequent, high-stakes assessments (e.g., midterm and final), careful design can help provide you with more reliable information about your students’ learning. Learn more about constructing tests.

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Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

• Teaching and Learning Assessment Overview

Assessment methods are designed to measure selected learning outcomes to see whether or not the objectives have been met for the course. Assessment involves the use of empirical data on student learning to refine programs and improve student learning (Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education by Allen 2004). As you design an assessment plan, be sure to align it to your student-learning objectives and outcomes for the course.

The appropriate assessment method depends on numerous variables, including the learning objective to be measured, the intent of the assessment, the timing of the assessment, and the classroom setting.

A Typology of Assessments

(Assessing Student Learning: A common sense guide by Suskie 2004 and Assessing for Learning: Building a sustainable commitment across the institution by Maki 2004)

Angelo and Cross developed a list of 50 classroom assessment techniques (CAT) that you might consider but not every CAT is appropriate for every situation so faculty should weigh the pro's and con's.pdf and choose the right assessment tool.pdf.

• Assess at the start of the course. By knowing the students’ level of knowledge prior to the course or unit, you can tailor your teaching to better meet their needs.
• Assess student learning often. Rather than only assessing learning at the end of units, assess how well the students are learning at intermediate points as well.
• Multiple choice exams allow for easy testing of large groups of students but are often not the best choice. In situations where multiple choice is the best option, please see these tips for designing multiple choice questions .

Angelo, T.A. & Cross, K.P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: a handbook for college teachers (2 nd ed) . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Barkley, E.F., Major, C.H., & Cross, K.P. (2014). Classroom assessment techniques (2 nd ed) . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bull, B. (2014) 10 Assessment Design Tips for Increasing Online Student Retention, Satisfaction and Learning ( http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/10-assessment-design-tips-increasing-retention-satisfaction-student-learning-online-courses/?campaign=FF140203article#sthash.GAYkXAMH.dpuf )

Maki, P. L. "Beginning with dialogue about teaching and learning." Maki, PL, Assessing for learning: Building a sustainable commitment across the institution, Sterling, VA: Stylus/AAHE (2004): 31-57. Suskie, Linda. "Assessing student learning: A common sense guide. Bolton, MA." (2004).

20-Minute Mentor Tips

Through our institution subscription to 20-Minute Mentor you have countless teaching tip videos available at the click of a button. Here are a few related to this topic:

• How can I use classroom assessment techniques (CATs) online?
• How can I make my multiple choice tests more effective?
• How can I make my exams more accessible?

If you have not signed up for your subaccount, here is how .

For more information, or for a consultation about your course, please contact Faculty Development at CETL. We can help you identify assessment tools that align with your course objectives, and help you determine how best to combine assessments using a variety of approaches across in-person, remote, synchronous, and asynchronous modes. Email us at [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Quick Links

• Aligning to Course Objectives
• Alternative Authentic Assessment Methods
• Formative and Summative Assessment
• Developing Multiple Choice Questions
• Assessment as Feedback
• Quick Tips for Designing Assessments
• Bias and Exclusion in Assessment 
• ChatGPT AI impact on Teaching and Learning
• 50 Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATS)

Consult with our CETL Professionals

Consultation services are available to all UConn faculty at all campuses at no charge.

Course-Level Assessment

Course-level assessment is fundamental to faculty practice. It’s a cyclical process of identifying and articulating student learning goals, aligning those goals with the curriculum, collecting evidence of student learning, interpreting the evidence, and using the evidence to improve your students’ learning. It’s a process that you most likely engage in already but perhaps not systematically or intentionally. Your teaching might incorporate assessment practices to the extent that they seem second nature; our intentions here are to draw attention to the individual steps and decisions that comprise course-level assessment, as well as to introduce assessment approaches that may be helpful to you going forward.

IDENTIFYING STUDENT LEARNING GOALS

When setting learning goals, it’s important to consider both the  content  and  skills  you want your students to take away from the course.

ALIGNING GOALS WITH YOUR COURSE

A clear and direct articulation of learning goals sets the stage for course and assignment design through better aligned goals, objectives, and teaching strategies.

GATHERING EVIDENCE OF LEARNING

How do you know if your students are achieving their learning goals? You need to collect evidence—evidence of different kinds and on different levels. 

INTERPRETING EVIDENCE OF LEARNING

Once you have developed assessment measures for routinely collecting course-level student learning data, the next step is to determine what this evidence tells you about student progress toward the learning goals you have set.

USING EVIDENCE TO IMPROVE LEARNING

Closing the loop for both yourself and your students is the important last step of the assessment process.

The methods, tools, approaches, and examples on these pages demonstrate the many options available for course-level assessment. An ideal process doesn’t exist. Just as there are many different pedagogical approaches, the same is true for course-level assessment. We ask that you consider these various resources and how you might apply them to your own assessment practice.

• Schools & departments

Assessment: Coursework, exams & feedback

An overview of assessment, including coursework, exams & feedback.

You will be assessed by a combination of coursework and exams.  The exact weighting between coursework and exam is listed on the course DRPS entry.  All marks are provisional until they are ratified by the relevant Board of Examiners.

The University of Edinburgh uses a Common Marking Scheme (CMS) for taught student assessment.  Students are marked against this marking scale.  You are not ranked against your peers.  The School of Informatics follows the University Common Marking Scheme.  The link below describes in more detail the level of performance corresponding to the different numeric and alphabetic grades in an Informatics context.

Common Marking Scheme

Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study

Assessed Coursework

Most courses in Informatics involve some form of assessed coursework which can include timed tests.  You will find the deadlines, weighting of each piece of coursework and associated extension rule on the course Learn Ultra page.

Deadlines are usually 12:00 noon but you must always check as individual pieces of coursework may differ. If you think you may miss a coursework deadline you may be able to make an extension request depending on the extension rule for that piece of coursework.

Late coursework and extension requests

Feedback on your progress

The aim of coursework is to help you learn about the subject you are studying.  All Informatics courses will provide you with feedback on your progress, in a variety of different ways. For example, this may be written comments on your work, a feedback sheet detailing performance in different areas, discussion in tutorials, or a special review lecture. You should always take careful note of feedback and make use of it in your studies. 

The University has prepared a range of materials on feedback, and how to use it to best effect, gathered on the Enhancing Feedback website. For information about how and when you will receive feedback in specific courses, see the individual course Learn Ultra pages.  If in doubt, ask your lecturer or tutor directly.

As a student you will usually receive marks and feedback on Informatics coursework within 21 days of submission. Arrangements may be different for particular pieces of work: for example if the work is substantial, such as an extended essay; or the class is very large.

We are committed to ensuring that you receive useful feedback.  Where feedback is falling short, you can use any channel to point this out (lecturers, ITO, year reps, Year Organisers, etc).  The sooner we know, the faster we can act.

Examinations

Informatics examinations are generally in-person and on campus and last for 2 hours.  Additional time is possible with a Schedule of Adjustments as part of Disability and Learning Support . 

Examinations will take place in either the December or May examination diets.  For semester 1 courses exams are usually held in December; semester 2 courses are examined in May.  Some semester 1 courses have exams in semester 2.  The sortable course list has information on exam diets for all Informatics courses:

Sortable Course List 

The examination timetable for the December diet is released during semester 1 and the timetable for the May diet is released during semester 2.  The link below provides details on when the timetable will be available and a full searchable timetable will be published here.   It is essential that you plan to be in Edinburgh for the time of your exam(s). 

Link to Examination timetables

The University Exam Hall Regulations explain what to expect when you enter the exam room and what you can bring with you.

Exam hall Regulations  

Each Informatics exam has instructions on the front page. It's important that you read and follow these instructions.  For example some exams will ask you to answer all questions, others will ask you to answer 2 out of 3 questions.  The front page also includes rules on what can and cannot be used as part of the examination.  For some exams you cannot bring calculators, notes, books or other written or printed material into the exam hall.  Most exams will have one of the following rules and your Course Organiser will tell you which one in advance. 

• This is a NOTES PERMITTED, CALCULATORS NOT PERMITTED examination. Candidates may consult up to THREE A4 pages (6 sides) of notes. CALCULATORS MAY NOT BE USED IN THIS EXAMINATION.
• This is a NOTES PERMITTED, CALCULATORS PERMITTED examination. Candidates may consult up to THREE A4 pages (6 sides) of notes. CALCULATORS MAY BE USED IN THIS EXAMINATION.
• This is a NOTES NOT PERMITTED, CALCULATORS NOT PERMITTED examination. Notes and other written or printed material MAY NOT BE CONSULTED during the examination. CALCULATORS MAY NOT BE USED IN THIS EXAMINATION.
• This is a NOTES NOT PERMITTED, CALCULATORS PERMITTED examination. Notes and other written or printed material MAY NOT BE CONSULTED during the examination. CALCULATORS MAY BE USED IN THIS EXAMINATION.
• This is an OPEN BOOK examination: books, notes and other written or printed material MAY BE CONSULTED during the examination. The use of electronic devices or electronic media is NOT PERMITTED.

Where it is specified that "candidates may consult up to THREE A4 pages (6 sides) of notes", in practice this means that:

• Candidates are allowed to have 3 sheets (6 sides) of A4 paper, with whatever notes they desire, written or printed on one or both sides of the paper.
• Magnifying devices to enlarge the contents of the sheets for viewing are not permitted.
• No further notes, printed matter or books are allowed.
• Candidates with learning profiles that mandate the provision of larger format exam papers are allowed a proportionate increase in the number of sheets of notes taken in. (For example, if a student is given their exam on A3 paper, they will be allowed to take 6 rather than 3 A4 sheets of notes into the exam.)

Calculators

Some Informatics examinations allow you to use a scientific calculator.  Following the College Of Science and Engineering Policy  and Procedure of the Use of Calculators in Examinations it must:

• not be a graphical calculator
• not be programmable
• not have text retrieval capabilities
• not be able to communicate with any other device

You are allowed any calculator that satisfies the above requirements.  Examples of acceptable calculators are:

• Casio fx82 (any version)
• Casio fx83 (any version)
• Casio fx85 (any version)
• Casio fx96 (any version)
• Casio fx991 (any version)
• Texas Instruments: TI30 (any version)
• Sharp: EL-531 (any version)
• HP: HP 10S+, HP 300S+

Please note: The School of Informatics does not provide calculators.  You are entirely responsible for the working order of your own calculators and batteries.  

Other schools within the University may have different policies on providing calculators; please make sure you check this before any exams. 

Past Exam Papers

For established courses, past papers are available from the library archive to assist with preparation.  Model answers are not available.

Regulations and Guidance

Assessment is governed by the Taught Assessment Regulations

Taught Assessment Regs

The University's Assessment and Feedback Principles give guidance on how the School of Informatics organise assessment and feedback.

Assessment and Feedback Principles

Course-Level Assessment

Faculty and instructional staff are responsible for guiding and monitoring student learning throughout the academic program beginning at the course level. When designing new courses or planning current offerings, instructors establish course-level student learning outcomes, which may advance some aspect of the academic program outcomes.

All UW–Madison courses must have course syllabi with clearly articulated student learning outcomes. Find information about UW–Madison’s course approval process .

Benefits of Course Assessment

Frequent use of course assessments provides…

• regular feedback about student progress (quizzes, tests, etc.).
• insight into day-to-day teaching methods and student learning processes.
• students with a means of gauging their own learning and then modify study strategies as appropriate.
• student data and feedback for instructors for course improvements.
• Tips & Examples for Writing Student Learning Outcomes More
• Course Evaluation Surveys More
• Rubrics & Direct Measures More
• Survey & Indirect Measures More

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• Current Students

Assessment: Coursework and Examinations

 2023-24, assessment aims.

Upon successful completion of your studies, you will be able to demonstrate specific learning outcomes:

Undergraduate Students will be able to:

• Outline and evaluate contemporary concepts and empirical evidence in relation to the main areas of social policy formulation and implementation
• Critically evaluate the suitability, implications and effects of social policies in different social sectors and across different national contexts
• Construct persuasive, theoretically informed oral and written arguments in relation to key debates in contemporary social policy
• Apply a comprehensive understanding of social policy as a multi-disciplinary field of study to the analysis of social problems
• Understand and deploy basic qualitative and quantitative research skills in the study of social policy problems

Taught postgraduate students will be able to:

• Explain and evaluate the main theoretical positions in the field of social policy formulation and implementation
• Integrate theory from different disciplinary backgrounds into the analysis of social problems
• Construct persuasive oral and written arguments in relation to key issues of social policy theory and practice
• Conduct and design rigorous research projects using a range of methodologies and epistemologies
• Apply theoretically informed approaches to the analysis of social problems

Each degree programme also has specific learning outcomes linked to Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) standards.

Each programme has a conceptual “spine” of core courses which, in combination with option courses, ensure the full range of learning outcomes are achieved.

Forms of Assessment

The Department provides a combination of different assessment methods within each programme. This approach ensures you develop relevant knowledge and skills, and allows the Department to test your learning effectively.

Formative  assessment develops the knowledge and skills that you acquire at LSE.  Formative  assessment is a compulsory part of every programme and may include: class/seminar discussions and presentations; essays; problem sets; dissertation proposals, mock examinations or quizzes.  Formative  assessment does not count towards your overall degree classification but is designed to prepare you for the summative (assessed) work that you will complete later in the course. The feedback you receive from your formative work will help prepare you for your summative work.

Summative  assessment tests whether you have acquired the learning outcomes described above. This is achieved through a variety of methods including closed book and take-home assessments, presentations, coursework and dissertations.  Summative assessment counts towards your overall degree classification. Individual courses may be assessed by one piece of Summative work or by a combination of different types of summative work.

Whatever the form of assessment on your Social Policy courses, you will find our short but comprehensive guidance documents  here , which will answer questions you may have. 

If your course involves an element of coursework, all information (including details of assessment weightings, submission dates etc.) can be found via the course's Moodle page.

Presentation and Content

You will submit summative coursework via Moodle in electronic format only; no hard copies of your work are accepted. 

In the Department of Social Policy, we operate strict word limits for assessments.  Written work must not exceed the word limit  set out in the assessment details. If it is clear that a piece of coursework exceeds the set word limit, markers will only mark strictly up to the word limit for each of your answers.

If you are taking a course from an outside Department, you should make sure to check their policy regarding word limits as different Departments may have different guidance.

Submission                                                                                                                   

The Department of Social Policy has standard procedures for the submission of summative coursework for its courses (any course with the prefix SP). When submitting your work (essay, long essay, dissertation, project etc.):

• Ensure that your assessed work is submitted anonymously. Your name  must not appear anywhere  on the work or coversheet. Your five-digit candidate number (available via LSE for You in AT) should be the only means of identifying your work. Your candidate number should be on the coversheet. Please do not share details of your candidate number with anybody.  The Department will not accept assessed work from you if you have not included your candidate number.
• All the information you need regarding submitting your assessment is available via the relevant course's Moodle page.         

Penalties for the late submission of Summative Assessment                                     

Every piece of assessed work has a clear deadline. The submission deadlines are to be taken seriously, since penalties may be applied in the case of late submissions.

If you have a summative assessment and circumstances outside of your control may prevent you from meeting the deadline (e.g. you become ill) make sure you talk to the Department as there are some options you can explore, depending on the circumstances. These include applying for an extension or a deferral.

If you don’t successfully apply for either of these, and you submit your work late,  penalties will be applied   as follows:

Summative Essays

• Five marks will be deducted for an essay submitted within 24 hours after the deadline
• A further five marks will be deducted for each subsequent 24 hour period (not limited to working days) until the essay is submitted.
• Essays more than five days late will only be accepted with the permission of the Chair of the Sub-Board of Examiners. These penalties apply immediately after the deadline time for submission on the submission date.

Online Assessments (within a 24 hour window): A penalty of 1 mark will be deducted for each minute beyond the deadline up to 15 marks beyond the deadline. Any work received after this will receive a zero mark.

Online Assessments (within either a 48-hour, 72-hour, one-week, two-week or three-week window):

• For the first 24 hours after assessment submission deadline: Five percentage marks will be deducted for every half-day (12 hours), or part of a half day the assessment is received late. This will result in a maximum penalty of ten percentage marks for the first 24 hours.
• For the period beyond the first 24 hours after assessment submission deadline: Ten percentage marks will be deducted for the first 24 hours as above then five percentage marks will be deducted per 24 hour period (not limited to working days) the assessment is late, or 24 hour period, thereafter

In-person Exams and online assessments

In Person Exams take place during the Spring Term (May/June) and are timetabled by the School. There is also a January exam period which takes place just before the start of WT. The Course Guide for the relevant course will state when the in-person exam is expected to take place. i.e (January/Summer)

Social Policy courses do not have in-person exams, but if you are taking a course outside the Department, you should check if the course(s) you are taking  require(s) you to sit an in-person exam.

Please note that Online Assessments are similar in format to traditional exams, but they are (with the exception of 24 hour take-home assessments) timetabled by the Department rather than the School and you will be informed of their deadlines separately from the School’s in-person exam timetable.

The School's exam timetables are published ahead of the exam periods, either in late Autumn or early Winter Term.

You can obtain your unique candidate number ahead of any assessments, and your personal examination timetable via LSE for You ahead of any in-person exams.

To help you prepare effectively for your exams and online assessments you should make yourself fully aware of the format and syllabus to be covered in the exam/assessment.

Past papers can be accessed via the  Library web pages  (access restricted to LSE network only).

Specimen exam papers (or appropriate exam-type questions) are provided for (i) any new course or (ii) an existing course where there have been significant changes to the syllabus in the current academic year. Permitted materials are also specified early in the year.

All assessed work (coursework and exam scripts) must be anonymous and identified only by candidate number. 

Plagiarism- What is it and how to avoid it?

Plagiarism is the attempt to use the work of others as though it is your own work. This applies whether the work is published or not, and can include the work of other students.

Self-Plagiarism is the re-use of your own work without appropriate referencing. The Department is clear that students cannot submit previously assessed, or elements of, their own work (whether work from their time at LSE or another institution) for assessment- this constitutes self-plagiarism. 

The Department ensures that the School’s rules on Plagiarism are clearly communicated. Each Programme handbook clearly sets out the Department’s policy on plagiarism, signposts students to the School’s guidance, and provides examples of what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it.

The Department is clear that Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism are unacceptable, and will be treated seriously according to the School’s regulations. There are sessions which cover avoidance of plagiarism as part of Programme Dissertation workshops. For additional guidance on how to avoid Plagiarism, you are encouraged to contact your Academic Mentor and  LSE Life .

Further information about Plagiarism .

Turnitin- plagiarism detection software

The School considers academic integrity to be an issue of the utmost importance. Under the  Conditions of Registration  for your programme of study you consented to all of your summative coursework (essays, projects, dissertations, etc.) being analysed by plagiarism detection software.

The Department of Social Policy submits all summative coursework to Turnitin UK for textual similarity review and the detection of plagiarism. Copies of all papers submitted to this software will be retained as source documents in the reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism.

You have the option to submit your coursework to Turnitin yourselves for checking, prior to the final submission of your work. We strongly encourage this practice to make sure that you have not inadvertently plagiarised other work, for which you could still be held responsible.  Here are some Turnitin FAQ's . 

If you wish to submit your coursework to Turnitin yourself, prior to submitting your final piece of work, make sure that you submit it ‘in draft’ on Moodle and NOT ‘for grading’. As long as you submit in draft, you will be able to finalise your coursework before final submission. ONLY when you are sure that you want to finally submit your work for grading should you choose this option. Once your work is submitted for grading, you will not be able to change it.

When you submit the electronic copy in Moodle you will be asked to confirm, at the point of submission, that you understand the School's regulations on plagiarism and assessment, and by submitting your work on Moodle you are confirming that the work you are submitting is your own.

What is feedback?

Feedback is information about your work that you can use to make improvements, and it is an integral part of the teaching and learning process.

Feedback is a two-way process which is most effective when you engage with it fully.

You are informed of the guidelines on assessment and feedback through your  programme handbook  and the  LSE Academic Code .

The Department is committed to providing timely, regular and constructive feedback to you and promotes ‘feedback literacy’ among all its teachers and students to ensure that you understand the full range of feedback methods and opportunities available to you. We encourage you to engage actively with feedback, by learning to recognise when feedback is being given, the different forms it takes, and how best to use it.

The main opportunities you have to receive and discuss feedback are through Classes and Seminars, in Advice and Feedback Hours with your Academic Mentor or another member of Faculty, or via Moodle.

You are expected to understand when feedback is being given and what it means, and to ask for clarification it if is not clear. You may wish to also discuss feedback with fellow students – peer review can provide useful feedback and aid understanding.

When and how is feedback given?

Formative:  Feedback on  formative  work is normally provided within three term-time weeks of submission. It is primarily provided to prepare you for  summative  work. Assignments are returned to you with constructive commentary and guidance for future progress. Feedback is provided in two main forms: in writing (normally using the standard form, including a mark), and orally (students are expected to take notes). Students may also be provided with additional feedback opportunities on their formative work at Academic Mentor meetings.

Summative:  Feedback on  summative  work is normally provided within five term-time weeks of submission, and where possible, prior to future  summative  assessment for summative work submitted in AT and WT. NB.There will be no written feedback for Summative work submitted in the Spring Term (but feedback will be provided for the Dissertation).

Once provisional  overall  marks for a course have been confirmed by the External Examiner, these marks will be released on the School’s  provisional results  page on LSE for You. 

The Department has a general marking framework for both BSc and MSc students which can be found below.

BSc programmes marking framework 

MSc programmes marking framework 

A number of courses have their own versions of the above marking frameworks, adapted to reflect the specific requirements for that course. These can be found on the Moodle page for these courses.

There are three forms of marking which the Department uses. 

For courses which use ‘double-blind’ marking, first and second internal examiners marks each piece of summative work separately, and without any identification of the candidate. The two markers then agree the final internal mark.

Some courses use a method of ‘Sighted double marking’, where all work is examined anonymously by two examiners (as with double-blind marking), but the second marker has sight of the first markers’ marks when reviewing the work.

Some courses use 'single-marking with moderation', where each script is marked by a first marker, and then a selection of scripts are 'moderated' by a second marker to ensure marking standards are consistent. If the moderator finds any inconsistencies, scripts are re-marked.

Careful consideration is given by both the Department and School to ensure that appropriate methods of marking are used on each individual course.

External Examiners receives a representative sample of scripts and other assessed material from every course to review and confirm that internal marking has been consistent and is of an appropriate standard

Marking Schemes for the Award of a Degree:

Classification scheme for the BA/BSc degrees

Scheme for the award of a taught Masters degree (four units)

Taught Masters examination sub-board local rules

What if I need support? Extensions and Exceptional Circumstances

You are encouraged to speak to your Academic Mentor as early as possible if you are experiencing any challenges which are affecting your work. You are also encouraged to speak to your Programmes Support Team who may be able to help.

Requesting an Extension.

Summative work

If you find yourself unable to meet a summative assessment deadline because of illness/injury, bereavement or other serious personal circumstances, and you need to request an extension to the submission deadline, you should do so as early as possible and in advance of the deadline. Useful information outlining the School’s Extension Policy is available  here . 

If you would like to request an extension for SUMMATIVE work on a course based within the Department of Social Policy, the following process will apply. Please send your request to:

BSc level courses:  complete our  BSc extension request form

MSc level courses:  complete our  MSc extension request form

Supporting evidence must be provided with your request, and all evidence must be in English or accompanied by a certified translation. Please refer to our  ‘Standards of Evidence’  table before submitting your supporting evidence. 

In the Department of Social Policy, the Programmes Support team act as the designated contacts for all matters relating to your extension request. Please note that the Department practices anonymous marking, and so the extension process is separated from your course teachers. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact  [email protected]  (for UG enquiries) and  [email protected]  (for MSc enquiries). Please do not contact course convenors directly with any extension or deferral request. If you do have any questions, please contact the relevant Programmes Support team .

Once your extension request and evidence is received, it will be considered by the Chair of the Sub-Board of Examiners . Your Programmes Support team will email you with the outcome of your request, and inform the relevant marker(s). Please note that the final submission of your assessment must still be made via Moodle, regardless of the outcome of your request.

Formative Work

To request an extension on Formative work, please email your Programmes Support team ( [email protected] or [email protected] ) in the first instance, with an outline of what extension you are requesting; the reasons why; and any supporting evidence. 

Exceptional Circumstances

Exceptional circumstances (ECs) concern issues which are unforseen, out of your control and proximate to the timing of an assessment/s you have taken and which you feel may have had a significant impact on your academic performance during an exam, online assessment or other summative assessment. Such circumstances might include, but are not limited to, illness, injury, or bereavement. If you wish to make the Sub-Board of Examiners aware of your circumstances and how these have affected your performance in an assessment/s, please complete the Exceptional Circumstances form ( available here ). The form should be accompanied by supporting evidence of your circumstances (such as doctor's letter, hospital note, death certificate or police report).

Your EC form and supporting documentation must be submitted according to the details available via this webpage .

Under certain circumstances, if you are not in a good position to be able to sit an assessment (i.e., your are not ‘fit-to-sit’, you might be permitted to postpone either one or more assessments to the next appropriate assessment opportunity. This is known as deferral.

You may, for example, experience circumstances which are sudden, unforeseen and outside of your control around the time of one or more assessments. In such a case, you may wish to consider deferring the assessment/s to the next appropriate assessment period.

You can find out more about deferrals here.

Further queries?

If you have any queries please contact  [email protected]  (BSc students) or  [email protected]  (MSc students).

Handbooks for all of our programmes

How to use Feedback effectively A guide for students

Reports External Examiner reports

0454 Coursework Handbook for examination from 2020

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• You are currently on: Assessment (Coursework, Test and Examinations) Policy

Assessment (Coursework, Test and Examinations) Policy

Application.

This policy document applies to all staff members and students in undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses. Separate policy documents govern the assessment of postgraduate research and doctoral students.

To ensure that the processes of assessment in undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses align with the University’s principles of assessment.

This policy should be read with the Assessment (Coursework, Tests and Examinations) Procedures (the “ Procedures ”).

Principles of assessment

• Assessment is learning-oriented through tasks which require the understanding, analysis, synthesis and/or creation of new information, concepts, and/or creative works.
• Assessment design is coherent and supports learning progression within courses and across programmes.
• Assessment tasks are demonstrably aligned with course-level learning outcomes, and programme and University-level Graduate Profiles.
• Assessment is reliable and valid, and is carried out in a manner that is inclusive and equitable.
• Assessment practices are consistent and transparent, and assessment details are made available to students in a timely manner.
• Feedback is timely and provides meaningful guidance to support independent learning.
• Assessment design and practices support academic integrity .
• Professional development opportunities and guidance related to the design, implementation and moderation of assessment are available to staff.
• Assessment is manageable and quality assured.
• Assessment items are the property of the University; this includes: examination papers; students’ completed examination scripts and other items of assessment; marking guides ; and students’ marks.

Roles and responsibilities

1. The Associate Dean Learning and Teaching (ADLT) must ensure that all academic teaching units in the faculty consistently meet the standards required for assessment of student learning.

2. An academic head must ensure that the academic unit meets the quality standards required by the University for assessment of student learning; this includes the nomination of course directors , examiners and assessors.

• A programme leader may be delegated the responsibilities of an academic head for courses offered in a specific programme.

3. A course director must oversee design of assessment processes to ensure that assessments are relevant and aligned with learning outcomes; that the assessment complies with all aspects of policy; and that:

• The structure of assessment is available to all students at the start of semester.
• Appropriate support and supervision is provided for those in a marking role; and must ensure the availability of and access to assessment materials and marking guides, as determined by the academic head.

4. A course coordinator is responsible for the administration and organisation of the course and its assessment acting in conjunction with, and under the supervision of, the course director.

Note: Course director and course coordinator roles will often be combined in one person; where the course coordinator is referred to hereafter this refers to situations where the roles are held by separate individuals.

5. An examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses is responsible for:

• Setting course assessment(s), including the preparation of question papers
• Marking course assessment(s), including supervising other markers such as tutors and teaching assistants
• Ensuring that marking guides are accessible to all course examiners and the assessor
• Certifying the final grades
• Confirming the quality and fairness of results through participation in the examiners’ meeting

Note: The course director is simultaneously an examiner and counts as one of the examiners for the course.

6. An assessor for undergraduate or postgraduate taught courses is responsible for maintaining appropriate and adequate academic standards for all aspects of the assessment process, and provides an independent quality review of assessments and results.

• An assessor must be appointed for any undergraduate or taught postgraduate course which has only one examiner.
• Where required at undergraduate level, an assessor is normally appointed from within the University but may be external.
• Assessors for postgraduate Bachelors Honours, Postgraduate Diploma and Certificate and Masters courses should normally be external to the University, but there may be instances where internal appointments are necessary because of expertise in the field or where the course is subject to a process of external moderation.
• The appointment of an overseas assessor is appropriate where there is no suitable assessor in New Zealand.
• Financial considerations preclude an overseas assessor being invited to visit New Zealand.  Course directors, course coordinators and examiners cannot be appointed as assessors in the same course.

7. An external moderator for postgraduate taught work must undertake, for all or some postgraduate courses taught by an academic unit, a review of the content and grading of examination papers and/or (a sample of) other assessed work.

8. Assessment Services manages, maintains, coordinates, advises and reports on assessment processes and examinations, and provides academic units with support and guidance ( see Assessment (Coursework, Tests and Examinations) Procedures ).

Assessment design

9. Assessment is criterion-referenced , i.e. judgements about the quality of students’ performance must be made by reference to explicit or predetermined criteria and standards .

10. Assessment design must be considered in the context of:

• The course and its learning outcomes. Assessment in all courses must demonstrate coherence and a consideration of learning progression
• The entire degree programme and programme graduate profiles
• University graduate profiles

Note: in programmes where students may choose multiple pathways for progression, faculties have discretion to determine the ways in which assessment design across the programme is as holistic as possible.

11. Assessment tasks will reflect increasing levels of complexity through a programme.

12. Except where it is necessary to test basic conceptual understanding, assessment tasks will be authentic and appropriate to disciplinary and/or professional contexts.

13. Allowing for disciplinary and or professional contexts, the range and weighting of assessment tasks must give students an opportunity to develop competence through formative tasks, and demonstrate mastery through summative tasks.

14. A variety of assessment tasks including, where appropriate, peer-, self- and group-assessment, will be used to provide students with a range of appropriate learning opportunities.

15. The timing of assessment components, where possible, must consider student workloads, coherent learning progression, and provide sufficient opportunities to utilise feedback/feedforward . Students must have the opportunity to complete an early appropriately-weighted or formative assessment exercise, which may vary in scope and type across discipline or class size. Feedback/feedforward on this exercise must be received in time to assist students in preparing for their first substantive assessment in the course.

16. Assessment tasks must ensure that students with disabilities are provided with appropriate opportunities to demonstrate their achievement of learning outcomes.

Note: see Inclusive Learning and Teaching of Students with Impairments Guidelines .

17. Assessment tasks must be designed to develop students’ awareness of and a capacity for academic integrity.

18. Group assessment tasks must be demonstrably fair and clear. To ensure an appropriate component of group work assessment is individually assessed: where an individual group work task has a weighting of higher than 30% of the final grade, a minimum component of 40% must assess individual contribution; where group work tasks across a course comprise more than 30% of the final grade, a minimum component of 40% (calculated across those tasks) must assess individual contribution. Exceptions must be approved by Education Committee (see Assessment (Coursework, Tests And Examinations) Procedures) .

19. Tests which count toward the final result for a course will be conducted under examination conditions.

20. For stage one courses at least 50% of course assessment must occur in invigilated settings, normally achieved through formal examinations and/or tests sat under examination conditions. Exceptions must be approved by Education Committee (see Assessment (Coursework, Tests And Examinations) Procedures) .

21. To ensure diversity of assessment no more than 70% of weighted assessment tasks may be exams and/or tests conducted under examination conditions.

• Forms of plussage should only be used where it is appropriate to the structure of course assessment and the learning outcomes to which they relate.
• The use of plussage in a course must be approved by an Associate Dean Learning and Teaching.
• Where plussage is employed, a minimum of 30% of the final grade must be derived from coursework unless an exception is approved by an Associate Dean Learning and Teaching.

22. Tests with a weighting higher than 20%, including take-home tests, must not be conducted in the final week of teaching, unless justified by the distinctive requirements of the course.

• Exceptions are subject to the approval of an Associate Dean Learning and Teaching.

23. Examinations at stage one will normally be two hours in length. In determining the length of the examination course directors must consider the needs of students and the appropriate scope of the examination, relative to course content and the need for diversity of assessment.

24. Where different levels of courses are taught concurrently the courses must be assessed separately, with different assignments and examinations set for each level using methods and standards appropriate to the level of enrolment. See Concurrent Teaching Policy .

25. Coursework assessment, tests and examination details must be approved by the academic head (or delegate) and are reviewed and approved through the online Course View application managed by Assessment Services (see Assessment (Coursework, Tests And Examinations) Procedures .

Language of assessment

26. Assessment is conducted in English except where:

• The use of another language is a required part of the course.
• Students with an appropriate level of language fluency have made provision to use te reo Māori in assessments, for coursework, tests and/or examinations.

Note: see Assessing Te Reo Māori in Coursework and Examinations Procedures.

Feedback on coursework

27. Feedback to students must specifically address performance against the learning outcomes and criteria of the assessment task.

28. Feedback must be provided in a timely manner and no later than three weeks after the day the assessment was submitted, or sooner when the feedback is required to prepare for subsequent assessments.

Note: this clause does not apply to the early assessment requirement described in item 15.

29. Where a coursework task or test result is relevant to the students’ preparation for the final examination, it must be marked and available to students by the end of the last teaching week of semester (except where an approved test is conducted in the last teaching week of semester).

30. In peer, self or group- assessment exercises staff must provide guidance to support students’ understanding of their responsibilities when evaluating their own and others’ work.

Advice to students

31. Detailed information about assessments for each course must be available in the Canvas course outline and published no later than two weeks prior to the start of teaching. This will include:

• The intended learning outcomes to be assessed
• An assessment table, with: (i) a description of the assessment tasks (ii) the weighting of items; (iii) the due date for submission or testing; (iv) the mode of examination (digital or paper-based); (v) the conditions under which the examination will be sat (if relevant) and (vi) information about minimum pass requirements and plussage, where applicable

Note: see item 21 relating to plussage.

• The conditions for extensions of time (if any)
• Penalties for lateness or violation of assessment specifications (e.g. length)

32. Students must be provided with the criteria against which performance will be measured at the time an assessment is set.

33. Substantive changes to assessment arrangements in a course cannot be made after the publication of the course on Canvas without approval as specified in the Assessment (Coursework, Tests And Examinations) Procedures .

34. Examination papers from previous iterations of a course must be available to students on the Libraries and Learning Services Exam Papers database unless an exemption is approved by the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education).

Examinations for taught courses

35. Examinations are prepared, approved and conducted according to the Examination Regulations and the Assessment (Coursework, Tests And Examinations) Procedures.

Marking assessment items

36. Coursework assessment and tests must be marked against the standards and criteria set for each assessment task.

37. Marks and grades awarded must align with the University’s grade descriptors .

38. Adjustment of marks for coursework, tests and examinations in taught courses may be undertaken where it is evident that the assessment criteria and standards have not been consistently applied in an individual assessment task.

39. Students affected by any such adjustments must be advised as to the rationale for adjustment of marks. Records must be kept within the academic unit and the Associate Dean Academic will report on these instances to Education Committee.

Final marks and grades

40. Final results will be expressed as a letter grade, with a corresponding numerical mark, as outlined in the University’s grade descriptors.

41. A pass mark is 50 percent or more.

42. Use of a 0.5 rounding scheme is considered a standard practice and must be applied consistently within programmes.

43. Final marks on grade or pass/fail boundaries may be reviewed by the Examiners on a case-by-case basis.

44. The attainment descriptors may be adapted to different levels of learning or degree study.

45. Education Committee must approve a course to carry an ungraded pass/fail result and may do so where:

• The course involves a substantial amount of practical work (a minimum of 60 percent) which is carried out over a period of time in which the student is expected to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills to a required standard.
• A fail indicates that the student’s performance is below the minimum level of competence.
• The course is a required part of a programme but carries no points.

46. Ungraded passes do not carry a grade point and are not included in Grade Point Average calculations.

47. All undergraduate or taught postgraduate coursework and test results must be returned electronically to students via Canvas.

48. Academic units must have documented processes in place to ensure the appropriate validity, moderation and approval of results for undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses, before finalisation of marks and grades. This may include:

• The use of marking guides
• Reviewing a sample of work
• Reviewing borderline results
• Statistical analysis

49. External moderation of postgraduate (non-doctoral) coursework will take place on a two or three-year cycle. See Assessment (Coursework, Tests And Examinations) Procedures .

Academic misconduct

50. Most students starting a new programme at the University of Auckland are required to complete the online Academic Integrity Course.

Note: see Section 12, Enrolment and Programme Regulations for exclusions

51. The following text must be included in all course outlines: ‘The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework, tests and examinations as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms. Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review’.

52. All instances where there is evidence of academic misconduct in undergraduate or taught postgraduate coursework, tests or an examination must be dealt with under the provisions of the Student Academic Conduct Statute .

Quality assurance of assessment

53. Academic units must have a process to review and certify course outcomes, and processes for monitoring assessment standards and consistency in coursework, tests, and examinations (see Assessment (Coursework, Tests And Examinations) Procedures ).

Storage and retention of coursework

54. Academic units must have processes to ensure the secure storage of assessment questions and records.

55. Academic units must retain coursework assessment and tests until the nominated period for collection of work, or resolution of disputed marks, has elapsed.

Grievance and appeal procedures

56. Students have the right to query an assessment process in coursework or in a test that they believe to be unfair. See Resolution of Student Academic Complaints and Disputes Statute .

Definitions

Academic head means heads of departments, schools and other teaching and research units; or a delegate such as a programme leader. Academic integrity means the honesty that is presumed when a student submits their work for assessment. It is a key foundation to being a member of the University’s academic community and rests upon shared values such as trust, responsibility, fairness and respect. Academic misconduct means dishonest or inappropriate practices occurring in the preparation and submission of coursework, in a test, or in the context of University examinations. Assessment means the ongoing process of: establishing clear, measurable expected outcomes of student learning; ensuring that students have sufficient opportunities to achieve those outcomes; systematically gathering, analysing and interpreting evidence to determine how well student learning matches outcomes or expectations; using the resulting information to understand and improve student learning. For the purposes of this policy, assessment includes: • assignments during the teaching of a course, normally called coursework • practical, aural and oral work • written tests conducted under examination conditions • ongoing assessment of competence or performance • written (or performance) examination normally conducted at the end of the semester or year Associate Dean Academic is responsible for their faculty's academic programmes, overseeing quality assurance and providing policy and strategic advice on both new and current academic programmes and qualifications. Associate Dean Learning and Teaching is responsible for the overall development of learning and teaching in the faculty, including providing policy and strategic advice to ensure that the faculty creates and fosters an environment that enables a positive student experience. Authentic assessment is a form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks to demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills. Canvas means the University’s Learning Management system. Course coordinators are responsible for the administration and organisation of the courseand its assessment acting in conjunction with, and under the supervision of, the Coursedirector. Course directors are responsible for the overall design and management of the courseto ensure that coursedesign, assessment and delivery support learning outcomes and are aligned to the relevant programme graduate profile. Coursework means assessed components (such as assignments) within a unit of study and does not include tests conducted under examination conditions. In the case of practice disciplines, assessment components may involve ongoing assessment of competence or performance. Criteria means the properties or characteristics by which the quality of something may be judged. Criterion-referenced means that judgements about student performance are based on pre-determined standards and criteria and linked to specified courselearning objectives. Examination conditions means a formal assessment under a specified mode that is normally invigilated and without access to any written, printed or digital resources unless permitted by direction of the Examiner. Feedback/feedforward means the provision of information in such a manner that students are able to improve their work, knowledge, or competence in later assessments. Formative assessment means any assessment practice carried out early enough in a coursewith the purpose of providing students feedback that enables them to develop their learning. An important goal is to enable students to develop the capacity to realistically and verifiably evaluate the effectiveness of their learning strategies and outcomes. Formative assessment should also alert teachers to any aspects of the courseor approaches to teaching with which students are having difficulties, and permit modifications that mitigate those difficulties. Formative assessment may be weighted or unweighted. Grade descriptors mean the characteristics of performance for assessed items of work in taught courses. See: Grade Descriptors Policy for undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses. Grade Point Average means an average calculated using a scale to give each grade received a numerical value. ‘Withdrawals’, ‘did not sit’ and ‘did not complete’ results are counted as zero. Learning progression means the description of a continuum of skills, knowledge, and competencies within a courseand across a programme that can be mapped to standards or qualities of learning outcomes. Marking guides - for the purpose of this policy - include rubrics, assessment criteria, marking schemes, exemplars, criterion-referenced guides prepared for students, and any tool or scheme used to assist in the marking of items of assessment. Moderation (for undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses) means activities undertaken to provide confirmation that assessment has been conducted reliably, fairly, and validly and that assessment scores or grades have been dependably calculated or awarded. Plussage as defined by this policy is a method of calculating marks a student has gained in a taught courseby counting either: an examination or test mark; or a combination of exam, test and coursework marks; whichever is to the student’s advantage. Additional requirements for eligibility for plussage may apply, including for example: a minimum result required in the examination; a minimum standard for completion of coursework; and/or attendance at laboratories or tutorials.

Note - an assessment arrangement where an agreed subset of coursework marks is counted towards the final grade (e.g. best eight of ten quiz results) is not considered plussage.

Programme leader means a programme director, major or specialisation leader, or an equivalent with defined responsibilities for a specific programme. Standards are a definite level of achievement aspired to or attained. Substantive changes to assessment means a change to an assessment task type, the weighting of an assessment task, or advancing the deadline of the assessment tasks. Summative assessment means a judgment regarding each student’s level of achievement for any given assignment. The results of this type of assessment are generally expressed as marks, percentages, grades, or qualifications. Summative assessment may be defined as a measure of a student’s performance or level of achievement at the end of a unit of study. Tutors include staff teaching under supervision, such as graduate teaching assistants and teaching assistants. Teaching staff refers to an individual employed by the University on a full or part-time basis to provide instruction to students in taught courses. University means Waipapa Taumata Rau - University of Auckland and includes all subsidiaries. University Graduate Profiles means a set of attributes attainable by graduates of the University of Auckland. Weighting (of assessment) means the percentage of the total assessment for the courseallocated to an assessment task.

Key relevant documents

Assessment (Coursework, Tests and Examination) Procedures Assessing Te Reo Māori in Coursework and Examinations Procedures Concurrent Teaching Policy Examination Regulations Grade Descriptors Policy Inclusive Learning and Teaching of Students with Impairments Guidelines Omnibus Amendment Statute 2023 Resolution of Student Academic Complaints and Disputes Statute Student Academic Conduct Statute Student Charter Student Retention Policy University Graduate Profiles

Document management and control

Owner : Pro Vice-Chancellor Education Content manager : Manager, Academic Quality Office Approved by : Council Date approved : 18 May 2023 Review date : 18 May 2028  

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Basic PREP Statistics Self-Assessment

Available: 05/01/2024-04/30/2027

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Description

Basic PREP Statistics Self-Assessment is an online case-based assessment curated by experts to help physicians acquire an understanding of statistical concepts. This self-assessment covers basic concepts such as types of variables, distribution of data, hypothesis testing, statistical tests, and measurements of association and effect.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand how statistical data is used in research
• Analyze statistical data to interpret research findings to determine the best course of treatment for patients
• Identify knowledge gaps in the area of statistics and follow up with suggested readings for additional study

A subscription to Basic PREP Statistics, online only, includes:

• Total of 44 questions and critiques
• All questions published May 2024
• MOC Part 2 & CME credit

Course Details

• Start Date: May 1, 2024
• Online Access Expires: April 30, 2027
• Credit Expires: April 30, 2027
• Course ID: 61295

Contributors:

• Amanda D. Castel, MD, MPH, FAAP, AAHIVS
• Matthew Garber, MD, FAAP, FHM
• Gauri Raval, MD, MPH, FAAP
• Jonathan Slaughter, MD, MPH
• Brigilda Teneza, MD, MPH, MBA, FAAP
• Jeffrey Craig Winer, MD, MA, MSHS, FAAP
• Charles R. Woods, MD, MS

AAP Member: $179

Post-Residency Training Member: $136

Non-Member: $299

AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

Enduring Materials

AAP Credit Only

NAPNAP Contact Hours

All completion requirements must be met before notification to the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP).

The point assignments are managed by the ABP and subject to change. Visit  http://www.abp.org  for more information.

AAPA Credit Hours

Physician - Basic PREP Statistics Self-Assessment

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The AAP designates this enduring material for a maximum of 10.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ . Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This activity is acceptable for a maximum of 10.00 AAP credits. These credits can be applied toward the AAP CME/CPD Award available to Fellows and Candidate Members of the AAP.

This activity is approved for 10.00 points of MOC Part 2 credit by the American Board of Pediatrics through the AAP MOC Portfolio Program.  All approved activities must be completed by the MOC Credit Approval End Date. All deadlines and MOC point values should be confirmed by checking the ABP Activity Catalog within each physician’s ABP Portfolio. Consult your ABP portfolio at www.abp.org  for details about your specific certification requirements. For questions about how to access this activity, contact [email protected] .

PAs may claim a maximum of 10.00 Category 1 credits for completing this activity. NCCPA accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from organizations accredited by ACCME or a recognized state medical society.

This program is accredited for 10.00 NAPNAP CE contact hours of which 0.00 contain pharmacology (Rx) content, (0.00 related to psychopharmacology) (0.00 related to controlled substances), per the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) Continuing Education Guidelines. The AAP is designated as Agency #A17. Upon completion of the program, each participant desiring NAPNAP contact hours must send a completed certificate of attendance to [email protected]. Payment of $15 for NAPNAP members and nonmembers is required via credit card for all NAPNAP contact hour requests. Keep this certificate for your records for six (6) years. Requests for duplicate certificates should be made to the AAP.

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Price:: 299.00

Teeing off a new tradition with UC’s Ed Latessa Memorial Golf Outing

A truly fun fundraising event, the school of criminal justice tournament revives an annual excursion.

On April 23, 2024, members of the University of Cincinnati’s School of Criminal Justice and Corrections Institute, part of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and Information Technology (CECH), gathered with family and friends at Glenview Golf Course in Glendale, Ohio, for a round of golf. This wasn’t just any day on the greens, though – this was the inaugural Ed Latessa Memorial Golf Tournament.

Allie Latessa and her sister, Amy, put together a team to celebrate their father's memory at the inaugural Ed Latessa Golf Outing. Photo/CECH Marketing

To understand the importance of the event, one has to travel back in time to 1999, when beloved Criminal Justice school director Ed Latessa invited faculty and staff from the school, graduate students and their families to celebrate the end of the academic year with him at Reeves Golf Course (by Lunken Airport) for 18 holes. There were floral Hawaiian shirts aplenty; there was also lots of subpar golf at what Latessa came to call “the Potato Patch” (he broke his club on the first hole with an overpowered swing). But winning was hardly a priority. The day ended with a large picnic, and an annual tradition was born.

Tragically, Latessa passed away in early 2022 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. The university, college and school mourned the loss of the iconic criminologist, and colleagues attempted to keep the golf tradition, which had struggled to rebound after COVID-19 lockdowns.

“I grew up coming to this every year – to the barbeque and the picnic part,” says Latessa’s daughter Allie. She donned one of her father’s floral shirts to this year’s golf outing, where she played on a team with her sister, Amy. “He loved it. Every year, he would make us come. We’d be like, ‘We don’t want to go!’ but he’d be like, ‘No, you’ve gotta come and eat!’ He just loved it. UC was a family to him, so of course he extended that to us.”

Ian Silver, Christopher D'Amato and Eric Willoughby walk Glenview Golf Course in Hawaiian shirts, the favored golf attire of Ed Latessa. Photo/CECH Marketing

“That’s how Ed was – good food, lots of connecting,” says the school’s Corrections Institute executive director, Myrinda Schweitzer Smith . “The golf was just a reason to get everyone together at the end of the semester.”

The 2024 golf outing, however, was a reimagining of Latessa’s annual day at the Potato Patch. Relocated to Glenview, the event now serves as a fundraiser through the University of Cincinnati Foundation , raising money for the Edward J. Latessa Fund for Doctoral Student Support . Friends of Latessa stepped forward financially in his honor, with CECH dean Larry Johnson sponsoring the dinner and professor emerita Pat VanVoorhis serving as drinks sponsor.

Ed Latessa, pictured here at a previous annual golf outing, loved to celebrate the semester's end with a day on the links, Hawaiian shirts and a lot of smiles . Photo/School of Criminal Justice

“This is the first time we’ve done it as a memorial and as a fundraiser,” says School of Criminal Justice director J.C. Barnes . “And of course we’ve made it in honor of Ed Latessa. He loved coming out to the golf event every year with a really annoying Hawaiian shirt and a bunch of really cheap cigars. We’re hoping to raise a lot of money for students.”

“With the establishment of the fund, we thought that would be a good way to preserve or memorialize the legacy of Ed while also doing the thing he liked to do,” says associate professor Josh Cochran , who first conceptualized the golf outing as a particularly fun fundraising opportunity. “The first tournament I played in … Ed looked at me and wondered if I was going to be very good. He teed off, then waited to watch me tee off, watched me shank the ball right into the woods. And he said, ‘Oh, we’re going to be fine.’”

The inaugural event was a rousing success, with Sabine Flessa from the University of Cincinnati Foundation reporting 45 attendees – a three-fold increase over previous years – and a total of more than $7,000 to support the academic endeavors and associated expenses of doctoral students enrolled in the Criminal Justice program. And organizers are already looking forward to next year’s outing, which they envision being bigger and better. Cochran hopes that undergraduate students join in on the fun in coming years, too.

But the event’s biggest success? The golf outing, with its food, fun and floral shirts, was a day of true camaraderie and celebration that captured Latessa’s love for the School of Criminal Justice community.

“It’s so nice,” says Allie. “He would love this.” 

Featured image at top of 2024 golf outing. Photo provided by CECH Marketing.  

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University of Cincinnati's School of Criminal Justice is committed to offering a comprehensive range of degree programs to help students build a successful career in the dynamic field of criminal justice. The top-ranked school is home to highly experienced faculty, impactful research centers and exciting study abroad opportunities that continue to make a positive impact on the world.

Featured image at top: Participants in the inaugural Ed Latessa Golf Outing gather behind a photo of Ed Latessa. Photo/CECH Marketing

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May 3, 2024

On April 23, 2024, members of the University of Cincinnati’s School of Criminal Justice, part of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and Information Technology (CECH), gathered with family and friends at Glenview Golf Course in Glendale, Ohio, for a round of golf. This wasn’t just any day on the greens, though – this was the inaugural Ed Latessa Memorial Golf Tournament.

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