Assessment literacy and student learning: the case for explicitly developing students ‘assessment literacy’

Smith, Carl; Worsfold, Katie Ann; Davies, Lynda; Fisher, Ron; McPhail, Ruth

doi:10.1080/02602938.2011.598636

Cited by 158 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This definition does not differentiate between the stakeholders, and indeed different authors focus on the various stakeholders in a variety of ways. Smith et al (2013), for example, place emphasis on students, conceptualizing their assessment literacy as having three dimensions: to understand the purpose of assessment, awareness of the process of assessment, and the ability to judge their own responses and reflect on personal strengths and weaknesses. Popham (2011) does not differentiate between stakeholders: 'Assessment literacy consists of an individual's understandings of the fundamental assessment concepts and procedures deemed likely to influence educational decisions' (Popham, 2011: 267).…”

Section: Assessment Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflections on academics' assessment literacy

Lees¹,

Anderson²

2015

London Review of Education

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This small-scale, mixed-methods study aims to investigate academics' understanding of formative and summative assessment methods and how assessment literacy impacts on their teaching methods. Six semi-structured interviews and a scrutiny of assessments provided the data and results suggest that while these academics understand summative assessment, they have a poorer awareness of the implementation of well-constructed formative assessment. While the academics were able to clearly articulate the perceived benefits to students from undertaking formative assessments, they were less able to identify potential benefits for themselves as educators, so these went largely unrealized. Opportunities therefore exist for tutors to utilize the outcomes of formative assessment to improve student performance, particularly around tutor-reflection to amend future learning and teaching approaches in line with the theory underpinning summative and formative assessment methods. The study highlights the importance of considering all stakeholders when thinking about assessment literacy.

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Section: Assessment Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflections on academics' assessment literacy

Lees¹,

Anderson²

2015

London Review of Education

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“…Rubrics can also be deployed in whole-of-programme approaches; for example, The Value Project provides both students and academics with standards across degree programmes and into professional careers (Rhodes, 2010). Smith, Worsfold, Davies, Fisher, and McPhail (2011) found use of discussion and application of assessment rubrics to improve students' assessment literacy significantly improves student performance.…”

Section: Curriculum Mappingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Hunting and gathering: new imperatives in mapping and collecting student learning data to assure quality outcomes

Lawson

Taylor

French

et al. 2014

Higher Education Research & Development

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Assurance of learning (AOL) is a quality enhancement and quality assurance process used in higher education. It involves a process of determining programme learning outcomes and standards, and systematically gathering evidence to measure students' performance on these. The systematic assessment of whole-of-programme outcomes provides a basis for curriculum development and management, continuous improvement, and accreditation. To better understand how AOL processes operate, a national study of university practices across one discipline area, business and management, was undertaken. To solicit data on AOL practice, interviews were undertaken with a sample of business school representatives (n = 25). Two key processes emerged: (1) mapping of graduate attributes and (2) collection of assurance data. External drivers such as professional accreditation and government legislation were the primary reasons for undertaking AOL outcomes but intrinsic motivators in relation to continuous improvement were also evident. The facilitation of academic commitment was achieved through an embedded approach to AOL by the majority of universities in the study. A sustainable and inclusive process of AOL was seen to support wider stakeholder engagement in the development of higher education learning outcomes.The rigour and relevance of tertiary business education standards has been a matter of much recent discontent and debate. Martell and Caldron (2009) cited growing public dissatisfaction with the quality of US college education, and Bennis and O'Toole (2004) have highlighted how MBA programmes have been criticised for failing to develop skills and values in graduates, criticisms that have arisen not only from students, employers and the media but also from deans of prestigious business schools. A recent UK government white paper, Students at the heart of the system (2011), set out the quality challenges of a changing higher education environment, recognising the need to strengthen the processes and to adapt and reinforce systems to improve practice. In Australia, the recently established regulatory body, Tertiary Education Quality

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“…Students' level of performance in their subsequent assessment is consequently enhanced (Hendry et al, 2012;Payne and Brown, 2011;Price et al, 2012;Smith et al, 2013;Wimshurst and Manning, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Providing exemplar-based ‘feedforward’ before an assessment: The role of teacher explanation

Hendry

White

Herbert

2016

Active Learning in Higher Education

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We know from research across all levels of education that feedback and interactive teaching have the greatest positive effect on students' achievement. However, in higher education, teachers' constructive feedback often logistically cannot be delivered in time for all students to apply to future tasks. In this article, we report on a study of an interactive teaching approach using assignment exemplars to provide students with before-task 'feedback' or feedforward. We evaluated the effectiveness of the approach through a questionnaire and analysis of students' grades. Our results show that while the teacher's explanation of the exemplars was an important positive factor in students' achievement, some students did not improve their performance although they understood the quality of work expected. We discuss implications for teachers in teaching discipline-writing skills as part of an exemplar-based approach to providing feedforward. Assessment and exemplar-based feedforwardIt is known from meta-analyses of research across all levels of education that the factors which have the greatest positive effect on students' achievement (with effect sizes over 0.8) are feedback

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Assessment literacy and student learning: the case for explicitly developing students ‘assessment literacy’

Cited by 158 publications

References 12 publications

Reflections on academics' assessment literacy

Reflections on academics' assessment literacy

Hunting and gathering: new imperatives in mapping and collecting student learning data to assure quality outcomes

Providing exemplar-based ‘feedforward’ before an assessment: The role of teacher explanation

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