What can be done to verify and stimulate the quality of the assessment at the level of a subject or module?
This is often seen as one of the most complex tasks for an Examination Board. What can be done to make sure and be sure that all assessments are of good quality? Below some suggestions and ideas.
Work preventively, promote a quality culture, encourage and support examiners. For this purpose attention can be paid to, among other things:
- appointing competent examiners (for instance by stimulating participation in courses in this field and obtaining of an UTQ certificate);
- regular attention to assessment-related themes by means of e.g. lunch meetings, sessions during study days of the education programme, making it an agenda item in teacher meetings, etc.
- clear rules and guidelines for testing & assessment, protocols that are well-known and followed;
- the provision of relevant resources (manuals, toolbox, an advisor);
- implementing structural peer review and/or intervision between lecturers;
- asking for accountability for the assessment practice by means of 'assessment plans' at course and/or module level (What will be in it? Who will look at these plans? What is its purpose?)
The following measures, among others, can be used to check the quality of assessments afterward:
- request accountability by means of assessment dossiers (Decide: What should be in it? Who will look at it? What is the purpose?);
- doing a quality check by means of an evaluation to be carried out by the examiners themselves, based on an analysis of the results of the assessment (total results, result at question or criteria level) and student evaluations;
- assessment screenings carried out by an expert, an appointed assessment committee, (a group of) peers.
Being alert to signals. Signals can be picked up from, for example:
- student evaluations;
- complaints from students
- extreme, striking assessment results (What will be the norm?)