Project Objectives
The project is to explore how teachers design a variety of assessment tasks that align with the intended learning outcomes in courses, such that these tasks may contribute to students developing professional capabilities and transferable skills. As a pilot, it aims to raise their awareness of good assessment design, help students to understand the purposes of assessment tasks and ways to provide effective student support.
Description of process, outcomes or deliverables
A dialogic approach was adopted that included an initial meeting with faculty members, a meeting with students nominated by their teachers and a second meeting with faculty members to share the outcomes of views and perspectives expressed by the sample students on the assessment tasks.
Through the four stages, the project (1) conducted three workshops on assessment; (2) invited nine teaching staff to participate and held initial discussions; (3) interviewed 21 students nominated by their teachers; and (4) prepared summaries of student perspectives on assessment experiences to be shared with these faculty members in the second meeting. Current findings indicate that teachers communicate with their students on the expectations of assessment tasks and ways of providing feedback to a varied degree.
Evaluation
A survey with participating members is to be conducted on the value and usefulness of the dialogic process in October 2016 after completion of stage four of the project.
Dissemination, diffusion and impact
Three workshops on good practice on assessment were organized, and an invited seminar on effective assessment was conducted in the Faculty of Business Administration by the Principal Supervisor in June 2016. More professional development activities on effective assessment practices are to be organized through the Centre for Learning Enhancement And Research (CLEAR) or in departments in the coming academic year. Outcomes of the project are to be presented in the Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2016, and conference proposals are planned to be submitted in 2016–17.
