Designing Assessment For Quality Learning

This book brings together internationally recognised scholars with an interest in how to use the power of assessment to improve student learning and to engage with accountability priorities at both national and global levels. It includes distinguished writers who have worked together for some two decades to shift the assessment paradigm from a dominant focus on assessment as measurement towards assessment as central to efforts to improve learning. These writers have worked with the teaching profession and, in so doing, have researched and generated key insights into different ways of understanding assessment and its relationship to learning. The volume contributes to the theorising of assessment in contexts characterised by heightened accountability requirements and constant change. The book’s structure and content reflect already significant and growing international interest in assessment as contextualised practice, as well as theories of learning and teaching that underpin and drive particular assessment approaches. Learning theories and practices, assessment literacies, teachers’ responsibilities in assessment, the role of leadership, and assessment futures are the organisers within the book’s structure and content. The contributors to this book have in common the view that quality assessment, and quality learning and teaching are integrally related. Another shared view is that the alignment of assessment with curriculum, teaching and learning is linchpin to efforts to improve both learning opportunities and outcomes for all. Essentially, the book presents new perspectives on the enabling power of assessment. In so doing, the writers recognise that validity and reliability - the traditional canons of assessment – remain foundational and therefore necessary. However, they are not of themselves sufficient for quality education. The book argues that assessment needs to be radically reconsidered in the context of unprecedented societal change. Increasingly, communities are segregating more by wealth, with clear signs of social, political, economic and environmental instability. These changes raise important issues relating to ethics and equity, taken to be core dimensions in enabling the power of assessment to contribute to quality learning for all. This book offers readers new knowledge about how assessment can be used to re/engage learners across all phases of education.

This book examines the principles and practice of authentic assessment. It seeks to answer the following questions. What is authentic assessment? How is authentic assessment different from 'performance assessment' or 'alternative assessment'? How can authentic assessment support learner-centred education, especially when a performance-oriented culture favours pen-and-paper examinations? The book is structured into two major parts. The first, 'Principles of authentic assessment design', provides readers with a conceptual explanation of authenticity; the principles for designing quality authentic assessments for valid evidence of student learning; and guidance about how to develop quality rubrics to structure assessment tasks. The second part of the book, 'Theory into practice' provides examples developed by teachers to demonstrate an understanding of authentic assessment. The subject areas covered include humanities, languages, mathematics, sciences, character and citizenship. Two case studies are discussed to demonstrate how authentic assessment can be used to comprehensively address key learning objectives in a variety of curriculum contexts. This book provides practitioners with concrete examples on how to develop authentic assessment to suit their context and also enhance their students’ learning. The book will also enable teachers to face assessment challenges present in our changing world.

Fully engage learners in your classroom. Discover how to create high-quality assessments using a five-phase design protocol. Explore types and traits of quality assessment, and learn how to develop assessments that are innovative, effective, and engaging. Evaluate whether your current assessments meet the design criteria, and discover how to use this process collaboratively with your team.

"How might we might help teachers use classroom assessments to gather appropriate evidence for all valued learning goals? How might our classroom assessments serve to promote learning, not just measure it? This book addresses these questions by offering a practical and proven Assessment Planning Framework. The Framework examines four different types of learning goals, considers various purposes and audiences for assessment, reviews five categories of assessment methods, and presents options for communicating results. This updated edition addresses the assessment of academic standards as well as transdisciplinary outcomes (e.g., 21st century skills), and describes the principles and practices underlying standards-based grading"--

Assessment has provided educational institutions with information about student learning outcomes and the quality of education for many decades. But has it informed practice and been fully incorporated into the learning cycle? Conrad and Openo argue that the potential inherent in many of the new learning environments being explored by educators and students has not been fully realized. In this investigation of a variety of assessment methods and learning approaches, the authors aim to discover the tools that engage learners and authentically evaluate education. They insist that moving to new learning environments, specifically those online and at a distance, afford opportunities for educators to adopt only the best practices of traditional face-to-face assessment while exploring evaluation tools made available by a digital learning environment in the hopes of arriving at methods that capture the widest set of learner skills and attributes.

“Biggs and Tang, now with Kennedy, have ensured this new edition remains an international leader for university teaching for the next decade.” Denise Chalmers AM, Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia, Australia “This book, a fifth edition, can truly be called a “classic” on the topic of teaching, learning and curriculum design in higher education.” Michael Prosser, Honorary Professorial Fellow, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, Australia “You should be inspired to increase the quality of your teaching, your learning, and your learning about teaching.” John R. Kirby, Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology, Queen’s University, Canada The concept of constructive alignment has supported generations of students and teachers within higher education. It is a ‘backward design’ method of teaching where the student outcomes are identified first and the teacher then designs teaching activities to enable students to achieve those outcomes, assessing how well they have been achieved. Each chapter outlines how to design the learning outcomes, teaching and assessments for success in learning. This updated edition of Teaching for Quality Learning at University: • Provides a comprehensive, research-based theory of teaching for teacher reflection • Outlines how educational technology can be used in constructively aligned teaching • Helps staff developers to provide support for staff and departments in line with institutional policies • Offers a framework for quality assurance and quality enhancement across a whole institution Teaching for Quality Learning at University continues to be used as a framework for designing higher education teaching systems globally and is essential reading for those in the field. John Biggs has held Chairs in Education in Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. He has published extensively on student learning and the implications of his research for teaching. He developed his concept of constructive alignment at the University of Hong Kong, first outlined in Teaching for Quality Learning at University in 1999. Catherine Tang has over 15 years of teaching experience in tertiary education and is the former Head of the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Supervision at the Education University of Hong Kong (the then Hong Kong Institute of Education) and the Educational Development Centre at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Gregor Kennedy is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Melbourne, Australia and a Professor of Higher Education in the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education.

A bestselling book for higher education teachers and adminstrators interested in assuring effective teaching.

Bridging the gap between theory and practice, this fully updated new edition of Designing Learning offers accessible guidance to help those new to teaching in higher education to design and develop a course. With new considerations to the higher education context, this book uses current educational research to support staff in their endeavour to design and develop modules and degree courses of the highest quality. Offering guidance on every stage, from planning to preparing materials and resources, with a focus on the promotion of learning, this book considers: Course design models and shapes, and their impact on learning How the external influences of learning and teaching are translated by different institutions How to match the content of a course to its outcomes Frameworks to enable communication between staff and students about expectations and standards Taking into account the diverse student population when designing a course The place of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), communication tools and systems for monitoring students' engagement The importance of linking all aspects of the taught curriculum and wider co-/extra-curricular activities to support learning Ways to evaluate and enhance a course and to develop oneself as a teaching professional in HE. Providing advice, illustrative examples and case studies, Designing Learning is a comprehensive guide to designing a high-quality course. This book is a must-read for any academic looking to create or update their course or module.