Facilitating Student Learning And Engagement In Higher Education Through Assessment Rubrics

Despite significant reforms in the past decade in relation to criteria- and standards-based assessment in tertiary education contexts, assessment remains the most significantly criticised aspect of the student tertiary experience and a major driver of student engagement. The key tool in this experience is the rubric, also known as the criteria sheet or the ‘Guide to Making Judgments’. This book discusses the significance of assessment rubrics in tertiary education. Assessment rubrics impact the student experience in multiple ways: as a guide to students and assessors prior to grading; at the point of grading by the assessor; when moderating during the post-grading process; in providing an additional guide to students in the assessment planning stage; and as a feedback mechanism to students once results are released. This book explains how the rubric reflects key principles of assessment. It explores different models of rubrics used in tertiary contexts, and provides data from students and academics on the efficacy of these various models as the key tool when marking, moderating and providing feedback. It also details exemplars of rubrics used in academic disciplines, and discusses how higher education teachers use exemplars and how they integrate exemplars with criteria and rubrics. It captures the student voice by explaining how students use rubrics for self-assessment and self-regulation purposes. A key inclusion is the importance of sessional staff input into the creation of assessment rubrics prior to the grading, moderating and feedback processes.

The project focuses on collaboratively constructing and using assessment resources designed in partnership between teachers and students in higher education contexts. Traditionally, the early stages of assessment design were the domain of teachers. In recent years, many educators and researchers have called for increased levels of involvement by students during the development of assessment criteria, instructions and rubrics. By engaging students to work collaboratively with their university teachers to prepare and create assessment guidelines and rubrics, there is a greater potential for students to take ownership of and be accountable for their own learning outcomes. The aim of the project was to investigate the innovative and collaborative use of assessment rubrics, in partnership between students and academic staff, in order to develop a model of collaborative rubric practice that is applicable in higher education contexts. The context of the project was important as it was conducted across six cohorts of undergraduate students and their university teacher s from five different disciplines in three higher education institutions. The varied contexts provided a range of settings, each of which represented multiple cases to explore across multiple sites. A mixture of different degree year levels was also represented. The project approach adopted a four-phase design across a two-year period. Employment of the project's methodology began in Phase 1 with team organisation, establishing project boundaries, scope and aims, and the construction of da ta gathering instruments required for Phase 2. Phase 2 employed the Delphi technique to establish the characteristics of effective rubric design, informed by a comprehensive literature review and advice provided by members of an expert panel. The outcome of Phase 2 was an instrument, the Effective Rubric Characteristics Inventory (ERCI) that guided the subsequent rubric co- construction processes followed by six cohorts. Also during Phase 2, a multiple case-study approach was adopted in which six cohorts of students at three institutions worked with their lecturers to co-construct a rubric that they would use in the following or same semester. The lecturers and students in each cohort were guided by a protocol including the ERCI and a set of recommendations for practice to enact when co-constructing assessment rubrics. In Phase 3, the six cohorts of students and their lecturers at three institutions used their co-constructed projects, guided by another set of protocols of practice. Data about the lecturers' and students' perceptions of these processes were gathered during Phases 2 and 3. Finally, in Phase 4, a model for rubric co-construction and use was designed. The Model for Collaborative Rubric Construction and Use is housed in the project's website which will be disseminated through workshops for members of the Australian higher education sector. [Executive summary, ed]

The world of education has undergone major changes within the last year that have pushed online instruction to the forefront of learning. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become paramount to the continued and uninterrupted teaching of students and has forced students and teachers alike to adjust to an online learning environment. Though some have already returned to the traditional classroom, or plan to very soon, others have begun to appreciate the value of online education – initiatives that had previously been discussed but never acted upon as they have been in the past year. With plenty of positive and negative aspects, online learning is a complex issue with numerous factors to consider. It is an issue that must be studied and examined in order to improve in the future. Curriculum Development and Online Instruction for the 21st Century examines the issues and difficulties of online teaching and learning, as well as potential solutions and best practices. This book includes an examination on the value of teaching fully via the internet as well as the challenges inherent in the training of teachers to teach in online environments. While addressing key elements of remote learning, such as keeping student data safe, as well as methods in which to engage students, this book covers topics that include assessment tools, teaching deaf students, web technology, and standardized curricula. Ideal for K-12 teachers, college faculty, curriculum developers, instructional designers, educational software developers, administrators, academicians, researchers, and students, this book provides a thorough overview of online education and the benefits and issues that accompany it.

50 Techniques for Engaging Students and Assessing Learning in College Courses Do you want to: Know what and how well your students are learning? Promote active learning in ways that readily integrate assessment? Gather information that can help make grading more systematic and streamlined? Efficiently collect solid learning outcomes data for institutional assessment? Provide evidence of your teaching effectiveness for promotion and tenure review? Learning Assessment Techniques provides 50 easy-to-implement active learning techniques that gauge student learning across academic disciplines and learning environments. Using Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning as its organizational framework, it embeds assessment within active learning activities. Each technique features: purpose and use, key learning goals, step-by-step implementation, online adaptation, analysis and reporting, concrete examples in both on-site and online environments, and key references—all in an easy-to-follow format. The book includes an all-new Learning Goals Inventory, as well as more than 35 customizable assessment rubrics, to help teachers determine significant learning goals and appropriate techniques. Readers will also gain access to downloadable supplements, including a worksheet to guide teachers through the six steps of the Learning Assessment Techniques planning and implementation cycle. College teachers today are under increased pressure to teach effectively and provide evidence of what, and how well, students are learning. An invaluable asset for college teachers of any subject, Learning Assessment Techniques provides a practical framework for seamlessly integrating teaching, learning, and assessment.

A critical issue in higher education is the effective implementation of assessment with the core purpose of promoting productive student learning. This edited collection provides a state-of-the-art discussion of recent, cutting-edge work into assessment for learning in higher education. It introduces a new theme of scaling up, which will be welcomed by theorists, researchers, curriculum leaders and university teachers, and showcases the work of leading figures from Australia, England, continental Europe and Hong Kong. The work illuminates four key elements: (1) Enabling assessment change; (2) Assessment for learning strategies and implementation; (3) Feedback for learning; (4) Using technology to facilitate assessment for learning. Solidly research-based and carrying important implications for enhanced practice in assessment for learning at the university level, it is a must read for academic developers, researchers, university teachers, academic leaders and all those interested in assessment matters.

Assessment in higher education is an area of intense current interest, not least due to its central role in student learning processes. Excellence in University Assessment is a pioneering text which contributes to the theory and practice of assessment through detailed discussion and analysis of award-winning teaching across multiple disciplines. It provides inspiration and strategies for higher education practitioners to improve their understanding and practice of assessment. The book uses an innovative model of learning-oriented assessment to analyze the practice of university teachers who have been recipients of teaching awards for excellence. It critically scrutinizes their methods in context in order to develop key insights into effective teaching, learning and assessment processes. Pivotal topics include: Competing priorities in assessment and ways of tackling them; The nature of quality assessment task design; The student experience of assessment; Promoting student engagement with feedback. An indispensable contribution to assessment in higher education, Excellence in University Assessment is a valuable guide for university leaders, middle managers, staff developers, teachers and researchers interested in the crucial topic of assessment.

Student Empowerment in Higher Education brings together the accumulated knowledge and experience of many accomplished teachers and students from higher education institutions around the world, and has much to offer those who are engaged in higher education, as students, teachers or support staff. The authors offer personal reflections in teaching, learning, mentoring, assessment, hands-on activities, course design and student identities in higher education across the globe, supported by academic research and scholarship. Readers are provided with a window into tried and tested empowering practices in varying contexts, enabling them to see what works and what does not, alongside the challenges and possibilities. A distinctive feature of this book, and its paramount strength, is that it explores best practices in student empowerment, whilst reflecting on matters of teaching and learning that are familiar to students and teachers alike, and also explores practices in a variety of disciplines. The intention of these volumes, therefore, is not only to inform readers about the diverse learning and teaching approaches of the authors, but, most importantly, to facilitate processes of student empowerment and promote reflection on teaching and learning practices. "In recent decades, higher education policy discourse has persistently implied that a university education is 'delivered' to students under the impersonal banner of 'the student experience'. Not only does this commodify the diverse, individual experiences of students into one marketable product, it also creates false barriers and power dynamics between students and their teachers. In Student Empowerment in Higher Education, the students and lecturers who collaborated to write this important volume have literally blown such misleading notions out of the window! I highly recommend each varied and autonomous chapter to learn what really inspires confidence and success in university students." Professor Sarah Hayes, Professor of Higher Education Policy, University of Wolverhampton "The two volumes of Student Empowerment in Higher Education offer the reader rich and varied examples and understandings of student empowerment from around the world. The authors provide reflective accounts of learning and teaching from diverse perspectives and disciplines, which focus on many different areas of practice in higher education. It is this variety that will appeal to many readers, as the source of ideas and inspiration for numerous possible routes to empowerment. With many chapters co-authored by students and staff, the book models the collective responsibility students and staff have for enhancing student empowerment." Dr. Catherine Bovill, Senior Lecturer in Student Engagement, University of Edinburgh; Fulbright Scholar, Elon University, North Carolina, USA; Visiting Fellow (Knowledge Exchange), University of Winchester

With a unique focus on the relationship between assessment and engagement this book explores what works in terms of keeping students on course to succeed. Against a backdrop of massification and the associated increase in student diversity there is an escalating requirement for personalized, technology driven learning in higher education. In addition, the advent of student fees has promoted a consumer culture resulting in students having an increasingly powerful voice in shaping curricula to their own requirements. How does one engage and retain a group of students of such diverse culture, ethnicity, ambition and experience? Using examples from a variety of institutions worldwide this edited collection provides a well-researched evidence base of current thinking and developments in assessment practices in higher education. The chapters discuss: Staff and student views on assessment Engaging students through assessment feedback Assessment for learning Assessing for employability Interdisciplinary and transnational assessment Technology supported assessment for retention The book draws together a wealth of expertise from a range of contributors including academic staff, academic developers, pedagogical researchers, National Teaching Fellows and Centres for Excellence in Higher Education. Recognising that a pedagogy which is embedded and taken-for-granted in one context might be completely novel in another, the authors share best practice and evaluate evidence of assessment strategies to enable academic colleagues to make informed decisions about adopting new and creative approaches to assessment. This interdisciplinary text will prove an invaluable tool for those working and studying in higher education.