A demanding test of whether students understand what they are doing is for them to create the means for judging it. Designing assessments involves students creating and justifying assessment activities as a whole or in part with others. Student designed assessments may or may not be used formally as a summative assessment.
Students create assessment rubrics
Students prepare a marking rubric for an assessment task. A rubric itemises the criteria for a piece of work, outlining the characteristics and qualities needed to successfully complete the task.
Overuse of rubrics by teachers can inhibit students’ capacity to develop their own judgement. However it can be useful at early stages and in assuring consistency across staff. Assistance in moving students from accepting teachers rubrics to creating them is needed over a course.
Students create their own tests
Working in pairs or small groups, students construct their own test, for use after moderation in their final assessment for a module. They construct responses for correct and incorrect achievement.
Peer dialogue and feedback during test construction focuses attention on standards and understanding the subject matter being tested and ways in which it might be misunderstood. Preparing responses to correct and incorrect answers enables students to show their own understanding to tutors.
+Variation: A comprehensive test may be drawn from those constructed by students and feedback provided on the outcomes. See Nicol (2007)
Students design the course
When courses are entirely negotiated or when they are centred on work-based learning, the idea of learning agreements can be extended over the whole program.
Students identify their current competencies (see reviewing what is and is not known), have them validated, plan a program of study and propose how it would be appropriately assessed (including the criteria).
These agreements would be negotiated and signed-off by an academic advisor and, in the case of a work-based program, a workplace advisor.
