Designing and redesigning assessments

Designing assessment tasks to promote long term learning can be one of the most creative and satisfying aspects of teaching in higher education.

Students need to be actively engaged throughout assessment. Students full participation as active agents in assessment needs to be planned and carefully staged. They need to see the value of what they are doing and can persuade themselves of its importance to their learning.

The issue is not what the assessment method is, but rather what are the learning consequences of using it in a particular way.

This section aims to prompt consideration of some matters that might be overlooked in designing and redesigning assessment tasks. We will look at the following:

Checklists

For additional principles of good assessment design, see

Re-Engineering Assessment Practices in Scottish Higher Education

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.