Preparing tasks
Strategies for putting together elements into assessment tasks
Strategies will be influenced by the learner's
- stage of development
- prior experience of the kinds of activities being used, and
- hopes and expectations of achievement.
The strategies may not be identical for a whole class, and a judgement will need to be made on what would be most appropriate.
Elements can be put together to produce coherent tasks in a subject
The examples given are intended to generate further ideas and are not intended to exhaust all possibilities.
Visit the elements section to see how some of them have been applied in specific situations.
Tasks must take into account more than the subject matter
Designing an assessment task just to test some area of knowledge is too restricted a way to think about assessment. How students respond to a task depends on many considerations, only one of which is whether they have the appropriate subject knowledge. They may
- interpret the task as requiring something other than that expected by the designer
- have prior experience of the assessment method as demanding an approach which is no appropriate (eg. memorisation for multiple-choice tests)
- have other assignments due at the same time, be overloaded and not invest enough time and effort
- have the knowledge, but not the skills or information to execute the particular task well
- not have had enough practice in tackling similar problems
This means that tasks have to be constructed and located not only to take account of the demands of the discipline knowledge involved, but the full context of the assessment activity. A task that is poorly completed in one situation can be excellent in another.
