Summary

Align your assessments with the course learning outcomes

Course assessments should be designed to provide clear and objective evidence that students have achieved your learning outcomes and can demonstrate the appropriate level of learning. Therefore, the first step in assessment planning is to ensure you have observable and measurable student learning outcomes.

Plan for a variety of assessments

By using a variety of assessment methods, you can assess a wider range of skills, give students the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways, and get more reliable results.

Informal assessments are as important to student learning as formal (graded) assessment to promote deeper student learning and feedback should be an explicit part of all assessment activities.

Establish transparent grading criteria & practices

Establishing clear grading criteria will help you grade with better objectivity, consistency and transparency.

For collaborative projects, peer evaluation is a good way to ensure individual grades reflect contributions of each group member.

Participation is a common part of university course assessments. Instructors should be explicit about the grading criteria for participation.

Take a balanced approach to assessment

Scaffolding assignments promote deeper learning by distributing learning and providing regular feedback.

Designing assessments using authentic tasks that are framed around students’ interests, experiences and backgrounds increases motivation and engagement.

As you finalize each of your assessments for your course, you will need to consider them as a whole and determine if your strategy is balanced in relation to your learning outcomes and diverse in the methods you use.

The weight of each assessment should be related to the effort of work required and the portion of the learning outcomes being assessed.

The timing of assessments is influenced by many factors including the effort, pacing of the content and opportunities for feedback.