Centre for Bioscience, The Higher Education Academy

In this section:

Resources

 


Bioscience ImageBank

 

Assessment Briefing

The Assessment Briefing is the first in a series of briefings from the UK Centre for Bioscience which bring together references and resources in specific areas of learning and teaching in the biosciences. With resources recommended by the bioscience teaching and learning community, produced by the Subject Centres and Higher Education Academy, CETLs and many other groups and individuals involved in learning and teaching the briefings will be of use and interest both to those with experience and those new to the topic. Each section of the briefing is introduced by an expert in that area and reflects the author’s individual style and preference.

You can download the briefing in full (in pdf format) or to request a hard-copy version of the assessment briefing please contact the Centre on heabioscience@leeds.ac.uk

The briefing contains sections on:

  • Assessment
  • Accessible and inclusive assessment
  • Assessing group work
  • Assessing practical and fieldwork
  • Assessing problem-based learning
  • Assessing work placements and work-based learning
  • Electronic assessment
  • Feedback and feed-forward
  • Formative and summative assessment
  • Self- and peer-assessment
  • Question and assessment design
  • Assessment resources for students

Front cover of the assessment briefing and link to briefing in pdf format

 

Further resources

This page also brings together further assessment resources to accompany those included in the briefing. Do you have any further recommendations for assessment resources? Contact us on heabioscience@leeds.ac.uk with your recommendations.

Assessment

HEFCE’s Supporting higher education in further education colleges: Policy, Practice and Prospects has good practice guidance on number of areas in learning and teaching with a chapter dedicated to assessment (Chapter 7, p 123-138).

For a different look at assessment, What Learning Needs paints a picture of what learning should look like and aims to make a contribution to the debate on the role of creativity, in key areas of education, pages 23 - 29 focus on assessment.

Code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education (2006), Section 6: Assessment of students

Bloxham, S. Guide to Assessment, from ESCalate (the Education Subject Centre). This guide is designed to provide a short summary of issues to be considered in developing, implementing and managing assessment in teacher education programmes.

First-year assessment: Aligning perceptions and practice with purpose, an NTFS project led by Ruth Pickford at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Flying start: Practices, communities and policies to ease the transition to university writing and assessment, an NTFS project led by Lin Norton at Liverpool Hope University.

Assessing practical and fieldwork

Bioscience student conceptions of experiential learning and the implications for skills development presentation by Kirsty Magnier at the Centre event ‘Developing Enquiring Minds: Linking Teaching and Research’.

Bristol ChemLabS Dynamic Laboratory Manual contains numerous simulations and videos designed to aid understanding and confidence in students prior to entering the laboratory. A demonstration version is available.

Gibbs, G., Gregory, R., and Moore I. (1997) Teaching More Students Series, No. 7: Labs and practicals with more students and fewer resources Chapter 7 pp 44-51. The Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development. The article reviews different techniques for assessing practicals from no write ups, sampling, posters, assessment stations etc. Provides a good overview for the novice or those wanting to diversify their practical assessment techniques.

Assessment criteria for practical skills, an article in Times Higher Education, summarises some of the approaches to assessing practical work. Grady, R., Ferguson, G. and Sheader E (2008)

Computer-Assisted and Peer Assessment: A Combined Approach to Assessing First Year Laboratory Practical Classes for Large Numbers of Students. Bioscience Education, 11-4. Available at www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/journal/vol11/beej-11-4.aspx

 

Assessing problem-based learning

Forman M. (2007) Peer Assessment of Problem Based Learning - Fostering Reflective Practice in Social Work Students.

Sher, W. (2004) Peer Assessment in the Design and Construction of a Reinforced Concrete Lintel. CEBE Transactions, 1(2), 37-55.
Although focused on the Built Environment the approaches to the peer-assessment of a PBL task are widely applicable.

 

Electronic and computer-aided assessment

From JISC - Effective Practice with E-Assessment

The Handbook for Economics Lecturers has a section on computer aided assessment, which is applicable across the disciplines.

 

Feedback and feed-forward

An extended version of the introduction to the section on feedback and feed-forward in the briefing by Claire Craig and Chris Glover is available.

The use of tutor coursework feedback by high achieving and non-high achieving students in HE, a presentation given by Paul Orsmond at the Centre event “Differentiated Learning – Stretching Able Students”.

Williams, J. and Kane, D. (2008) Exploring the NSS: Assessment and Feedback Issues. Higher Education Academy.

O’Brien, R. and Sparshatt, L. (2008) Exploring staff and students’ mental maps: creating narratives for successful assessment feedback. Presented at the Higher Education Academy Annual Conference.

OLAAF (OnLine Assessment and Feedback) a project funded through the Hefce FDTL4 initiative.

Student Feedback and Assessment, an event held by the Information and Computing Sciences Subject Centre in 2008. Event report and presentations are available.

Beaumont, C., O'Doherty, M. and Shannon, L. (2008) Staff and student perceptions of feedback in the context of widening participation.

Ribchester, C., France, D. and Wakefield, K. (2008) ‘It was just like a personal tutorial’: Using podcasts to provide assessment feedback.

O’Brien, R. and Sparshatt, L. (2007) Mind the Gap! Staff Perceptions of Students’ Perceptions of Assessment Feedback.

 

Formative and summative assessment

FAST (Formative Assessment in Science Teaching) and Centre for Bioscience Event, Assessment in Science Teaching: Technological Solutions, in 2004 had presentations on formative assessment.

Chevins, P.F.D. (2004) Lectures Replaced by Prescribed Reading with Frequent Assessment: Enhanced Student Performance in Animal Physiology. Bioscience Education e-Journal, 5-1. Available at www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/journal/vol5/beej-5-1.aspx

Bone, A. (2005) The impact of formative assessment on student learning: a law-based study.

Developing formative assessment using ICTs in education from ESCalate, the Education Subject Centre, was developed with the aim to develop practical formative assessment strategies using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on undergraduate and higher degree Education courses, in order to improve students’ learning.

 

Self- and peer-assessment

O'Moore, L.M. and Baldock, T.E. (2007) Peer Assessment Learning Sessions (PALS): an innovative feedback technique for large engineering classes. European Journal of Engineering Education. 32(1):43-55.
Peer Assessment Learning Sessions (PALS) facilitate a student's peer assessment of a colleague's problem-based learning assignment or tutorial within a 'traditional' whole-class setting, under guidance from the lecturer.

Self-assessment: Updated Guidance for the Further Education System, guidance which aims to locate self-assessment within the context of changing policy and practice, including planned changes to government arrangements affecting further education, the introduction of the Framework for Excellence, and developments in inspection.

Grady, R. (2007) Computer assisted and peer-assessment: a combined approach to assessing first year laboratory practical classes for large numbers of students, Proceedings of the Science Learning and Teaching Conference 2007, p46-50.