TIPS MODULE 7 ASSESSMENT

David Boud's lecture was very interesting and in line with the other areas of curriculum design and modules of ED6112.  In the way that it's much more student focused and supportive.  Seeking active engagement by the students in assessment.

I really agree with his ideas of moving assessments away from the end of semester and spreading the load.  My unit has done that, although it's still pretty hectic as nursing is an 8 week academic semester.  But the final exam is 100%.  It would be nice to spread that load across the semester (as per Assessment 3).

What I'd like to integrate from David's talk is getting students to mark their own assessments. Currently with skills, the students do their video assessment and that's it.  Its a summative assessment and there is no feedback other than receiving a pass/fail (unless they fail and review their video prior to reassessment). My issue with this is:

Some students just fall over the line (despite being on the 'fail' side of the rubric) but they get a pass and consider themselves safe.  They need feedback on this skill, they need to improve, to be truly safe.

If they do this, then I think we'll see improvement in the following skills as there's many areas that cross over between skills. 

My plan (to suggest to the powers that be) is to give every student access to their video  and the students are to submit a marking rubric with their marks for each section (of my new improved rubric for assessment 3).  Then tutors when reviewing the video assess against what standards the students believe they are.    I think this gives students clear understanding of their strengths and weakness and also complete transparency in assessment.

The end results would be student nurses on practicum having improved skills, and being more workplace ready.

Only issue will be: the turnaround times involved and potential increased workload on tutors...
I'll keep stewing on that one...

TIPS Module 6 Assessment

 

Assessment is many things.  Motivation to some, fraught with anxiety for others, but what it is to pretty much everyone in higher education is...unavoidable.

 

 

Module 6 has given me plenty to think about in the unit I teach, a practical skills unit.  And as I have mentioned previously, assessment is where I feel a major improvement can be made.  I believe the actual assessment that is done (video assessment of student doing a skill e.g. giving a subcut needle  into a foam pad) is fair and equitable, but the assessment of the skill requires improvement.  Here's why...

 

• Most students put great effort into learning the skills, and the assessment task is stressful  and the learning is time consuming.  It's all for a pass/fail mark.
• a few students excel and are flawless, most stumble somewhere but correct themselves, some just fall over the very vague 'pass' line.  All these students get the same grade "pass"
• Some students fail, but get a resit and then hopefully pass.
• Those that fail the resit fail the whole unit.

Those above points are trying to highlight that a mere 'pass' isn't enough.  If so much emphasis is placed on these skills, they should be graded and some weighting go towards the final grade.  The grade for this unit is given 100% from the final theory exam.  For a practical unit, I don't think that is fair on students who excel in the practical component but for whatever reason, don't do old fashioned exams so well, where rote learning is your friend.

 

On the flip side, if it becomes weighted then marking is 'harder.'  I think with a clear rubric regarding what is considered pass, credit, distinction and high distinction marking will be equal to what it is now. Especially given that the rubric is broad and open to interpretation and potentially marked very differently by each assessor.  This is much more reliable for each student and assessor.

 

Also the assessments are only used for formative feedback should the student fail and require a resit.  They watch the video with the assessor, are shown their errors and talked through how to correct the errors.    My issue here is, some of these students have only just fallen over the line, but they see their 'pass' and happily move onto the next assessment.  They should all be able to access their video and their rubric to see where their strengths and weakness are, to improve upon the skill, this will aid in coming assessments and also towards doing these skills in a practical setting.  It will improve the two way communication between student and teacher and be a more transparent approach to assessment.

 

So off to put my money where my mouth is a try to make an improved rubric and assessment structure!

 

 



Think….Aligning Assessment and Learning Outcomes

Race, Brown and Smith (2004)  in their book 500  Tips on Assessment raise some food for thought in the section regarding tips on designing and using learning outcomes.

 

The main one that has stood out for me personally is something that I feel I get muddled with at times, and that confusing learning outcomes and assessment criteria (tip 7).    The ILO of the unit I currently teach are well aligned (all bar one), and very general.  But it’s clear how they are assessed when you see the link from assessment pieces back to the ILO.    

Sometimes I think I try being too specific when attempting to write ILO and it starts looking like an assessment outline.

 

Which tip 6 highlights  “Don’t get hung up too much on performance, standards and conditions” when expressing ILO.  These things can be clarified in assessment pieces.  OK now I’m in the swing of things!

 

Tip 8 highlights not writing ILO that can’t be assessed.  One outcome in my unit is un-assessable in the simulated learning lab environment.  Something I’m hoping to correct for next semester. 

 

And another tip I plan on taking on board, or more specifically being more conscious of doing is No 11…getting students to self assess their achievements.   It’s one thing to give them a ‘pass’ status for skills, which means they are free to do that skill supervised by an RN when on placement in hospital.  That’s very different to them feeling confident in carrying out that skill, and feeling as though they have clear links from theory to knowledge to allow them to critical think when ‘at work.’

 

I like this book.   I’m hoping with 500 tips I should be well on may way to good assessment pieces!