Principles of Assessment and Examples

A.    Conceptualizing Assessment

• While often used interchangeably – they are different.
• Formative assessment or simply ‘assessment’ is the informal gathering of data for feedback to students and instructor. No marks or grades are attached to the assessment methods.
  • Assessment has a huge impact on student learning, and research has shown that frequent and varied formative assessment activities benefits students, and instructors.
• Evaluation, sometimes called summative assessment, is the assessment of learning (with a purpose of reporting and making decisions) that involves a formal gathering of data for feedback to students and instructors.
  • Evaluation results in the giving of grades, marks, levels, etc. that provides a value to the learning that has been demonstrated.

Another way of looking at assessment is assessment FOR learning (ongoing informal feedback), assessment AS learning (diagnostic, pre-assessment and metacognitive assessment) and assessment OF learning (evaluation). Post-secondary education tends focus a lot on assessment OF learning.²

• Assessment FOR learning fosters the journey of learning and ongoing improvement through frequent feedback. It is judgement free because it aims to establish a learning baseline and encourage honest answers to determine students’ prior knowledge (also called formative assessment or assessment)
  • Seek to incorporate as many opportunities as possible to engage in assessment FOR learning.
• Assessment AS learning creates conditions where the assessment tool itself leads to learning achieved through metacognition and recognition of learning gains (also called diagnostic assessment or pre-assessment) 
  • Metacognition is an aspect – assessing how I learn best: What does this assigned task require me to do? How should I begin? What do I do when I study? How could I adjust my habits to learn better?
  • Recognition of own learning gains – what have I experienced here? What have I learned from this experience? How will I move forward from here?
• Assessment OF Learning creates proof or evidence of learning for others It is usually called evaluation. It is for accreditors / governing bodies, parents, employers, public, etc. (see summative assessment or evaluation.)
  • Traditionally achieved through grades, credits, certifications etc
  • Requires common standards and criteria, established targets, qualitative or (usually) ‘quantitative’ evidence

Effective assessment requires a culture shift that moves away from focusing on evaluating student performance in isolation to evaluating student learning as part of a comprehensive design to support student learning.³

• Plan and distribute assessments to provide opportunities to practice application of knowledge and skills and integrate learning, and to allow students to receive feedback on their
• Focus less on timed tests, exams, mid-terms and drawing attention to these ‘marked events’ that produce anxiety, aren’t always accurate indicators of student learning, leave certain students out and put the emphasis on authentic assessment tasks for learning
• Engage your students in ongoing conversations about how the course assessment strategies are a plan to support their learning.

Assessment strategies are authentic in that they reflect the work of our disciplines and respect the integrity of epistemologies.⁴

• Assessment tasks represent aspects of the actual work of our disciplines, adapted to the knowledge level of a particular group of learners (e.g., provide opportunities for text analysis, case studies, data analysis, problem solving, current event dissection, community agencies providing authentic problems etc.).
• Create assignments and projects that would be like what someone would do in a job in your discipline.
• Students will gain more out of a practical and meaningful assignment than something contrived and unrealistic
• Explore the concept of “Non-Disposable Assignments” or  how to build “Authentic Assessments”

Assessment is a developmental and sustainable process that fosters self- regulated learning, academic integrity and the ability for students to be life- long learners.⁵

• As part of selected assessment activities, integrate elements of reflection, self- assessment and goal setting, focusing on how students can use assessment results to influence future work.
• Self-reflective activities might include the use of ‘cognitive wrappers’ (exam, assignment)

Assessment is a continuous process that is embedded in the culture of the institution, and curriculum (at the program and course-level), as opposed to a course component meant solely to finalize a specific unit of student learning.⁶

• Reflect on how assessment results can contribute to critical analyses that help identify bottlenecks or gaps to enhance a course or program learning experience.
• Give your students short “course and content” assessment tasks at the end of a class: “Ticket out the Door”, Muddiest Point, etc.
• Participate in the NIC Student Course Feedback Survey Service when you see details about it in your email.
• Share with department colleagues how your course is progressing, student success, challenges.

Assessment should include discussion about the assessment process between students and teachers to foster a learning partnership that can evolve based on student learning student feedback.⁷

• Explain the rationale for the assessment strategies used and how the experiences of previous students have informed those choices.
• Similarly, a strategy for reflection and debriefing on the results of an assessment activity can have a strong impact on both teaching and learning decisions. This could include a discussion with a colleague or someone in the teaching and learning centre about the results of your grading process, the performance of students or how effective the assessment was for time to grade, how well students accomplished the learning outcomes etc.

There is a balance between summative and formative assessment processes and value in separation between grades and feedback distribution. In recent years there has been use of the term “ungrading” to signal a critical assessment of the harm grades can do to learning.⁸

• Separate grades from feedback as much as you can. Or untangle grades from feedback so students aren’t focused on the number or letter and instead pay attention to what they did well and what they could work on
• Critically rethink how we evaluate students and pushing back against centuries old thinking is often called “ungrading” (it doesn’t mean getting rid of final grades we must submit at end of course)
• There has been a lot of conversations and conferences, written pieces and a couple of books written on “ungrading” calling attention to a need to reexamine what it means to grade and the negative consequences grading thrusts on the learning process and instead offering other ways to obtain a final grade
• Not all assessment activities have to be graded.

Effective teaching and learning requires trusting your students. ⁹

• We live in an age of cheating, academic dishonesty, and distrust. As we move into using digital formats for assessment, we are going to have to trust students more.
• We need to trust students will do their best, they will follow your directions and they will act in ways that supports their learning.
• Trusting students also means creating assessments that are not easy to copy, easy to locate answers to on the Internet or through phoning their friends.

Keep things simple!

• Don’t complicate your course with a large number and detailed ways for students to demonstrate their learning
• Don’t make students have to decipher, figure out or solve a puzzle of how they will demonstrate their learning

B.     Assessment Practice

Fair assessment processes are transparent, providing students with clear expectations on what, how and why they are being assessed, and with quality information regarding their progress and status of their learning.¹¹

• Early in the course let students know about the informal assessment activities that will be distributed throughout the course along with the formal evaluation activities that will align with the learning outcomes and contribute to the final grade
• Explain the rationale for strategies used and how they are designed to support, as well as determine, learning.
• Describe the criteria for each evaluation activity (e.g., provide a rubric or “marking guide” to help students understand the elements of, and expectations for, a task). Grade according to the criteria!
• Steer away from complex, detailed and often vague language of rubrics (that aren’t always clear or helpful) and instead consider checklists, single point rubrics or marking schemes that are helpful and easy for both you and the students
• Consider blind marking a paper (not seeing a student’s name) to ensure fair assessment practices or just mark question 1 from all the papers first and then just do question 2 etc.

Assessment strategies are aligned with learning outcomes and instructional strategies.¹²

• Clearly define your assessment in relation to the course learning outcomes and the related instructional strategies you’ll use to engage the students in learning about and practicing the learning outcome
• This triangular relationship between learning outcomes, assessment and teaching activities is a cornerstone of an aligned course
• Learning activities provide opportunities to check understanding and receive feedback, and assessments provide further practice, as well determining the extent to which learning outcomes are achieved
• If a course learning outcome includes applying knowledge to solve problems or analyzing a particular genre of literature, then learning activities provide opportunities to practice these skills before summative assessment requiring these tasks takes place
• If a course outcome is to create a report ensuring key components and details are included: e.g., a business report or a lab report or a health care report – then ensure there is an evaluation that aligns with these outcomes. Then choose appropriate instructional activities for learning how to create a good report and practice with components of it to obtain feedback.

Assessment feedback is conceptualized as a ‘feed-forward’ approach: future-focused, action- oriented and used to improve student learning. Effective feedback is provided to students with an understanding that they can use it to improve future work.¹³

• Focus feedback on what students should continue doing and how they can improve their future efforts.
• Some instructors ask students to choose an element of previous feedback and describe how they have addressed it in a future assignment.
• Students need opportunities to practice a new skill or concept and receive feedback long before they demonstrate the skill or concept for a grade or mark
• Find ways to provide feedback in varied formats and modes (audio recorded, written, orally, checkmarks etc.). Feedback should happen fairly immediately for most impactful effects.

Multiple opportunities for timely feedback on students’ learning progress are provided throughout a course so students have sufficient time to practice, reflect on the results and incorporate previous feedback.¹⁴

• Provide multiple and different opportunities (graded or ungraded) for students to demonstrate learning and to receive feedback.
• Feedback close to the assessment event has the greatest impact on learning and is essential for learning.
• Multiple assessments mean that students will have multiple informal opportunities to get input on how they are doing, apply suggestions and ideas and hopefully advance understanding and skills before the formal evaluation tasks

Evaluating student learning means focusing on the student evidence that is submitted, demonstrated, performed etc. Student behaviour such as not showing up to class, engaging in misconduct, handing in an assignment late or not participating in a class discussion should not be mixed into the evaluation of the student work. Instead consider a separate evaluation focused on learner readiness and professional conduct.

• Grading participation is such a messy area of evaluation: such as what do you really mean by “participation” (coming to class, raising hand, talking in a group, doing the work?). Participation means many things to instructors and students.
• Penalizing students for late work is skewing the true assessment of learning  when marks are deducted for each day or hour late
• Instead of grading participation and penalizing late submitters on the same evaluation of their learning – consider using a learning readiness and professionalism checklist (Word Doc) that outlines a collection of behaviours, activities, and demonstrations of being an academically honest, on-time and attentive student – approx. 10% of the course mark
• Share and discuss checklist items required for students to demonstrate or create the checklist with the students
• 1/3 through course have students self-reflect on checklist and write a self-assessment
• 2/3 through course have them self-reflect again on the same document considering what they initially wrote
• Near end of course have them review previous two reflections and assign themselves a mark out of 10 for their overall behaviours
• Teacher reads over all responses and determines final mark /10

Assessment is designed to motivate and foster student learning and confidence, rather than be a source of anxiety.¹⁶

• Provide clear expectations about assessment activities
• Give students opportunities to practice, through learning activities, the kinds of tasks they will be asked to complete during evaluations
• Do not position any kind of assessment in negative or threatening ways (e.g., if you don’t study for this test, you may not pass the course)

A variety of assessment and evaluation methods are utilized with some level of student choice to maximize student engagement and involvement in the assessment process.¹⁷

• Use different strategies and methods to build communication skills and to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning in different ways.
• Offer students choice in topics or tasks, while still assessing the intended learning, motivates student effort.
• Consider a wide variety of learning domains, perspectives and intellectual development components when designing assessment and evaluation components (e.g., Bloom, Fink, Lafever, Webb) covering cognitive, performative, and affective areas

Ample opportunities are provided for students to self-assess and reflect on their own work to enhance self- regulated learning.¹⁸

• Integrate self-assessment in the assessment plan for a course (e.g., an analysis of how students prepared for an exam/wrote an essay and what they would do differently in the future) promotes engagement in learning and the development of independent learning.
• Self-assessment strategies build metacognitive skills to assist students in becoming better self-directed, self-regulated learners.
• Teaching students how to self-assess and reflect on their own learning will help them develop appropriate learning skills that will lead to deeper learning or learning that will ‘stick’

Effective, reciprocal peer-assessment processes are premised on formative assessment principles to facilitate learning.¹⁹

• Facilitate low-risk exchanges of respectful peer feedback, guided by a rubric or series of questions, to help feedback providers and receivers gain insights about the work under development.
• Teach students how to give and receive feedback from their peers through sample activities, practice sessions and examples.

Group projects and presentations are a common evaluation strategy in post-secondary education. Group projects and presentations are often used to accommodate class size, limited time within the course, desire to have students work together etc. – and don’t always provide assurances for instructors around accountability for individual learning.

• Diligent students can be profoundly demotivated by group projects if they feel that their own success is dependent on team members who don’t do their share.
• One way to counteract the motivational hazards of group projects is to assess individual students’ learning and performance in addition to the group’s output. This strategy gives diligent students a greater sense of fairness and control and discourages free ridership.
• Add an individual component (e.g., a short essay, journal entry, self-reflection) or combine a group project with an individual test or quiz. Both group and individual performance are then reflected in the total project grade (e.g., make the group grade worth 50% and the individual grade worth 50%; others split it 80%/20%)
• The grading scheme should (a) reflect the course learning outcomes and (b) motivate the kind of work you want to see.
• Consider how you will weigh the components of group projects in your grading scheme. Some questions to consider include:
  • What percentage of the student’s total project grade will be based on the group’s performance vs. individual components? What percentage will be based on assessments of product vs. assessments of process?
  • How much weight will you give to peer evaluations or self-evaluations? Will feedback from external clients also be incorporated into your assessment of the group’s work?

Assessing course learning outcomes can be about the process and not just about the product leading to enhancements in student self-regulation and self-directed learning strategies.

• To ensure assessment and evaluation activities are fully aligned with course learning outcomes – ensure to include the process of how the learning took place is assessed and not just the product of what the student has demonstrated
• This works well for group work but also individual work where students assess how well they managed their time, what resources were of most benefit, what strategies did they use that resulted in better outcomes etc.

Assessment processes and tasks reflect cultural and individual diversity^.22

• Where it is appropriate, create opportunities to either set assessment tasks in diverse relevant contexts or encourage students to integrate their personal perspectives.
• Tasks that integrate examples, or forms of expression that reflect students’ cultures or experiences, help build meaningful knowledge structures.

C.     Support for Assessors

• Seek out meaningful conversations with colleagues about assessment challenges and how to access resources to enhance discipline-appropriate assessment practices and course design support
• Instructors should engage in ongoing courses, seek our evidence-based readings and attend teaching and learning conferences to continually be current in assessment practices
• Teaching and learning centres have people who can provide ideas, suggestions, and new directions for learning about assessment, helping with course outlines and assessment development and grading

Teachers collect and use assessment data to inform the development of new assessment strategies and instructional interventions.²⁴

• Analyze and reflect on patterns of student success on assessments, and use the results to revise assessment tasks, or work with students to understand and correct misconceptions and focus on areas that need strengthening.
• Make a point of gathering examples of success of student achievement on demonstrating learning outcomes (with student permission) so you have a collection to reflect on and examine to improve own practice

Teachers should not have assessment, grading and providing feedback take up their Saturday nights! Seek out efficient yet effective practices to provide input on student learning that doesn’t compromise your work/life balance.

• Use Brightspace quizzes for comprehension and foundational content components (e.g., short automatically marked quiz every week to stay on track and get immediate feedback)
• Use assignments tool for tracking assignments, grading inline and submitting feedback immediately
• Consider giving audio feedback instead of written to add more context and emphasis with language
• Check out these efficient marking practices

D.    Institutional Policies and Procedures

A consistent institution-wide grade scale system is clearly defined and used along with instructors adhering to timing when final grades will be submitted to the student record system.²⁶

• Use North Island College’s established grade scales and related policy 4 -14 understand the meanings of those grade standards, and apply them consistently across individual programs and courses
• NIC Grade Scale 2 is typically for trades programs and NIC Grade Scale 1 for all other programming. Some programs use Pass/Fail grade scale
• All instructors must enter their grades or standings into the student record system (via MyNIC self-serve area or use the Brightspace submission process) within 7 calendar days of the last day of classes for the course (if there is no exam) and within 7 calendar days after the student has written the final exam

Instructors must also follow institutional guidelines on how and when students are evaluated in courses that lead to an academic credential or are part of a learning pathway.

• Take into account instructional accommodations (Policy 3-17) for students who legally require and also for students who would benefit from assessment accommodations
• Policy 3-33 provides guidance on the following evaluations of student performance:
  • Assessment and evaluation should always be aligned with course learning outcomes
  • Instructors must give adequate student feedback (20% of final grade) in advance of academic withdrawal date
  • Student’s final grade must be comprised of a minimum of three evaluative components with no single evaluation worth more than 40%
  • There are to be no evaluations (test, exam, quiz) worth more than 10% of their final grade assigned or administered in the last week of classes
  • Evaluations totaling more than 10% of the final grade may be due in the last week of classes as long, if they were assigned prior to the final week of classes
  • Late registrants have opportunity to complete any evaluations assigned prior to the date of registration
  • Take home exams worth more than 10% shall not have a due date during the last week of instruction
  • Students require a conflict-free final exam period

North Island College policy provides direction on assessment details and the CTLI provides additional details for a robust course ²⁸

• Per policy 3-33 that a course must have at least three evaluative components each worth not more than 40% and no assigned evaluation more than 10% given the last week of classes (NIC Policy)
• Instructors must have feedback provided on 20% of the final grade – before the withdrawal date (NIC Policy)
• Students need to have a clear and understandable course outline to share how they will demonstrate their learning, when and what value of the final grade (CTLI)
• Students need to know the marking scheme/grading plan for each evaluation component ahead of handing it in (CTLI)
• Evaluation components should be frequent and varied throughout the course and cover several domains of learning (cognitive – content, formative – skills and affective – values and attitudes) (CTLI)
• Align each evaluation with one or two course learning outcomes and explicitly state as such for students (CTLI)
• Ensure at least 80-90% of the evaluations are individual so that you can be confident in being accountable for each students’ learning (CTLI)
• A significant number of evaluations in a 3-credit course (e.g., 5 or more) may be inappropriate or unnecessary to adequately assess learning and additional items may need to be converted into informal assessment and other forms of feedback (CTLI)

Post-secondary educational institutions strive to create a culture of assessment that entrenches assessment into policy frameworks, guides change processes, and increases overall organizational sustainability around supporting student learning.²⁹

• North Island College has created and will continue to update policies to support evidence-based decision making with respect to processes including curriculum development and review, and the recognition of teaching in faculty work.
• The Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI) will always be ready to support instructors with assessment and evaluation questions, will review course outlines and provide feedback on assessment plan and assist in adopting effective and aligned practices and strategies.