Designed for learning (UOW Assessment & Feedback Principle)

This principle in the suite of UOW Assessment & Feedback Principles underpins all assessment, whether formal or informal and speaks to the design and delivery of assessment tasks that enable student learning to occur over the long-term. This means viewing assessment as more than a formal summation of learners’ attempts to acquire or demonstrate new understanding or skills. Instead, assessment is a dialogue between the learner, their peers and teaching staff, gradually developing throughout the subject and course.

To be designed for learning, assessment should be:

1. Relevant to learners’ interests and career aspirations, addressing learning outcomes using authentic methods,
2. Designed to assess intended learning outcomes in ethical and inclusive ways, and
3. Communicate expectations for success transparently, ensuring assessment requires appropriate levels of effort.

Why?

Delivering assessment that is designed for learning helps ensure assessment tasks capture learners’ actual capacity to demonstrate learning outcomes. When assessment is designed with the learner’s experience in mind, it is more likely to provide genuine and engaging opportunities for learners to improve in future tasks.

Additionally, assessments that are designed for learning are more likely to develop the independent self-evaluation skills required to apply content in real-world situations i.e., sustainable assessment.

How?

You are likely already using many strategies that support balanced assessment, regardless of assessment method, tradition or discipline. The following questions can help evaluate how both new and existing assessments could be strengthened by using designed for learning strategies.

Relevant & Authentic

Are the assessments designed to support learners’ specific interests and their career aspirations?

Related Strategies:

• Identify specific areas of interest for your learners, and how they can be aligned with learning outcomes.
• Identify opportunities for making connections to industry needs through assessments that are scenario-based, use portfolios or incorporate problem-based case studies or reports, even for first and second-year student cohorts.
• Make clear links between formal and informal assessments, course-level and subject-level learning outcomes, and any relevant graduate and professional outcomes.

Ethical and Inclusive

Are all learners able to complete the assessment tasks successfully, regardless of background, experience or learning preferences?

Related Strategies:

• Identify opportunities for differentiating content, allowing student choice, in formal and informal assessments e.g., learners select one of three topics.
• Ensure that support information for learners is present in your subject site, regularly promoted, and supported by teaching staff.
• Collect feedback from learners about their assessment experiences and use these findings in the design of inclusive tasks.

Reasonable Expectations of Success

Are the requirements of success in formal assessments transparent to all learners, and is the effort required to meet them appropriate vis-á-vis workload required, and marks awarded?

Related Strategies:

• Collect feedback from learners about their assessment experiences, especially regarding workload and their perception of their progress toward achieving the subject learning outcomes.
• Use learner feedback to refine assessment tasks and support resources to better align with learning outcomes and intended assessment experiences.
• Develop rubrics (in consultation with learners where possible) and support resources e.g., annotated exemplars, that can be used with future student cohorts.