Clear instructions for assessment

This resource provides advice on communicating assessment instructions to students to ensure the reliability of assessments and that expectations are communicated using clear, succinct language. This is crucial for student success.

Why?

Instructions are directly related to how well students can synthesise information and respond to a task. Not only are instructions sometimes the determining factor as to whether a student successfully completes an assessment, there is an indication in the literature that students see the ability to explain things well as one of the most important qualities of a good teacher (Nielsen, Hoban, & Hyland, 2017; Ramsden, 2008; Wragg & Wood as cited in Ur, 1991).

In addition to issues of validity and reliability, clear assessment instructions also support academic integrity since you are outlining your expectations of how students should conduct themselves to avoid breaches of academic integrity, such as, plagiarism, and collusion, etc.

How?

Assessment instructions should be clear, concise, and use language that is not ambiguous or unnecessarily technical. Instructions should be easy to access and presented consistently to all students in a subject (and where possible, across all subjects in a course).

The resources your students require to complete their assignment successfully will depend on the design of the assessment. A list of information and resources that you may include in your assessment instructions is provided below:

• Assessment title
  Give assessments a short, clear title, such as “Client Interviews” or “Initial Reflection” rather than simply “Assignment 1”, “Assignment 2” etc.
• Assessment weighting
  Clearly indicate the stakes of the assessment.
• Due and return date/time
  Provide students with clear information about when they will receive feedback to ensure that they have time to engage with feedback and act upon it before the next assessment.
  Note: Due dates set in Moodle activities will automatically be added to the calendar.
• Subject Learning Outcomes (SLOs) addressed
  This shows students how the assessment is aligned to the subject.
• A brief description of the task, including:
  • Requirements
    To ensure transparency (see Designed for learning), include specific information, as well as any limits or boundaries that students will need to successfully complete the assessment. This could include instructions, information on word count, and referencing requirement.
  • Rubric
    Include information on where students can find the rubric, with details on the criteria they will be marked against. To maximise transparency, it should be made available to students when the assessment is set. The rubric should align with the Assessment Requirements section and with the SLOs.
  • Anonymised examples of past student submissions
    You may also include good and bad examples of submissions with the rubric attached, and encourage students to mark the examples using the rubric. Asking students to engage with the rubric as the assessor is a good strategy to help them better understand the rubric and ultimately perform better in the assessment task (Orsmond et al., 2002).
• Additional information
  You may also include anything else that is important for students to know, as text or a video or audio clip (supported by a text transcript). This could include an explanation of common points of confusion or information about how the assessment relates to previous assessments.
• Practice submission activity
  Provide students an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the process of submitting an assessment ahead of the formal assessment.

References