Good learning, teaching and assessment practice

In a recent publication, UK Jisc put forward seven principles of good learning, teaching, and assessment, why they are important and how to apply them.

The principles are:

1. Help learners understand what good looks like by engaging learners with the requirements and performance criteria for each task
2. Support the personalised needs of learners by being accessible, inclusive, and compassionate
3. Foster active learning by recognising that engagement with learning resources, peers and tutors can all offer opportunities for formative development
4. Develop autonomous learners by encouraging self-generated feedback, self-regulation, reflection, dialogue, and peer review
5. Manage staff and learner workload effectively by having the right assessment, at the right time, supported by efficient business processes
6. Foster a motivated learning community by involving students in decision-making and supporting staff to critique and develop their own practice
7. Promote learner employability by assessing authentic tasks and promoting ethical conduct.

In an earlier report from 2020, “The future of assessment: five principles, five targets for 2025, Jisc set five targets for the next five years to progress assessment towards being more authentic, accessible, appropriately automated, continuous, and secure.

●     Authentic

 Assessments designed to prepare students for what they do next, using technology they will use in their careers

●     Accessible

 Assessments designed with an accessibility-first principle

●     Appropriately automated

 A balance found of automated and human marking to deliver maximum benefit to students

●     Continuous

 Assessment data used to explore opportunities for continuous assessment to improve the learning experience

●     Secure

 Authoring detection and biometric authentication adopted for identification and remote proctoring

The Australian National Quality Council, has outlined the added value they see of e-Assessment from the perspective of learners:

●     Improved explanation of competency requirements – examples include the use of forums, blogs, virtual classrooms, video streaming and voice over internet protocols (VoIP).

●     Gaining immediate feedback – examples include the use of virtual classrooms, online quizzes and LMS.

●    Improved opportunities for online peer assessment – examples include the use of email, wikis, blogs, voice boards, virtual classrooms, and VoIP

●     Increased opportunities for self-assessment – examples include use of digital stories, wikis, blogs and online quizzes

●     Improved feedback by including links to online support materials – examples include the use of LMS and virtual classrooms.

 ^{Jisc (2022) Principles of good assessment and feedback,https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/principles-of-good-assessment-and-feedback}

 Jisc (2020) The future of assessment: five principles, five targets for 2025, https://www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/the-future-of-assessment 

 ^{National Quality Council (2011) E assessment guidelines for the VET sector, Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations,https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A46939}