Why is assessment literacy for students important?

When you audit and review the assessment across the programme  you will be mapping how students are making progress against the graduate attributes in your specialist discipline and how you are assessing this progress. The generic programme outcomes and your QAA Subject Benchmark materials are essential guides to support you in this.

Assessment tasks across the programme will allow students to show progress as the subject knowledge and understanding (mastery of the discipline) become more complex and conceptually demanding whilst the context of assessment moves from familiar at Part One to decision making in complex and unpredictable contexts at Part Three.

If assessment is managed by each module convenor then opportunities to develop student assessment literacy may be lost. A consistent approach across a programme is needed.

Here are some areas to consider when introducing students to assessment:

1. How is the assessment task introduced to the students?

2. How are the assessment standards and criteria explained to students?

3. Do students know what formative activities will support their preparedness for the summative assessment?

4. What opportunities are there for dialogue with the students about the task?

5. Are there opportunities to identify areas students might need support in to complete the assessment successfully? For example, academic writing and referencing are areas Part Two and Three students may still need support in. It is best not to make too many assumptions about 'what students should know and be able to do'. Such assumptions may alienate and prevent students from asking for help.

There are many factors involved in developing student assessment literacy. Please visit 'How to build assessment literacy with students' page for further information.