Assessment Design and Rubrics

METHODS

Diagnostic, formative and summative assessment tasks can be linked with learning activities as shown below. An integrated learning-assessment model allows for both intrinsic and extrinsic reward factors, and the provision of appropriate feedback to learners becomes the critical component that links the assessment to the learning.

The format for the assessment will need to take into account whether the assessments is low, medium or high stakes.

Summary of decision-making issues for assessment formats (Crisp 2005)

	Low stakes assessment	Medium stakes assessment	High stakes assessment
Purpose of assessment	Improve learning, identify teaching gaps	Improve learning, progression to new concepts	Credentials, gate keeping, progression, certification
Consequences if problems arise	Few with low impact	Some with modest impact	Significant with high impact
Resources required	Often minimal, can use low threshold software	Modest investment in large scale system	Significant investment in enterprise system
Consequences of cheating	Few	Some	Significant
Authentication of learner	Not important	Maybe important	Very important
Invigilation required	Not usual	Sometimes	Always
Development effort	Minor	Medium	Major
Evaluation of reliability and validity	Not usual, anecdotal feedback from colleagues and learners sought	Subject matter expert provide feedback	Requires professional psychometric analysis

APPROACHES

SOLO Taxonomy

SOLO stands for Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome. The taxonomy is a useful way to characterize different levels of questions in assessments and the corresponding responses expected from students. It originates from Biggs, J.B. and Collis, K.F. (1982). Evaluating the Quality of Learning-the SOLO Taxonomy. (1st ed). New York: Academic Press.

The five levels of the SOLO taxonomy are:

Examples

Examples of how to use the SOLO taxonomy include:
Assessment and Learning Outcomes: The Evaluation of Deep Learning in an On-line Course, Journal of Information Technology Education Volume 2, 2003. http://jite.org/documents/Vol2/v2p305-317-29.pdf

Example of checklist using SOLO taxonomy:
http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/downloads/biggs_solo.pdf

Rubrics

A rubric is a scoring guide, check list or set of rules that identifies the criteria and the expected standards for a given assessment. They can be designed for all forms of assessment. Developing a marking rubric will assist the teaching staff and the student by explicitly detailing what is expected, the relative weightings for different components, and the standard required for different grades. Examples of rubrics can be found in the following section.

Examples

Rubric examples on the ERGA website:
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/erga/rubrics/