Transforming Assessment : Strategies for Higher Education

Abstract

This self-paced, professional learning e-course provides higher education instructors with the opportunity to transform their assessment practices – building on existing assessment knowledge and skills, reflecting on foundational assessment principles, exploring contemporary assessment strategies, and creating new assessments – to support students’ learning across disciplines and contexts. The course is ideal for professors, instructors, and graduate students looking to enhance their assessment practices for university and college teaching contexts.

The course uses a variety of resources and learning activities to engage you in transforming your assessment knowledge and practice, including interactive tasks, expert videos, a guided workbook, a planning framework, and curated resources. The course emphasizes moving from traditional paper and pencil assessments to authentic, alternative assessments of student learning. • You can complete this e-course individually or collaboratively with colleagues. • You can complete the whole course or individual modules or topics depending on your learning priorities. • You will be able to download Certificates of Completion for each module and the full course.

This course was developed by Queen’s Assessment and Evaluation Group (AEG) in partnership with the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and funded by eCampus Ontario’s Virtual Learning Strategy.

Learning Outcomes By the end of this course, you should be able to: 1. Apply foundational assessment principles and e-tools to the design of an assessment plan 2. Apply alternative assessment strategies to ensure alignment, authenticity, and transparency in assessment 3. Apply assessment principles to practically and critically address dilemmas in student assessment 4. Create “good” assessments for a variety of teaching contexts (in-person, blended, online) and students’ needs 5. Integrate Equity, Diversity, Decolonization, and Indigeneity (EDDI) strategies in assessment planning and decisions

Course Structure The course is divided into five modules: o Getting Started: Approaches to Classroom Assessment • Begin by taking an inventory of your current approach to assessment. o Module 1: Grounding Assessment • Reflect on your approach to assessment in relation to foundational assessment theory and research. o Module 2: Exploring Alternative Assessments • Learn practical strategies that support feedback-driven, student-centred, authentic assessments. o Module 3: Creating Alternative Assessments • Use a planning framework to create an assessment for a course you teach. o Wrapping Up: Revisiting Approaches to Classroom Assessment • Retake the inventory of your approach to assessment and set professional goals for the future. By the end of the course, you will have expanded your assessment knowledge, skills, and habits of mind in ways that will inform your future instructional practice and professional learning.