This document discusses assessment for learning and making student thinking visible. It outlines that the purpose of assessment is to facilitate student learning by providing feedback, and to facilitate teaching by giving feedback to improve instruction. Assessment influences how students learn through its "backwash effect" - students focus their studying on tasks that are assessed. The document advocates for criterion-referenced assessment using clear learning objectives and assessment criteria to benchmark student understanding. It provides examples of using rubrics and formative assessment to continually provide diagnostic feedback to students and teachers to modify and improve learning.

1. Assessment for Learning
Making thinking Visible
Cormac McGrath
Unit for Medical Education
CLK, LIME
@ Cormac_McGrath
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

2. Prerequisites & Keywords
 Students engage in collective meaning making
 Reliability, validity, inter-rater reliability, authenticity, assessment
criteria
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

3. The function of assessment
To facilitate learning:
- Find out whether students achieved the aims and goals
- Motivate students to learn (stick or carrot?)
- Make visible, assist and improve learning by giving useful
feedback.
To facilitate teaching:
- Give feedback, to give an opportunity to improve teaching
For institutional/ professional requirements:
- Grading, ranking or select students
- Maintain standards
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

4. Assessment is the main factor that
influences student learning
It is the students’ understanding of
the requirements for assessment
that makes the ”hidden curriculum”
and that has an impact on how
students learn.
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

5. Backwash effect
ILOs
Teaching
methods
Examination
Study methods
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
Examination
Student
learning
21/10/13

6. Progression in the choice of verbs
SOLO taxonomy
Compare
(Biggs & Tang 2007)
Contrast
Theorise
Generalise
Number
Identify
Make
simple
procedures
Make a
Explain
hypothesis
relationships
Reflect
Analyse
Describe
Relate
List
Apply
Combine
Misses
the point
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

7. Ways of benchmarking student
understanding
 Criterion-referenced assessment:
How well students have learnt what we intended them to learn.
 Norm-referenced assessment
Comparing students performances with each other, by ranking.
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

8. ILO- Assessment Criteria
The student should be able to account for the
ethical guidelines for Biomed analysts
The students considers, conducts an analysis and
discusses the ethical guidelines for biomed analysts.
The students describes the ethical guidelines for
biomed analysts.
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

9. What is a criteria?
A description of quality
Tell us how well things are done
Describes a performance
(Måhl, 2004)
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

10. How to use criteria in assessment?
ILOs
Assessment criteria
Analysis of performance – does the students achieve the ILOs?
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

11. What are we looking for?
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Coherence
Structure
Correspondences between problem and solution
Correspondence between method and discussion
Critical thinking
Ability to communicate
Academic reasoning
Problem identification
Decision making
Inferences inductive-deductive
Divergent thinking skills
Evaluating thinking skills
Is Genuine and authentic
Requires reasoning
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

12. Rubrics an example.
LEVEL 4
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 1
Conceptual
Understanding
Demonstrates a clear and
deep understanding
of the theory and
the “big ideas”
presented in the
chapter.
Demonstrates clear
understanding of
the ideas presented
in the theory
presented in the
chapter.
Demonstrates
limited/surface
understanding of
the theory
presented.
Demonstrates superficial
understanding of
the theory.
Identifies Issues/Problems
(if applicable)
Demonstrates a clear and
deep understanding
of an issue/problem
in the case study.
Demonstrates deep
understanding of an
issue/problem in
the case study.
Demonstrates
limited/surface
understanding of an
issue/problem in
the case study.
Demonstrates superficial
understanding of an
issue/problem in
the case study.
Connections: Theory and
Practice
Makes appropriate,
insightful and
powerful
connections
between the
issue/problem and
the theory.
Makes appropriate and
insightful
connections
between the issue/
problem and the
theory.
Makes appropriate but
somewhat vague
connections
between the
issue/problem and
the theory.
Makes little or no
connection between
the issue/problem
and the theory.
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

13. Using criteria when teaching
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Using outcomes and criteria in active discussion
Use criteria as recourse
Make clear how different activities ”fulfill” the outcomes
Show examples of student work.
Allow the students to practice assessment
(self & peer)
(Woolf, 2004; Dunn, 2002; Price, 2005;
Rust 2006, )
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

14. Two kinds of assessment
Formative assessment
- Continuously runs during the teaching/ learning process
- Diagnostic: gives feedback to students and teachers on
* strengths and weaknesses
* difficulties
* misunderstandings
- Gives an opportunity to modify/ improve
Summative assessment
- Final. At the end of a course
- Descriptive. How well did the students learn the material/ knowledge/ skill
- For ranking and selection. Usually no possibility to modify/ improve
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

15. On formative assessment
 Study by Weurlander
 Students involved in formative examination
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High degree of motivation
The opportunities to talk to peer and superiors
Could clarify misconceptions
Benchmark their findings against the assessment criteria
Gave them a chance to make changes in their studying strategies
Engage in challenging intellectual discussions
(Weurlander, 2009)
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

16. Conditions relating to how assessment
facilitates student learning
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Quantity and distribution of student effort
 Assessed tasks capture sufficient study time and effort
 These tasks distribute student effort evenly across topics and weeks
Quality and level of student effort
 These tasks engage students in productive learning activity
 Assessment communicates clear and high expectations to students
Quantity and timing of feedback
 Sufficient feedback is provided, both often enough and in enough detail
 The feedback is provided quickly enough to be useful to students
Quality of feedback
 Feedback focuses on learning rather than on marks or students themselves
 Feedback is linked to the purpose of the assignment and to criteria
 Feedback is understandable to students, given their sophistication
Student response
 Feedback is received by students and attended to
 Feedback is acted upon by students to improve their work or their learning
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

17. Our focus today
 Understanding how assessment influences student learning
 Understanding how assessment criteria may be used to
facilitate student learning
 Aiming to achieve inter-rater reliability
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13

18. References
Cormac McGrath, Unit for Medical Education
21/10/13