Assessment: Graded assignments – self study + peer feedback

Nota Bene: From 2023-2024 onwards both the Written Exams and the Graded Assignment courses will be replaced by the new course 'UTQ Assess'.

In this training you will work on the key elements in ensuring the quality of the assignments in your course for which student get a grade, such as a report, a paper or a lab journal.

When you register for this training, you will receive the preparation details and info on the kick-off and the peer feedback meeting. The preparation consists of multiple assignments and completion thereof is a pre-requisite for joining the meeting to get (peer) feedback. In this way, you can make further improvements and include these in your UTQ-portfolio. 

Target group & Prerequisites

This training is designed for teachers who want to improve their graded assignments.

The content should tie in with the teaching duties of teachers at Wageningen University:

• Participants should be responsible for a graded individual or group assignment of at least one course.
• Participants should have attended the course (Re)designing a course and/or should be able to construct an assessment strategy matrix which shows congruence between intended learning outcomes, assessment methods and test elements, plus the weighting of each sub-part and/or evaluate and if necessary improve the quality of an existing assessment strategy matrix. It is recommended that participants also have completed the Written Exams course before starting Graded Assignments.
• An up-to-date Assessment Strategy Matrix must be available for the course you will be working on.

Learning outcomes

After completing the assignments and attending the meeting the participant is able to:

• demonstrate congruence between intended learning outcomes, tasks and products of the assignment and the assessment criteria.
• argue how the assessment meets the quality criteria: validity, reliability, transparency, practicability for teachers and students and positive impact on student learning.
• explain how students’ progress is assessed and how students receive (peer) feedback on their work (formative use of assessment).

Content

The content covers how to ensure and improve the assessment quality (validity, reliability, transparency, practiciality and positive impact on learning) of graded assignments. You will use tools like the assignment specification form and will learn how to create an assessment sheet. By giving and receiving peer feedback you will further improve the quality of your assignment.

Method

This activity is set up as self-study combined with written and face-to-face peer feedback. First, you will go through the theories in your own time, make assignments and give peer feedback online (8-12 hours in total). You need to complete the assignment as a preparation for the feedback meeting.

During the feedback meeting (4 hours) we will discuss the key elements in ensuring the quality of graded assignments so you can deepen your understanding, make further improvements and include this in your UTQ portfolio.

Literature

After registration you will receive access to the self-study material and assignments in Brightspace where you will also give and receive peer feedback.

You will use the book ‘How to assess students through assignments’ by Evelyn van de Veen (2016).

Certificate

You will be awarded your certificate after the peer feedback meeting.

Costs

Participation is free for Wageningen University & Research staff involved in teaching WU courses.

Cancellation

We consider registration as final. When cancelled within three weeks before the activity starts, your chair group will be charged all costs of your subscription (€350,-).

If there are less than 6 participants in the course, Education Support Centre may cancel the course and notify you at the latest 2 weeks before the start of the course.