Key considerations and questions for TEO Academic Managers
A shared vision of assessment policy based on the values of the organization and research-led practice.
Tertiary institutional policy must provide a clear vision of assessment policy that is based on principles reflecting the values of the TEO as well as research-led practices. Policy at the institutional level must be general enough to be applicable to different and diverse disciplines and professional regulatory bodies with oversight for accreditation (accounting, architecture, engineering, law, medicine, psychology, teaching, social work, and so on).
Policy makers need to ask a set of fundamental questions:
- What do we want to achieve with our assessment policy?
- What do we expect that our assessment practices will enable us to do?
- How can we assist our academic staff to meet the stated policy objectives around assessment?
- How can we best assist students to improve their learning, be accountable for that learning, provide feedback to tertiary teachers about their learning, and have appropriate support needed to be successful in pursuing their goals?
Internationally, there is considerable research examining specific issues such as efficiency, efficacy, validity, reliability, and learning potential signalled by different
forms of assessment. Institutions are challenged to offer sufficient guidance to tertiary teachers to enable them to explore viable alternatives to traditional practices without being too restrictive and prescriptive.
The key is not to develop more rules and regulations at the expense of general principles and guidance on how to use assessment to improve teaching and learning as well as measure these. Tertiary teachers are committed to using assessment towards these ends, and the Symposium challenged us to consider the fundamental issue:
How can we address practical issues of assessment of learning and for learning in ways practical for tertiary teachers committed to the teaching and learning process?