Curriculum and assessment
Learning outcomes, assessment, rubrics and MCQs
Writing learning outcomes
Learning outcomes are an integral part of how students understand your unit, and how it fits into their degree more broadly. When done well, learning outcomes assist students with choosing which units they wish to undertake, as they will indicate to students the knowledge and skills they will acquire after completing the unit. When creating learning outcomes, it is important to ask yourself the following question: What do I want my students to be able to DO once they’ve completed the unit?
WORKSHOP: Writing Learning Outcomes
Writing and evaluating constructively aligned course, unit and topic learning outcomes.
Learning outcome statements are valuable to students, teachers and administrators and support better curriculum design and alignment through explicit connection to learning and teaching activities and assessment tasks. This workshop will help you understand what learning outcomes are, why they are important and how to evaluate your own learning outcomes. You will also develop weekly/topic learning outcomes that are aligned to unit learning outcomes.
Writing learning outcomes
This tipsheet will give you the basics of learning outcomes and help you to write them for your unit.
Using learning outcomes in course content
This tipsheet will show you how to develop and use weekly or topic-based learning outcomes.
Checklist for writing learning outcomes
This checklist will help you to evaluate your course, unit and topic learning outcomes.
Common questions about learning outcomes
This tipsheet will answer some frequently asked difficult question about learning outcomes.
Designing assessment tasks
Quality courses are designed with clear alignment between the learning outcomes, assessment tasks, and learning content and activities, and this connection is made explicit to students. Summative assessment tasks should be varied, authentic, appropriately staged, and scaffolded and must not place an unnecessary and counterproductive load on students.
WORKSHOP: Revising Assessment Tasks
Creating clear and constructively aligned assessment tasks.
Designing fair, reliable and valid assessment tasks begins with ensuring alignment between the unit learning outcomes and the assessment task. This workshop is less about creating assessment tasks from scratch, and more about evaluating assessment tasks that are already in place, ensuring alignment with the learning outcomes and making improvements to the clarity of the assessment task description to ensure both students and teaching staff understand the expectations of the task.
EDS SEMINAR: Safeguarding assessment against student use of generative AI
Dana Bui || 1st May, 2024
In this final seminar of the AI series, Dana will examine what types of assessment tasks and features of assessment design are vulnerable to misuse of AI by students. The seminar will explore ways of developing students’ AI literacy to encourage the ethical use of AI and unpack strategies for designing assessment tasks that safeguard against inappropriate student use of AI.
Click here to access the recording || Click here to access the slides.
EDS SEMINAR: Designing ChatGPT-driven Assessment
Nicola Rivers || 28th June, 2023
Join Nicola Rivers, a senior teaching fellow for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in this seminar as she shares her experience of implementing a ChatGPT-driven assessment this semester. Nicola will delve into task design and implementation, reflecting on what worked, areas for improvement, and unexpected surprises encountered along the way. If you're considering the use of ChatGPT in your assessments, Nicola aims to provide some practical guidance for getting started based on her experiences.
Click here to access the recording || Click here to access the presentation slides
EDS SEMINAR: Designing Invigilated Assessments
Scott Clarke || 3rd May, 2023
In this inaugural seminar, Educational Designer Scott Clarke discusses designing invigilated assessments. As we move towards more rich and authentic assessment in our teaching, there may still be a place for invigilated assessments to help support student learning. This seminar covers the “why, what, when and how” of invigilated assessments, and advice on how to implement a quality assessment regime.
Click here to access the recording || Click here to access the presentation slides
Assessment task descriptions
This tipsheet tells you what information to include when writing your assessment task descriptions.
Redesigning assessments for AI
This tipsheet will help you to consider ways in which you can safeguard your assessments from generative AI misuse.
Developing rubrics and criteria
Assessment tasks must be designed to make overall judgements about student’s achievement of the learning outcomes of the unit and course. Developing quality rubrics and criteria will assist in marking fairly and accurately.
WORKSHOP: Developing Rubrics
Creating and evaluating marking criteria.
Rubrics allow for consistency and transparency in marking, can guide feedback and give students clearly articulated expectations. Rubrics are complex and can be time-consuming to produce, but once designed, evaluated and refined appropriately, they can significantly decrease overall marking time, and in particular, reduce subjectivity between markers. This workshop is designed as an introduction to rubrics and you will gain experience in evaluating rubrics, refining existing rubrics and creating effective rubrics from scratch.
Designing quality rubrics
This tipsheet will assist you in creating clear, measurable, and constructively aligned rubrics
Checklist for evaluating rubrics
This tipsheet will assist you in evaluating and rewriting your existing rubrics.
Rubric language
This tipsheet will assist you in using clear language to decrease rubric subjectivity in rubrics
Writing multiple choice questions
Multiple Choice Questions are forms of assessment that enable measurement of achievement of the unit learning outcomes, by the student. In order to test the level of knowledge and competency, quality and effectiveness must be considered in the construction of MCQs.
Writing quality MCQs
This tipsheet will help you to write quality multiple-choice questions
Extended Match Questions (EMQs)
This tipsheet will help you understand Extended Match Questions (EMQs)
Higher order MCQs
This tipsheet will help you to create MCQs that test higher-order thinking
Checklist for evaluating MCQs
This checklist will help you evaluate and rewrite your multiple choice question tests.