Assessment

Assessment 

The continuous assessment model has been identified as a remedy for addressing low throughput rates in South Africa’s higher education sector (Nair & Pillay 2004). While assessments range from class discussions to group presentations, assignments, tests and final examinations, the Faculty of Law has a certain level of standardisation. There are two compulsory test opportunities per module per semester, with a supplementary assessment opportunity for the two tests. These assessments and the procedure for a special examination are included in the module outline. Considering this standardisation, I favour formative assessments over summative assessments, since the former enables me to gauge students’ performance and remedy deficiencies in my teaching delivery.

Formative assessments

For most of my face-to-face classes, every lecture has a mini-assessment because of my tutorial style. I constantly call for questions and pose some myself. In one module, I offered students a marking rubric which they used as a guide for preparing their take-home assignment. This rubric (see Annexure A) also helped them prepare for their written text and oral presentations. These presentations are highly interactive, since students assessed each other (though I did not rely on their peer assessments). I offered feedback for these formative assessments during lectures and consultations. 

            For my ACL class pre-Covid, I conducted a mock examination for students during revision classes, which was peer-assessed. This decision is largely due to students’ obsession with 'scope' of examinations. During the feedback sessions, I used their performance in this mock examination to successfully assess their levels of understanding and remedy deficiencies. I believe this mock examination helped the ACL class to achieve a near 100% pass rate (405/411) in the November 2019 academic year, with many distinctions in the final examination. Mock examination thus appears to validate the efficacy of outcome-based assessments (Bozalek 2009).

Summative assessment 

My examination questions target independent responses that demonstrate the students’ grasp of UWC’s core graduate attributes of critical thinking, thirst for inquiry, skilled communication, and logical presentation of arguments. As Annexure B below shows, summative assessments are often comprehensive, scenario-based, critically structured, and balanced to reflect the varying abilities of our multicultural students. 

Annexure B – Mock exam 2019

SECTION A

Answer THREE (3) questions only from this section. Each question carries TEN (10) marks

1. Prof. Jane Smith, a visiting scholar from Oxford University, wants to know how traditional African traditional institutions in South Africa are. Advise her.

2. Explain the traditional rule of male primogeniture, with emphasis on tension between customary law and state laws. 

3. Andiswa and Dube, who live in Stellenbosch and Bellville, respectively, wish to marry. Although both are lawyers, they are ignorant of the procedure for customary law marriage in the town of Pongola in KZN. Since Andiswa’s father is deceased, she insists on her mother receiving her bridewealth, arguing that her wicked uncle never helped in sponsoring her education. Using at least two class illustrations, explain the influence of the family head on contracts under customary law.     

4.Critique the classification of customary law into official and living versions. In so doing, identify the categories of laws in South Africa.                                          

Section B

Answer two questions in this section. Each question carries five (5) marks

1. In what ways do the foundational values of indigenous laws explain the flexibility of customary law?                              

2. In what ways have property ownership under African customary law changed? 

3. List five requirements for a contract of marriage under the RCMA                    

Section C

Answer all questions in this section. Each question carries two (2) marks

1) Two most important elements for a marriage under the RCMA are ——— and ———

2)  ——— and ——— have power to define laws concerning disputes in traditional communities in South Africa 

3) As the key rule of inheritance, male primogeniture was accompanied by ———

4) Two key features of contracts under indigenous African laws are ——— and ———

5) In South Africa, state laws (ie Roman-Dutch Law) evolved from ———

Unlike sections A and B of the mock examination, which are essay questions testing the students’ skills on critical thinking and logical presentation of arguments, section C required short, precise answers. By so doing, it tested students’ attention to lectures, since the answers featured prominently in class discussions.