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| Assessment in Higher Education |
| Curriculum Constructive Alignment | A - Z Terminologies |
Common Assessment Terminologies
Please visit this page occasionally, more terminologies will be added
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | JKL | M | N | OPQ | R | S | T | UVW | XYZ |
A
Active LearningActive learning is a general term that describes the type of learning activities which allows the learners to be responsible for their own learning. It has been suggested that activity-based experiences tend to engage learners and help them to understand and recall learning faster.
Affective
Alternative Assessment
Alternative Assessment (aka as Authentic Assessment, Performance Assessment or Direct Assessment ) is the general term that describes the type of assessments that require students to apply their skills and knowledge in a meaningful real life situation.
Analytic Scoring
Analytic Grading is a method of evaluating students’ performance by assessing the different elements of the assessment rather than focusing the overall quality of the assessment as a whole.
Assessment
Assessment in Higher Education is an on-going evaluation documenting process aimed at understanding and improving student learning by measuring the learning outcomes in knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs.
Authentic Assessment
Authentic Assessment (aka as Performance Assessment, Direct Assessment or Alternative Assessment) is the general term that describes the type of assessments that require students to apply their skills and knowledge in a meaningful real life situation.
B
BenchmarkingBiggs' SOLO Taxonomy
Biggs’ Solo (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) Taxonomy, is a systematic way of describing how a learner’s performance develops from simple to complex levels in their learning. There are 5 stages, namely Pre-structural, Uni-structural, Multi-structural which are in a quantitative phrase and Relational and Extended Abstract which are in a qualitative phrase.
Blooms' Taxonomy
Blooms’ Taxonomy is another systematic way of describing how a learner’s performance develops from simple to complex levels in their affective, psychomotor and cognitive domain learning. In their cognitive domain, there are six stages, namely: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation. Traditional education tends to base the student learning in this domain.
C
Constructive AlignmentConstructive Alignment is a learning and teaching principle devised by John B. Biggs. It basically states the intended learning outcomes, the learning activities and the assessment tasks in a programme/course must be properly aligned. Thus the intended learning outcomes (what we want the students to learn) must be supported by the correct used of learning activities (how do we want the students to learn) and the assessment tasks including the languages employed (how do we know they have learnt).
Criteria
Criterion-reference Assessment
Criterion-Referenced Assessment is a format for evaluating assessment in which the assessment is measured against predetermined criteria. It provides the standards to both the learners and the assessors so the assessment is assessed with little ambiguity and the assessors are expected to assess materials according to the defined criteria. Criterion-reference assessment encourages teamwork as it does not compete with other members but the set criteria. It is used to establish a person’s competence. Example: Driving Test.
D
Direct AssessmentDirect Assessment (aka as Authentic Assessment, Performance Assessment or Alternative Assessment) is the general term that describes the type of assessments that require students to apply their skills and knowledge in a meaningful real life situation.
E
F
FeedbackFeedback in learning is the process that allows the learners to know whether they are performing on the right track
Formative Assessment
Formative Assessment is when the student’s performance is assessed throughout the learning cycle. This has the advantage of providing feedback for both teachers and students for improving instruction and for aid learning. Summative and formative assessment are referred to in a learning context as "assessment of learning" and "assessment for learning" respectively.
G
Generative SkillsGroup assessment
Group assessment is when the assessment is allocated to group of learners. The difficulty in group learning and assessment often lies in the grading of the assessment
H
Higher Order Learning OutcomesHigher Order Learning Outcomes are those learning outcomes which involve deep learning and not the regurgitation of information, creating, designing, reflecting, comparing, judging, critiquing and relating are all sample verbs of higher order learning outcomes. It can be classified by the top three levels of Bloom’s cognitive Taxonomy – Analyse, Synthesis and Evaluate.
Holistic Scoring
Holistic grading is a method of evaluating students’ performance by focusing the overall quality of the work rather than assessing each individual item. For example: Essay assessments are often view as a whole rather than on any one aspect of the writing such as grammars, spellings or others
I
Ipsative Assessment Ipsative Assessment is a self evaluating assessment format in which the assessment performance is measured against yourself, competing your own “personal best” performance over time or over different fields. Example: AtheleteJKL
Learning OutcomesLearning outcomes are statement or a set of statements that specify what the learners will know and able to do upon successful completion of a learning cycle. The learning outcomes can be maybe in the affective, psychomotor or/and cognitive domains as specified in Blooms’ Taxonomy.
M
ManageabilityManageability in assessment relates to the assessment if it is manageable in the staff and learner workload resources perspectives.
N
Norm-reference AssessmentNorm-Referenced Assessment (also known as grading on a curve) is a format for evaluating assessment in which the assessment performance is measured against the norm. The norm can be the average in a class cohort or even the national sample, these students' performances are then ranked accordingly. Norm-referenced assessment does not give an indication of how well the student performs, rather it is a way of comparing students, thus discourages teamworking with competition. Example: IQ test
OPQ
Objective AssessmentPeer Assessment
Peer Assessment is an assessment which allows students to assess each other’s performance. It can be extremely valuable in helping students to learn from each other by listening, analyzing and problem solving. It gives the students the opportunity to encounter diversity in different ways, critique and judgment and ultimately, students learn how to be responsible for their own learning.
Performance-based assessment
Performance Assessment (aka as Authentic Assessment, Direct Assessment or Alternative Assessment) is the general term that describes the type of assessments that require students to apply their skills and knowledge in a meaningful real life situation.
Process Based Assessment
Process based assessment is the type of assessment which focuses on how the learners’ performance is delivered.
Product Based Assessment
Product Based assessment is the type of assessment which focuses on what end product the learners’ deliver.
R
ReliabilityReliability is a measure of how consistent the assessment is. A reliable assessment will produce the same results on re-test with the same or similar populations who have similar knowledge and ability in a similar circumstance. Various factors affect reliability – including ambiguous questions, too many options within a question paper, unclear or no grading criteria particularly for subjective assessment and poorly trained markers.
Rubrics Heidi Goodrich, a rubrics expert, defines a rubric as “a scoring tool that lists the criteria for a piece of work or 'what counts.” Generally rubrics specify the level of performance expected for several levels of quality.
S
Self assessmentSelf Assessment is an assessment which allows students to assess their own performance. It can be extremely valuable in helping students to develop self-reflection, critique and judgment and ultimately, students learn how to be responsible for their own learning. Self assessments are more usually used as part of a formative assessment process, rather than a summative one.
Standards
Standard is the expected level of quality (set by instructors, professional bodies, schools, colleges, government) in which the assessment will be approved or accredited.
Subjective Assessment
Summative Assessment
Summative Assessment is when the student’s performance is assessed at the end of the learning cycle. Only one accumulated grade is usually given for the entire learning period. Summative and formative assessment are referred to in a learning context as "assessment of learning" and "assessment for learning" respectively.
T
Traditional AssessmentTraditional Assessment is a general term that refers to the conventional type of assessments such as standardized tests, multiple choice questions and essay writings, these assessments tend to be passive learning in nature and encourage the recalling of information.
UVW
ValidityValidity is a measure of how the assessment aligns with the intended learning outcomes, that is if it is assessing what it is intended to assess. A valid assessment will give an accurate estimate of the actual skills learned by the student. For example, a driving test tests only theory is not a valid test.
XYZ
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