Practising what you preach: how an evidence-based strategy enables the achievement of transparency in assessment and feedback

Abstract

In this presentation, we provided examples of evidence-based practice in a university-wide assessment and feedback redesign, driven by a new Learning and Teaching Strategy. To enable the implementation of this strategy and the university-wide shift in practice, the university looked to learning designers to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

We developed a comprehensive strategy with a focus on motivating buy-in of staff, which required us to ensure the relationship between practice and policy was transparent, meaningful, and evidence-based.

We focused on five pillars: 1) collecting data to identify developmental targets; 2) creating a central resource for maintaining evidence-based assessment practice; 3) educating new staff and early adopters to enable a supportive culture shift; 4) identifying academic departments that required extensive changes to achieve evidence-based assessment practice, with a focus on removing barriers to engagement; and 5) ensuring pedagogy/subject-level experts were crucial to both designing and implementing changes.

This presentation was of particular interest to learning developers who aim to better support and promote the skills that students need to excel on assessments. We did this by demonstrating how making the necessary skills and knowledge more explicit and real-world relevant will make it easier for learning developers to identify, communicate, and thus support students in what it takes to succeed in even the most unique assessment designs.