Assessment in practice

Assessment at Notre Dame is grounded in evidence that good assessment promotes learning and enhances our understanding of students’ progress. Good assessment  promotes students’ ability to make evaluative judgments - that is, being able to appraise the quality of one’s own and others’ work, and to carry this capability into future work (Tai et al., 2018).

In keeping with this, a number of principles guide the development and delivery of assessment at Notre Dame notably:

• Assessment is based on pre-determined standards, intended learning outcomes and criteria that contribute to setting clear expectations for student's learning
• Assessment is inclusive and fair
• Assessment and feedback are designed to actively engage students and support student learning
• Assessment is conducted by staff and students in an ethical and honest manner.
• Assessment is criterion-referenced and standards-based rather than norm-referenced.

This website provides more information on how to design, deliver and revise assessment in line with these principles. It provides guidance and examples of good practices in assessment such as: aligning assessment tasks and methods with expected course learning outcomes; designing formative and summative assessment to provide adequate and timely feedback; using a variety of assessment methods; being responsive to diversity within the student cohort; and developing assessment criteria and standards which will guide students in developing evaluative judgement.