Practice Guides

These guides are intended to assist staff with designing assessment tasks that stimulates student motivation, encourages the development of students’ evaluative expertise and their engagement with feedback.

The guides on this page focus on the practice of developing and implementing authentic learning-focused assessment.

There are also technology-related how-to quick guides and videos (for Turnitin and Blackboard) in this section of the LTO’s Online Learning page.

Assessment Practice Guides

• Authentic Assessment Practice Guide – steps, features and examples to use
• Creating and Using Assessment Rubrics – update, design and implement an assessment rubric
• Early Formative Assessment Practice Guide - why, what and examples of early formative feedback
• Exam Alternatives – the top five alternatives to face-to-face exams
• Exams - Basic Considerations for Online Exams – managing student expectations, equity, and academic integrity when moving your exam online

Related Practice Guides

• Academic Integrity -  how to set up your students for success
• Flipped Classroom – steps to redesign a Course for flipped delivery and the benefits for student learning
• Online Learning: Engaging Blackboard Course Design - small changes to the look and feel of your Blackboard site will make a big difference to your students
• Universal Design for Learning - design your course for all students
• Blended Learning: Curriculum Design - design your curriculum to make the most of what technology can offer
• Using the Community of Inquiry Framework for Online Learning Design – design a meaningful, engaging and collaborative online learning experience using the framework recognised as most relevant to online learning.
• Planning for Online and Blended Learning - this new non-discipline specific planning scaffold will support you in creating new or transforming existing courses to blended and online delivery.
• Using Online Discussion Boards - a trusting, caring and engaging online learning environment has to be created purposely and consciously. Online discussion board is one of the best tools for building a learning community, and this guide will ensure that you are utilising its full potential.
• Learning Outcomes - Write learning outcome for your course which are specific, assessable, and focussed on students’ actions.
• Teaching International Students -  How to ensure that your classroom practice follows evidenced-based inclusive teaching strategies.

Examples of Final Exam Protocols and Resources

Editable documents developed by our School colleagues to be shared and reworked by our Notre Dame community (Login required)

• Final Exams via Turnitin: SoE (Fremantle) Protocol

  Developed by our colleagues Jacinta Petersen, Jean MacNish and Anne Coffey from the School of Education (Fremantle) following the School’s decision to conduct end-of-semester exams remotely, in open-book mode using Turnitin.

  • Instructions for staff explain how to create supporting documents and Blackboard content for the new exam protocol: SoE Turnitin Exams Staff Instructions
  • Instructions for students explain where to find exam materials and how the new exam protocol will work: SoE Turnitin Exams Student Instructions

  Thank you so much to the SoE for sharing this protocol with the academic community.

• Final Exams via Blackboard Tests Protocol

  These documents are based on the Blackboard Tests protocol created by our colleague Michelle Katavatis from the School of Nursing & Midwifery (Fremantle).

  • Instructions for staff explain the types of Blackboard tests and the steps involved in creating both tests and their supporting structures in Blackboard: Exams using BlackBoard Tests for Staff
  • Instructions for students consist of GENERAL instructions, to be provided during the weeks leading to exam, and SPECIFIC, once you know all the details (number and type of questions, duration, etc.)
  • Exams using BlackBoard Tests General Instruction for Students
  • Exams using BlackBoard Tests Specific Instruction for Students

Suggest a new practice guide

Is there an area of your teaching practice that you’d like some guidance with? Would you like some more guidance about a particular aspect of student learning?

Please send through your suggestions here: curriculum.quality@nd.edu.au