QAA-funded CEP publishes toolkit for assessment literacy

A QAA-funded Collaborative Enhancement Project (CEP) led by a team from Coventry University has published guides for students and staff as part of a toolkit on assessment literacy.

The project focuses on enhancing assessment literacy through balancing staff expectations with students’ effort and time.

The toolkit offers an accessible three-step guide to helping students plan, manage and complete assessments effectively.

The guidance explains how an assessment's expectations of students' prior knowledge and skills need to be clearly communicated to students, and goes on to show how assessment tasks can be broken down into the steps that students need to take in order to complete an assignment. It also emphasises the importance of demonstrating how those steps align with such key factors as marking criteria and module and course learning outcomes.

This resource has been created through a CEP which involved colleagues from Aston University, the University of the West of Scotland, the University of West London and IU University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

"This practical and user-friendly toolkit will be really helpful in supporting staff and students through the key considerations essential to successful and effective assessment design and completion," said Emma Williams, Membership Quality Specialist at QAA. "The fact that it has been developed and presented from both student and staff perspectives adds particular value to this work."

Project lead and Academic Developer at Coventry University Dr Christina Magkoufopoulou said:

"It has been an honour to lead this project alongside a highly skilled and dedicated team. Our research highlighted the ongoing need for transparent communication around assessment expectations. According to our findings almost 40 per cent of students are not familiar with the term assessment literacy, while 90 per cent of academic staff expressed a desire to develop their own understanding further.

"The initial evaluation of the toolkit was very encouraging: 85 per cent of students and 84 per cent of staff reported that they could apply the toolkit in their learning or teaching respectively.

"In case studies conducted at the University of the West of Scotland by Dr Anna Law and at the University of West of London by Dr Lucie Ingram, students reported reduced feelings of overwhelm, increased confidence, more realistic workload planning and clearer identification of skills gaps.

"What makes the Time and Effort on Task toolkit unique is its focus on creating space for meaningful conversations about time and effort in assessment, enabling students to tailor their assessment planning to their individual circumstances. This makes the Time and Effort on Task toolkit a flexible and inclusive resource that aligns with a humanistic approach to teaching."