General overview of alternative assessments in Higher Education

1. Alternative assessments
Marieke Guy

2. Challenges
2
• Diversity of assessments
• Choking points
• Continuous assessment

3. Video assessment
Rationale
• Opportunity to practice real world
skills e.g. presentation skills, digital
literacy, collaboration
• Industry relevant and authentic
• Academic integrity
• Suits diverse learner group
• Continuous improvement
Ideas
3
• Presentation or demonstration
(individual or group)
• Client video / diary
• Digital field guide
• Q&A session
• Commentary on video and 360 video
• Mock scenario

4. ePortfolios
Rationale
• Continuous assessment
• Reflective element builds analysis
skills
• Software will allow granular sharing
and regular ‘submission’
• Curation of multimedia collection
Ideas
4
• Work placement diary
• Construction design concepts portfolio
• Dissertation supervision and support
• Peer review
• Digital CV

5. Industry case study / scenario
Rationale
• Industry relevant
• Authentic
• Can be reused in many ways, across
years and levels
• Opportunities to built on learning
from formative to summative
• Journey through the curriculum
Ideas
5
• Fictionalised examples and tasks
• Shareville idea
• VR and virtual worlds

6. Mini-quizzes
Rationale
• Use of new assessment system
• Varied question types and branching
• Prolonged engagement
• Marking can be automated and
feedback immediate
• Universal design for learning
Ideas
6
• Weekly quizzes
• Audio questions and feedback
• Drawing and calculations
• Question writing
• Analytics from questions –
identification of issues, cohort
feedback etc.

7. Final thoughts…
• The need to balance alternatives against resource available
• Importance of piloting and building in
• Remember inclusive assessment practices when designing
• Assessment choice
• Assessment literacy and peer review
• Include the quality team in conversation (PSRBs)
• Continuous assessment is tied to continuous feedback
• Feedback relates to clear goals and expectations for assessments
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8. Thank you
Marieke Guy
“We must prepare students to cope with the unknown
and build their capacity to learn when the props of a
course - curriculum, assignments, teachers, academic
resources - are withdrawn. What then does that imply
for what and how we assess?” David Boud 2014

9. Credits
• Images – author’s own or Pexels or Pixabay CC0
• Inspiration from:
• Own experience
• Authentic assessment top trumps by Lydia Arnold
• Compendium of examples of authentic assessment in practice from diverse
disciplines by Sally Brown and Kay Sambell
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