Assessment & the Expanded text project
Current Assessment Practice
Coursework | Examinations | Essays
Oral assessment | Portfolio | Project work
Self & peer assessment | Skills based assessment | Work based learning
'The diversity of material and approaches, as well as programme objectives which value choice and independence of mind, suggest that it is desirable for students of English to experience a variety of assessment forms.' (CCUE/QAA: 1999). Current Assessment Practice is a searchable index of assessment practices across the Higher Education English community. It provides examples of the assessment practices the draft subject benchmarking document suggests might be profitably used to achieve such diversity.
All the assessment practices included in Current Assessment Practice are used by English and Related Studies tutors in the Higher Education sector. Initially current assessment practices in the four departments of English making up the Assessment and the Expanded Text project were documented and analysed. Each member of staff was invited to describe an assessment design they currently used, and to reflect on any factors affecting its development and use. Tutors were also invited to comment on the impact the design had on their students. The survey produced forty six replies from tutors across the consortium, nine of which included the assessment of group work and presentation. We later extended our survey to all university departments whose assessment methods were cited as 'good practice' in the English subject review reports (HEFCE: 1994-5). As a result members of staff in a further seventeen departments provided details.
