Perspectives on Assessment

1
Perspectives on Assessment

• Professor Margaret Price
• Director of ASKe (Assessment Standards Knowledge
  exchange)
• a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

2
ASKe

• I know a 2.1 when I see it
• Assertion
• A meaningful understanding of assessment
  standards requires a combination of explicit and
  tacit knowledge

3
ASKe

• Meaningful knowledge
• A combination of tacit and explicit knowledge
• Explicit knowledge can be articulated, written
• For example learning outcomes, criteria, level
  descriptors
• Tacit knowledge is knowledge that cannot be
  easily articulated
• We can know more than we can tell
  (Polanyi,1998, p.136)
• Pretty much impenetrable to the non-cognoscenti
  (Webster et al., 2000, p.73)

4
ASKe

• In theory
• A single-minded focus on explicit articulation
  falls short of providing students and staff
  with common and meaningful knowledge of standards
  and criteria. (ODonovan et al., 2004, p.333)
• Baumard, not only acknowledges the importance of
  tacit knowledge in the development of
  understanding, but also suggests that this
  important tacit dimension can be crushed or
  stubbed out by an over-emphasis on explicit
  knowledge (1999, p.194)

5

ASKe

• In Practice
• A Criteria Grid comprising criteria with detailed
  level descriptors was developed and used across a
  Business school.

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ASKe

• Can explicit criteria descriptors create common
  understanding?
• Staff
• To establish common standards of marking and
  grading across advanced level modules. through a
  common grid of detailed criteria does not appear
  to be possible (Price and Rust, 1999, p.143)
• Students
• Grid was of limited practical use if presented
  in isolation without the benefit of explanation,
  exemplars and the opportunity for discussion.
  (Rust et al., 2003, p.151)

7
ASKe

• Transferring tacit knowledge in practice
• Marking exercises, a workshop and exemplars were
  used in a simple intervention with first year
  students.

8
ASKe

• Can socialisation processes designed to transfer
  tacit knowledge support the development of
  meaningful knowledge of assessment standards?
• Students
• Participants achieved, on average 6 higher marks
  than non participants (Rust et al., 2003)

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ASKe

• No one method of knowledge transfer, either
  explicit or tacit, by itself is robust enough to
  deliver meaningful knowledge. Meaningful
  knowledge of assessment standards is best
  communicated and understood through the use of a
  combination of both explicit and tacit transfer
  processes. (ODonovan et al., 2004, p.333)

10
References

• BAUMARD, P. (1999) Tacit Knowledge in
  Organizations (London, Sage Publications).
• ODONOVAN, B., PRICE, M. RUST C. (2004) ) Know
  what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of
  assessment standards and criteria, Teaching in
  Higher Education 9 (3) pp.325-335
• PRICE, M. AND RUST, C. (1999), The experience of
  introducing a common criteria assessment grid
  across an academic department, Quality in Higher
  Education, 2 pp.133-144.
• POLANYI, M. (1998) The tacit dimension, Reprinted
  in L. PRUSAK (Ed.) Knowledge in Organizations
  (Boston Butterworth Heineman).
• RUST, C, PRICE, M. AND ODONOVAN, B (2003)
  'Improving students learning by developing their
  understanding of assessment criteria and
  processes' Assessment and Evaluation 28 (2)
  pp.147-164
• WEBSTER, F., PEPPER, D. JENKINS, A (2000)
  Assessing the undergraduate dissertation,
  Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 1,
  pp.72-80.