Key Terms in Assessment
Alternative assessment: an assessment component prepared especially for students who are unable to attend or complete the original assessment item because of misadventure.
Alternative examination: an examination arranged for students who are unable to attend or complete the final examination because of misadventure. Alternative examinations may be sat at the same time as supplementary examinations.
Analytical: The skills and knowledge broken down to their constituted parts
Assessment item: A component of an assessment pattern completed as a unit by students (e.g. a 2-hour examination). The item may contain more than one form of assessment (e.g. an examination with multiple choice questions and essay questions).
Assessment pattern: the collection of forms of assessment, their weightings and the timing of completion used in assessing the objectives of a subject.
Assignments: Components of assessment that are normally submitted from work conducted during the semester. Assignments can be formative or summative and of many forms (essays, short answer questions, computer programs, etc.).
Authentic: The conditions of assessment as close as possible to their use
Continuous assessment: An assessment pattern containing more than one assessment item with at least one item due for completion within the semester.
Contracts: Agreements between staff and students on issues associated with learning and assessment.
Criterion-referenced assessment: Where a student's level of performance is judged in terms of how well he/she achieves the objectives of the subject. The judgement does not depend at all on the performance of other students in the subject.
Feedback: Information returned to students on their progress in their course/subject. The information can be in the form of marks or grades, and/or qualitatively in the form of comments, model answers, suggestions for reading, etc.
Final examination: A test, quiz, essay paper, etc. set for students to complete in the official examination period at the end of each semester. Final examinations can be formal or informal.
Formal Examination: An assessment component conducted through the Academic Registrar.
Formative assessment: Designed to give students feedback on their progress towards the development of knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes rather than assessment for marks or grades which are not given to students.
Grade: A symbol associated with the quality of a student's work. Recommended grades for use at UTS and descriptions of the qualitative relation between student work and the grade is presented in the UTS Assessment Procedures Manual. (see also interim result).
Informal Examination: An assessment component conducted by the lecturer/subject co-ordinator through the School, either during the semester or in the official examination period at the end of the semester.
Interim results: Student results determined by an Examination Review Committee which do not constitute a grade for the subject (e.g. result withheld, eligible for a supplementary examination) See Assessment Procedures Manual for more details.
Mark: A numerical value associated with the quality of a student's work.
Meaningful learning: Learning from which students develop personal meaning. Learning from which students have understood the information they are learning rather than memorising it specifically for the purpose of passing assessment tests.
Norm-referenced assessment: Where a student's level of performance is judged in terms of how well that student achieves relative to other students in the subject.
Objectives: What the subject/course is trying to achieve. The criteria against which a student's performance in that subject/course will be judged.
Reliability: The extent of the variation between grades or marks when any assessment item is graded or marked repeatedly. Assessments with low reliability provide marks or grades which depend largely on chance events.
Scaling marks: When combining marks from different assessment components, the spread of marks on each component should be the same. This is achieved by scaling the marks on the components. One method of scaling the marks is to give the lowest mark zero and the highest mark 100, then determine all other marks by a straight line conversion graph.
Standardised: The conditions for the assessment task is the same for all students. Most commonly for examinations
Subject outline: A description of the subject containing objectives for the subject, outline of the content, assessment details and how they relate to objectives, set texts and related readings.
Summative assessment: Assessment designed to be used to determine grades or marks.
Supplementary assessment: A second chance assessment component for students who just fail an original component.
Supplementary examinations: A second chance assessment component for students who just fail the final examination.
Types of assessment: Ways of assessing students in which the method used matches the objective being tested. Examples of different types of assessment are given on this web site and include multiple choice questions, essays, short answer questions, etc.
Validity: Whether a test measures the ability being measured, or some different related or unrelated ability.
Wholistic: Assessing the combined knowledge and skills of students