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Sona Mehta (Senior lecturer) The City Law School, City, University of London
[Lightning talk 3]
Many skills-based assessments on the professional programmes in the Law School are based on pre-determined subjective competency criteria and requirements set by the external regulator. Marking is undertaken by staff unfamiliar with the criteria due to tight turnaround times, so it is important to ensure feedback is constructive and consistent.
Many professional courses require students to undertake practical assessments which are marked according to subjective competency criteria set by an external regulating body. Whilst students are taken through these criteria and given illustrations of when these standards are met, not all markers of the assessment are involved in this teaching, so achieving consistency in marking and feedback within the tight deadlines can present challenges. I would like to share my experience at attempting to overcome these challenges with the creation of a one page cribsheet on which I set out each criteria with key examples of supporting behaviours with plenty of space for markers to annotate in real time; and the development of proforma feedback addressing common errors based on tutors’ class experiences for markers to amend as appropriate for each student.
The development of the cribsheet was trialled in a formative assessment of a live skill. It was embraced by all markers as being a useful tool assisting the marking process by providing clarity in relation to marking against the criteria; and also serving as an aide memoire for markers during live assessments when the time allocated to marking is limited. That one page cribsheet is now an essential document in the marking of live skills assessments, and it has been adapted for a range of other skills that are based on subjective assessment criteria, demonstrating its versatility and benefits for other courses.
References
Nicol, D.J. and Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006) ‘Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice,’ Studies in Higher Education, 31(2): 199-218. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070600572090
Price, M (2005) ‘Assessment standards: The role of communities of practice and the scholarship of assessment’ Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(3); pp 215-30. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930500063793
