Parallel session – But how do I know what you really want us to do?: using exemplars to develop assessment literacy and competence using readily-accessible exemplars Sally Brown, Kay Sambell

Assessment literacy is crucial to students’ retention and success. Making assessment related information explicit involves more than publishing this it requires students to actively engage in dialogue. Sadler (1989) noted that for students to be able to develop quality work they need to know what quality they are aiming for.

 Projects have looked at giving students pre-assessment activities that examine exemplars but these are often finished products This can lead to students mimicking these, feeling terrified or a lack of craft in developing the product. It is however useful to engage students in actively making judgements around a range of exemplars so they understand what is required. A project at Northumbria used part developed exemplars rather than full products. These were one side of A4 which students all print (there are 3) and bring to the session. Students are given the criteria and then in groups they rank order and do feedback. Tutors then tell them what the feedback would be for each and discuss the rationale and then students revise their feedback.

This has been a 2 year project and the workshop has 120 students in their first year and it takes 2 hours. 2 researchers observe the groups and the essays and feedback were collected in. Students were found not to have understood the question and 52% did not rank the fail exemplar as the worst. In fact students found this to be the most useful. Students found this activity really helpful in examining assessments tasks more closely.