The impact on stakeholder confidence of increased transparency in the examination assessment process

Abstract

A group of postgraduate accounting and finance students were asked to participate in a three-phase exercise: sit an unseen past examination question; mark a fully anonymised previous student solution (exemplar); and then mark their own work. The marking process was facilitated by explaining and discussing the marking guide, assessment systems and process, and grade descriptors. Levels of marking accuracy significantly improved through the phases of the exercise, demonstrating a calibration of standards. Students' perceptions of the exercise were explored via questionnaires and focus groups. Respondents gave a strong indication that the exercise was useful and identified several learning benefits. The introduction of transparency was found to contribute towards increased stakeholder confidence in the rigour and robustness of assessment systems and processes. It also made participants less cynical about marking veracity and integrity. Another consequence of this increased transparency was that while some concerns were alleviated, others emerged. Through this exercise, students came to understand some of the difficulties assessors face when completing examination setting and marking exercises.

Can a rubric do more than be transparent? Invitation as a new metaphor for assessment criteria

“…Studies of university student perspectives support these concerns. Some students view transparency of assessment primarily as a means to get better marks and therefore explicit instructions lead to 'gaming' or instrumentalism rather than attainment (Norton 2004;Bamber 2015). Bell, Mladenovic, and Price (2013) found that half of their student sample thought of assessment materials as a 'recipe' book for achieving lecturer expectations.…”

“…From this perspective, students 'see through' to institutional expectations; they then grasp what they need to do to complete the task, including the basis for judging the quality of work (Jonsson 2014). At face value this seems reasonable and, when asked, students value transparency (Reddy and Andrade 2010;Bamber 2015). However transparent assessment criteria are surprisingly problematic.…”

Ensuring bachelor’s thesis assessment quality: a case study at one Dutch research university

“…Transparency. Transparency in assessment has received increasing attention in higher education in recent years (Bamber, 2015;Bell et al, 2013;O'Donovan et al, 2004;Price, 2005). It refers to making the perceptions and expectations of assessors, including requirements, standards and assessment criteria, known and understood by all participants, particularly students (O'Donovan et al, 2004).…”

Accurate Student Ability Estimation by Removing Teacher Evaluation Bias via Full Computer Based Testing

“…SETs are used for evaluating a teacher's teaching effectiveness, often by using questionnaires asking students to rate their perception of the course teacher. Regarding such discussions, there are many references (see, e.g., [1,46,47]), while other references are also seen ( [3,4,6,9,11,32,33,[35][36][37]).…”