Essay on The Differences in the Paradigms of Academic Course Delivery

Unit 401 – Understanding the Principles and Practice of Internally Assuring the Quality of Assessment

Assessment plays a significant role in the learning experience of students. It determines their progression through their programmes and enables them to demonstrate that they have achieved the intended learning outcomes. It is assessment that provides the main basis for public recognition of achievement, through the awarding of qualifications and/or credit.

The assessor’s role is to judge whether the evidence from the learner meets the criteria for the relevant units being assessed and that the evidence is Fair, Valid and Reliable.

“Assessments should be a regular process; it might not always be formalised, but you should be observing what your learners are doing, asking questions and reviewing their progress throughout their time with you”.

What types of information must be made available to learners and others involved in the assessment process?

* This is to determine if the delivery and assessment meets the requirements of the standards or assessment criteria , the whole assessment process needs to be accutat, consistate, safe and meets all organisation requirements.

With focus on the quality and standards of assessors to meet the learning needs of the candidates, where a lack of progress is highlighted or an inconsistency within assessments will result in further support for the assessment team, potentially in the form of further standardization

4) Assessment: the assessor must ensure that learner achievement and progression is checked throughout the learning process (formative assessment) and at the end of the course or programme (summative assessment). The assessment methods have to be fair, reliable and valid and linked to the planned assessment tasks. The assessor has the responsibility to ensure that learners are aware of the requirements and know how to meet the assessment criteria.

4.1 Critically compare the types of feedback, support and advice that internal assessment and quality assurance staff may need to maintain and improve the quality of assessment

With all of the activities carried our by the learner (with or without the assessor) the assessor needs to make decisions on the learner's competence in relation to the requirements of the qualification. The assessor should make their judgements of success or not and provide constructive feedback to the learner in a way that best suits the individual. If any further action is necessary for the completion of the qualification criteria (i.e. more training, description of knowledge or other evidence of ability) then a further plan should be agreed to achieve this. All such information discussed and agreed should be recorded appropriately at each stage.

Unit 401 - Understanding the principles and practices of internally assuring the quality of assessment.

The assessments should be able to be reviewed at any time until the Learner has completed the qualification or part thereof. Regular reviews also give the learner the opportunity to ask about other relevant issues and give you the opportunity to improve on them for the future.

From the research they conducted, the Assessment Reform Group (2002) has identified ten key principles in relation to assessment for learning. The two that stood out when looking at assessment to meet the learners’ needs are:

The function of assessment in learning and development is to provide a measurable way of planning and supporting students’ progress. Assessment is carried out by means of checks and tests carried out throughout the course. Assessors should provide feedback throughout ensuring that learning is occurring and the learner is at the correct level. It is also important that assessor’s decisions are also consistently reviewed and internally and externally verified.

Assessment has to be fair, consistent and valid to ensure all learners have an equal and fair chance of receiving a fair assessment.   An assessor cannot be persuaded to give a learner an easier assessment because they favour that learner. The assessment process may have to be adapted to be suitable to the learner’s needs but, needs to eventually lead to the same outcome.