Dear colleague
A little while ago I sent you advance information relating to the
workshop to be held in Liverpool on 18 November. I am now able to
send you the full details of the event and booking. I have pasted
the information below and also attached the same material as a
Word6 for Windows 3.1(PC) file, which is better in layout.
We in SACWG are looking forward to an interesting, productive and
enjoyable day.
Mantz Yorke
59, 60 or 61%?
CAN YOU JUSTIFY YOUR ASSESSMENT RESULTS?
The fifth SACWG National Workshop
To be held at The Gladstone Hotel, Liverpool, on Thursday, 18 November 1999.
Background
Assessment is of critical importance to higher education, yet it is probably the least well
understood component of curricula. The cumulation of assessments for the purposes of
making awards raises issues of validity, reliability and equity. At a time when higher education
institutions are increasingly being asked to justify practices and academic standards, the need
for validity and transparency is readily apparent.
Over the past five years, SACWG has been studying a number of issues relating to assessment.
Some of the Group’s findings have already been placed in the public domain through
publications, conferences and workshops, but the sheer width of the topic means that there are
always new matters to examine.
This workshop will focus on the results of assessment and how they are used, rather than on
assessment practice per se. Issues open for discussion include the following:
What do the outcomes of assessment (eg Grade C; 59%) really mean?
Does it really matter whether a grading or a percentage scale is used for assessment?
What differences arise as a result of variation in subject discipline?
How valid are the methods through which assessments are cumulated into award categories?
How well informed are Assessment Boards, as they come to make their judgments?
Why attend?
At the levels of both subject discipline and institution, the need to be able to justify the results
of assessment is clear.
This workshop will hence be relevant to academic staff, to those who hold managerial
responsibility for academic programmes and quality assurance, and to institutional
administrators whose roles incorporate the management and administration of assessment.
SACWG
The Student Assessment and Classification Working Group is an informal group of staff who
came together in 1994 and have a common interest in assessment and award outcomes in
higher education. The group conducts research which focuses on issues arising from
modularity (these are often relevant to non-modular programmes as well), and has run national
workshops on related topics. SACWG includes colleagues from the following universities:
Anglia Polytechnic, Derby, Liverpool John Moores, London Guildhall, Middlesex, Oxford
Brookes, and Wolverhampton.
Outline Programme
9.00 Coffee and registration
9.30 Welcome, and introduction to the day
9.40 Assessment and standards
Norman Jackson, QAA and the University of Surrey
10.10 How can we gain greater confidence in assessment results?
Sally Brown, Institute for Learning and Teaching
10.40 Coffee
11.00 Some findings from SACWG’s studies
SACWG
11.20 Group discussion I.
12.30 Lunch
1.30 Group discussion II.
2..55 Tea
3.15 Panel session dealing with the main issues raised during the day
4.15 Concluding commentary: what the day has achieved, and suggestions for further work
4.25 Close
What SACWG would like you to do before the Workshop
By 29 October, send to Harvey Woolf (see address later) the following information:
(a) brief details of the grading/marking scheme(s) currently in use in your
institution (or, if more appropriate, your department, school or faculty) for
first degree work;
(b) a summary of the way(s) in which your institution (or organisational sub-unit)
cumulates assessment from course components into first degree honours
classifications.
The materials received by this date will be assembled into a booklet for pre-workshop reading
and reflection.
Booking form for the Workshop: please note the conditions of booking below
Please copy, fill in and return in hard copy form: you may use an electronic response to reserve
a place, but written confirmation will be required.
59, 60 or 61%?
CAN YOU JUSTIFY YOUR ASSESSMENT RESULTS?
The Gladstone Hotel, Liverpool, Thursday, 18 November, 1999
Please reserve me a place at this workshop (cost 120 pounds, incl. VAT) ......... (tick)
Please indicate whether you are paying by cheque beforehand, or whether you wish your
institution/organisation to be invoiced.
Cheque payment prior to the Workshop ....... OR
Invoice my institution/organisation ....... (tick one)
If you have any special requirements (e.g. dietary, mobility), please note them below.
Name/title
Position Institution
Address for correspondence
Tel. No. Fax No.
E-mail address
Signature
Please note the following
1 Applications will be accepted on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
2 The closing date for applications is Friday, 29 October 1999.
3 Cancellations received after Friday 5 November 1999 will be charged in full, but . . .
4 . . . a substitute may be nominated at any time without additional charge.
5 Cheques are to be made payable to The University of Wolverhampton.
6 Joining instructions will be mailed about a week before the event.
Please send completed application forms to
Harvey Woolf, Head, Collaborative Developments, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna
Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SB
Tel. No. 01902 322448; Fax No. 01902 322629; E-mail. [log in to unmask]
Accommodation: own arrangements to be made
A limited amount of overnight accommodation is available for the night of 17 November at
The Gladstone Hotel, Lord Nelson Street, Liverpool at the special rate of 40 pounds, incl.
VAT. You are requested to make your own arrangements direct with the Hotel’s Reservations
Department, mentioning this Workshop when you do so. Contact details for the Hotel are as
follows: Tel. No. 08704 009053; Conference Office Fax No. 0151 707 6118.
The Gladstone Hotel is literally ‘round the corner’ from Liverpool Lime Street railway station.
Take the side exit nearest to Platform 1 and turn right up the hill. The Hotel sign is high up on
a tall building on the right hand side of the road as you ascend the hill, and probably not as
obvious as the Hotel would really wish. For participants driving to the workshop, the Hotel
has an ample-sized car park adjoining it: you will need a token from Reception in order to
operate the barrier when you leave.
|
