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.