The new draft LTA Strategy commits CeLT to 'develop and disseminate guidance relating to appropriate curriculum design and allied assessment practices'.

CeLT is already committed to the assessment agenda and a list of current activity is on our website. The aim of all CeLT activity in this area, and of the ‘Challenging Assessment’ initiative in particular is to encourage and support rapid, progressive changes in assessment practice that, taken together, will amount to a cultural challenge to learning and teaching behaviours across the institution. MMU is a large and diverse institution that already offers much in the way of sensitively integrated, well-aligned assessment practice. The ‘Challenging Assessment’ initiative will celebrate and spread such practice. However, inevitably, some of our assessment behaviour would benefit from the reflection and review that this initiative will encourage. Across a spectrum of assessment practice, the ‘Challenging Assessment’ initiative will encourage movement towards an assessment regime that:

• is experienced by learners as an integral part of the learning experience, rather than something ‘bolted on’ at the end
• is diagnostic, particularly early in a learner’s career or experience of a topic
• is, in itself, interesting, engaging, varied and motivating
• is, where appropriate, active and collaborative rather than passive and singular
• values formative approaches to learning, giving useful and timely feedback that feels like ‘feed forward’ for the learner because it supports subsequent performance
• assesses sufficiently, but not too much, with balanced assessment load in mind
• is accessible to all learners
• makes proper and effective use of learning technologies
• values efficiency, for the learner and the academic
• completes a virtuous circle: focussed on the learner, focussed on learner success
• contributes to learners’ employability prospects

In support of this, CeLT has produced a draft Assessment Framework which will provide a basis for review and innovation of assessment practices. The framework establishes principles of assessment and provides guidance on the implementation of practices aligned with the principles. The Framework will be put to Academic Board in the spring term 2008 and presented at the launch in April.

Meetings have been held between CeLT staff and representatives of the Students’ Union to open up and maintain a dialogue relating to assessment issues. These meetings are ongoing and we aim to include student views of assessment at all stages.

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