Assessment & Feedback Toolkit

At BU we support the Higher Education Academy’s (2016 p2) principle that “teaching and learning in Higher Education can be significantly enhanced through transforming assessment policy and practice, leading to:

  • improved potential for student learning;
  • increased student satisfaction;
  • improved value for money;
  • increased suitability of assessment methods to the outcomes of 21st century HE;
  • fairer representation of student achievement;
  • greater confidence in academic standards.

Transforming assessment can have valuable implications, promoting consideration of:

  • the balance of formative and summative assessments at the module and programme level; with formative assessment thoroughly integrated within learning and teaching;
  • the use of diverse assessment methods to improve validity, authenticity and inclusivity, thus maximising their relevance to students and focus on assessing programme level outcomes;
  • opportunities for self-assessment and peer-assessment within the learning and teaching process to enhance students’ understanding and trust in assessment;
  • the design of assessment approaches to foster student development in academic literacies and an understanding of good academic practice”.

This has underpinned the changes to assessment policy at BU, in particular the Principles of Assessment Design Policy (6c) which will be implemented for the academic year 2019-20. The Centre for Excellence in Learning Assessment & Feedback Toolkit provides resources for staff to understand more about the evidence base for changing assessment and feedback practices along with tools and strategies to align their assessment and feedback practices with this new BU policy.

Higher Education Academy. Framework for transforming assessment in higher education. 2016. HEA.

Created by:
Professor Debbie Holley, Head, Centre of Excellence in Learning
Anne Quinney, and Dr. Shelley Thompson, CEL Theme Leaders for Assessment and Feedback
Dr. Ann Luce, CEL Theme Leader for Technology Enhanced Learning
Professor Dai Hounsell, Visiting Professor
Vince Clark, Learning Technologist
Lokesh Sivakumar, Media Producer


Helpful Guides

Assessing Large Groups
Exams or Time-Constrained Assessment
Group Assessment and Presentations
Dissertations





CEMP 2025