Should I assess?

Overview

There are pros and cons to formal assessment of reflection, and before you introduce reflection into your initiative you should think thoroughly about if, and how, you are going to assess it.  

Assessment definitions and types

Assessment refers to when one or more people judge how well a completed task meets specific criteria.  Assessment criteria can range from whether or not the task has been completed, to a full set of quality descriptors with defined performance levels or grades. Those making the judgement can be the students themselves, their peers and/or staff.

As for any other assignment or activity, the assessment options for reflective tasks are typically:

• Voluntary – the task is not assessed and whether or not a student completes it will not affect any grade or formal outcome attached to the course or initiative
• For completion – the only criteria for assessment is whether or not the task has been completed; the quality of completion is not judged
• Formative – the assessment is intended to support student learning, and performance in the assessment does not affect any grade or formal outcome attached to the course or initiative. The goal is to provide feedback to the students and instructor about students’ performances and help develop a way forward
• Summative – the assessment is intended to evaluate student learning through comparison with a set of criteria. Performance in the assessment affects the grade or formal outcome attached to the course or initiative. While feedback is encouraged the purpose is the evaluation. An assessment type like pass/fail is an example of summative assessment

Factors to consider in whether or not to assess

When deciding what type of assessment  you wish to use, various factors are important, including:

• How will you indicate to your students the importance of reflection within your course or initiative?
• How will you encourage students to engage appropriately with reflection?
• How will you steer and influence the type of reflections your students produce?
• Who will do the assessment? (you, staff, students as peers, or students for themselves)
• What resources are required?
• Are assessment criteria and rubrics required? (guidance available below)

Developing a clear idea of what you believe ‘good’ reflective output looks like, and how you will engage your students with this, can help inform answers to these questions 

When are assessment criteria or rubrics required?

When you set a reflective task you influence what students produce – this is true whether or not you actually tell them what you want. This influence will only benefit your students if you are clear in communicating your expectations. You can communicate your expectations through:

• Assessment criteria which describe the characteristics that students’ work should demonstrate.
• Assessment rubrics which describe the quality for those criteria at particular levels and a scoring strategy.

If you are just suggesting reflection as something voluntary, criteria are not strictly required. However, it can still be helpful for students to have an idea of what ‘good’ looks like. Communicating this through criteria or guidance can be a good approach.

Similarly, if you require reflection ‘for completion’ there is no judgement of quality and therefore – while highly recommended – assessment criteria are not strictly essential.

The table below provides guidance on when assessment criteria and assessment rubrics are required for different types of assessment.

Guidance and examples of assessment criteria and rubrics are available at the links below.

Assessment criteria 

Assessment rubrics 

Conclusion and next steps

The higher the proportion of a course mark you assign to a reflective task, the more influence you have around what students are doing. Using this influence to guide students toward  achieving your initiative’s learning outcomes is key. As with all assessments, there is a workload attached. However, assessment can increase the likelihood of students actively and meaningfully engaging with the reflective task. Suggesting voluntary reflection as a part of a course is possible but reduces the chances that students will actually engage - especially as reflection may take time to do well.

If you want to use reflection in your course but do not want to assess it or want to make it ‘for completion’, you might want to consider using a reflective activity – these are run with students in contact hours and are easier to include without assessment.

For further information and pros and cons of certain types of assessment for assignments and activities, see the links below.