Principles and Strategies of Assessment

A principle is defined as “A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system” (Oxford Dictionary, 2017). There are a number of principles underpinning assessment. Assessment need to be valid, reliable and consistent. Assessment should be comprehensive and impartial to make sure the assessment process does not cause any unfair advantage or disadvantage (The University of Sheffield, n.d.).

Assessment should be considered as a fundamental aspect of designing a curriculum and should relate directly to the learning outcomes and assessments and the amount of work to be assessed needs to be manageable (The University of Sheffield, n.d.).

Another principle of assessment involves feedback. Feedback is a crucial part of the assessment process, and should be offered in a timely manner. Receiving feedback promotes further learning and improvement (The University of Sheffield, n.d.).

A strategy is defined as “a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim” (Oxford Dictionary, 2017).  The overall aim of assessment, especially in health professional education is to ensure safety, selection, certification and institutional accountability  but also should help to cultivate skills that are relevant to the ‘real world’ and the job students will go on to do. The nature of assessment determines how students learn, what they learn and how much work they do to learn new content. The National Student Survey highlighted the issues with assessment in Universities (The Higher Education Academy, 2012).

(Henderson, n.d.)

I will be discussing strategies of assessment, focusing on simulation assessments and comparing these to traditional written exams as well as novel technological assessment techniques.  I will then discuss use of formative assessment as an assessment strategy.

I shall then explore accountability for assessment in health care and assessment criteria and feedback.

Forms of assessment used in most Universities have not changed to keep up with vast changes across other parts of higher education and the context and structure of how higher education is delivered.  As assessment reflects how, what and when students learn, to improve learning we should focus on improving assessment (The Higher Education Academy, 2012).