Assessment outcomes : factors influencing the distribution of marks
Access Status
Authors
Date
2010Type
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Source Title
Source Conference
ISBN
Faculty
Collection
Abstract
Assessment is an integral and crucial part of university education. Much research has been reported on its different forms, its outcomes, and the means of maximising its reliability and accuracy. Assessment outcomes must meet the needs of several diverse groups of internal and external stakeholders. Students require suitable grades and expect equity and reliability of marks. Employers require evidence of competency. Assessment statistics are a health indicator for courses; they impact community and professional perception of courses and graduates, and are key to teachers’ performance management. Universities use assessment statistics as an input into rankings and they even impact the institution’s "brand". Such a diverse range of objectives of assessment outcomes may therefore generate conflicting forces which can impact the statistical distributions of marks.This paper is an exploratory study to determine the factors influencing the marks distribution patterns of a series of 37 units delivered as part of a logistics course over a period of 18 months. It finds clear factors such as quality of student intake, methods of delivery and differences in teaching and content all influence the patterns, but there are statistical indicators of more subtle influences, generated by the needs of the stakeholders. It also leads to clear directions of further research and a possible model, which focuses on organisational culture, policies and motivations of assessors and the assessment process and their interaction.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Soh, Kim Lam (2012)Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-related blood stream infection (CRBSI) and pressure ulcers (PU) are well recognized complications in intensive care units (ICUs). Many of these are preventable but can also ...
-
Barrett, G.; Cigdem, M.; Whelan, S.; Wood, Gavin (2015)As house prices in Australia have increased, concern has been expressed about the ability of young Australians to attain home ownership. In August 2014, for example, the proportion of all mortgage financed dwelling ...
-
Turner, Sian Elizabeth (2009)Background and research questions. The characterization of chronic persistent asthma in an older adult population is not well defined. This is due to the difficulties in separating the diagnosis of asthma from that of ...