Assessment, evaluation and the curriculum
Associate Professor G Rowley, Associate Professor R Gunstone and Dr P Gardner
Second semester * Clayton
Assessment is an integral part of any curriculum in practice, and no curriculum will be perceived to be successful unless the modes of assessment associated with it are consistent with its goals and methods, and publicly defensible. In this subject, students will be introduced to a variety of modes of assessment and will examine their practical implementation as well as their theoretical underpinnings. Each mode of assessment will be examined in terms of the data that it yields, the uses that can be made of the data and the qualities that these uses demand of the assessment instruments. Students will be introduced to the principles that underlie educational measurement and will consider a variety of models of the evaluation of educational programs.
Assessment
Two major papers - the first addressing a major theoretical issue in assessment or evaluation, and the second applying the principles addressed to a practical issue of current importance. The issues might be one of system-wide application (eg use of school-based assessment for tertiary selection), or of local application (eg trialling a new mode of assessment for a particular course)
Recommended texts
Griffin P E and Nix P Educational assessment and reporting: A new approach HBJ, 1991
Horton T (ed.) Assessment debates Hodder and Stoughton, 1990
White R T and Gunstone R F Probing understanding Falmer, 1992
Walberg H J and Haertel G D (eds) The international encyclopedia of educational evaluation Pergamon, 1990