Developing a New Approach to the Assessment of Project Work

ABSTRACT

Despite the inevitable constraints inherent in effecting a major change of policy and practice, a new approach to the assessment of undergraduate honours research projects in two science‐based teaching units was achieved through an evolutionary active research‐based process. The implications of a transition from a subjective assessment of honours projects to a more objective, criterion‐referenced strategy were investigated through implementation and feedback. A pilot study was undertaken in which project assessors were asked to use a criterion‐referenced scheme in parallel with the existing scheme. Statistical analyses of data obtained using both the ‘old’ and ‘new’ schemes confirmed the reliability of the new criterion‐referenced assessment strategy. In addition, the new scheme offered a number of important advantages over the old system: (1) increased objectivity through reference to a number of clearly defined explicit criteria, (2) opportunity for the provision of valuable feedback to the students, (3) flexibility with regard to the weightings and collation of marks, and (4) ease of use. Devising the perfect assessment strategy is an elusive pursuit, but implementing a scheme which contributes to a more student‐centred ethos of teaching, learning and assessment is surely a step in the right direction.

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Notes on contributors

V. N. Tariq

VICKI TARIQ and TONY BUTCHER are Lecturers in the School of Biology and Biochemistry, The Queen's University of Belfast

L. A. J. Stefani

LORRAINE STEFANI, formerly a Lecturer in the School of Biology & Biochemistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Academic Practice, University of Strathclyde

D. J. A. Heylings

DAVID HEYLINGS is a Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences, The Queen's University of Belfast