Devising an assessment schedule for essays

Abstract

When giving students an essay assignment many lecturers do not understand the educational objectives that the essay addresses, not, in some cases, whether the essay is an appropriate assessment tool for the educational objectives of the module that they teach. Moreover, if lecturers do not understand the educational objectives of the essay that they give, how do they expect the students to understand the criteria on which they are being marked? Using an action research paradigm, this study tells the story of how one lecturer increased her and her students' awareness of apposite learning outcomes in writing essays. Such outcomes were facilitated by the lecturer devising assessment criteria for essays following a review of the literature on assessment and self-assessment in higher education. These criteria were given in a handout and explained to the students in class when they received their essay titles. Further, the students' self-assessment of their essay performance using these criteria was compared with the lecturer's assessment using the same criteria, students gaining marks for the degree of agreement with the lecturer. The issues highlighted by the study are discussed in the context of assessment in higher education.

Keywords:

• assessment
• self-assessment
• essays
• learning outcomes
• accounting students