Using student-instructor co-constructed rubrics in signature assessment for business students: benefits and challenges

ABSTRACT

In the business disciplines, there is a disconnection between what employers expect graduates to do and what graduates are actually able to do. Limited research has been done on the interfaces of professionals’ aspirations, university instructors’ enactment, and university learners’ experiences. To address this well-felt gap, we conducted a series of interviews with employers in the industry and designed a peer-assessment loop consisting of rubrics co-construction, rubric-guided learning and performance, rubric-referenced peer review, and rubric-referenced reflection in a university course. Learners’ views on and experiences in the assessment processes were explored through analysing their written reflections. The paper provides an empirical example of designing and enacting signature assessment. The design of case-based peer assessment loops with co-constructed rubrics mirrors the operational genres, cognitive challenges, and emotional dynamics of business professional practices. Researching the benefits and challenges of this assessment design contributes to sustaining student learning in and beyond higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Signature assessment
• co-constructed rubrics
• peer assessment
• sustainable assessment
• business education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jiming Zhou

Ke Zhao is a professor in School of Foreign Studies, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. She holds a PhD in Education. Her research interests focus on ESP teaching and learning, learning innovation, language education and language policy. She has published in SSCI journals, including International Journal of Computer-supported Collaborative Learning, SYSTEM, Teaching in Higher Education, English Today, and Current Issues in Language Planning. (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9791-0275)

Jiming Zhou is a lecturer at Fudan University, China. She holds a PhD in English Language Education. Her current research interests include assessment and learning, educational innovation, and students’ school-university transition. Her articles about assessment for learning and assessment changes have been published in Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education and Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3797-0441)

Phillip Dawson is an Associate Professor and the Associate Director of Deakin University’s Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE). He holds a PhD in Higher Education. His current research focuses on assessment, feedback, academic integrity and digital learning. His educational research has been published in Educational Researcher, Review of Educational Research, Studies in Higher Education, and Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4513-8287)