CRADLE 2020 publications round-up – Part 1: Assessment / Evaluative judgement

7 December 2020

As 2020 draws to a close, we asked the CRADLE team to look over their impressive list of publications for the year and pick some highlights for a special four-part publication round-up. Today – if you’re looking for new perspectives or some inspiration around assessment or evaluative judgement, read on! And if you’re looking for more ideas or food for thought, check out our full 2020 publications round-up!

Part 2: Academic integrity / Learning design
Part 3: Work-integrated learning / Research practice
Part 4: Feedback / Feedback literacy

Assessment

Re-imagining University Assessment in a Digital World
M. Bearman, P. Dawson, R. Ajjawi, J. Tai and D. Boud (eds.) (2020) Springer: Cham (Switzerland).
Published in July and launched in October at CRADLE Conference 2020, this is the latest edited volume from CRADLE. The book explores the big question of how assessment can be refreshed and redesigned in an evolving digital landscape, with internationally recognised experts providing a deep and unique consideration of assessment’s contribution to the technology-mediated higher education sector. The whole CRADLE team have contributed chapters to the book, and you’ll also find contributions from CRADLE associates including Edd Pitt, Naomi Winstone, and Sue Bennett.

Repositioning Assessment-as-Portrayal: What Can We Learn from Celebrity and Persona Studies?
R. Ajjawi, D. Boud and D. Marshall (2020) in Bearman, Dawson, Ajjawi, Tai and Boud (eds.) Re-imagining University Assessment in a Digital World, Springer: Cham (Switzerland).
In this chapter, we ask “what can we learn from celebrity studies that can help us to re-imagine assessment?” Persona studies offers a lens for re-imagining more authentic forms of assessment design, ones where students can strategically construct their persona, in different media and for different audiences, through meaning-making in relation to the worlds of work and study.

The hidden labours of designing the Objective Structured Clinical Examination: a Practice Theory study
M. Bearman, R. Ajjawi, S. Bennett* and D. Boud (2020) Advances in Health Sciences Education.
This paper demonstrates the value of Practice Theory to assessment research and reveals some insights about clinical assessment along the way. It reveals the “large gap between the aspirations of an assessment fundamentally focussed on reliability and validity and the complex, continually negotiated and contextually-bound practices associated with OSCE design and administration”, and suggests some practical means to mitigate this challenge.

What’s outside the learning box? Resisting traditional forms of learning and assessment with the video essay: a dialogue between screen media & education
S. Redmond and J. Tai (2020) Media Practice and Education.
It’s unsurprising that many of our colleagues, like us, feel that traditional forms of assessment tend to “box in” our students. In this piece with Prof. Sean Redmond, we explore an alternative assessment format and its links to both radical pedagogy and contemporary assessment work.

Evaluative judgement

Preparing students for the future through developing evaluative judgement
O. Naidoo, J. Tai and M. Penman (2020) The Clinical Teacher.
Despite its vague title (a peculiarity of title length restrictions!) this “toolbox” article is aimed squarely at those in clinical environments seeking to develop evaluative judgement through service learning or role-emerging placements, where students do not necessarily have traditional forms of supervision. We hope the practical tips and strategies are helpful.

*CRADLE Honorary Appointment

Feature image: Paul Melki on Unsplash