Academic integrity is of key importance to develop effective assessment and it is important to understand the difference between academic integrity and assessment security. Academic integrity is the commitment to and demonstration of honest and ethical behavior in an academic setting. As per Cambridge dictionary, Integrity is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change.” Thus, integrity is a core value closely linked with virtue, honesty, and honor. It is a whole journey, not a onetime affair with start and end with one section or one class. It is a habit, hence it has to be started as early as school and carried to higher levels, at home and overall social and educational ecosystems. It should be inculcated as a habit and thus should become a part of way, if anyone is engaged in any academic endeavor. Most of the times, assessment is considered a painful exercise checking memorization and emphasizing on grades but in reality assessment is much beyond that. Grades are not the true purpose of assessment but to rationalize academic integrity process. In fact, assessment itself can be developed as a teaching-learning process. Sharing an experience here, when I was a student at Jamia Millia Islamia, a revered professor of ours at the end of a topic would distribute slips and ask each student to compose a question related to the topic. After collecting these slips, he would put all these in the form of a paper and ask each one of us to solve. Just like recently IIT, Goa assigned students to frame questions and then answer these questions. The objective of these exercises it to make assessment itself a teaching-learning process or a way to reinforce learning. It is important to inculcate and develop culture of academic integrity to create a positive outlook towards assessment. Assessment security essentially deals with the methods or processes relating to how to secure assessment against unfair means, misconduct or cheating that students may indulge at the time of assessment. It includes physical proctoring of campus examination process while now in online setup it includes remote proctoring, security browsers etc.
The present times challenge teaching-learning process as well as assessment, and in fact provided an opportunity to develop these and make changes to the age long system. As conventional classroom teaching changed to online teaching, the assessment too has to be changed. A students understanding of learning objectives and application of the concepts has to be checked. A believable evidence of teaching-learning is to be established. Students are to be motivated to engage themselves and learn. Thus, a question arises, is our assessment fair and equitable or it needs to be changed? So, here, some of the aspects of effective assessment and its development are discussed.
Assessment is a systematic basis for making inferences about the learning and development of students. It is a process of defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analyzing, interpreting and using information to increase students’ learning and development (Erwin, 1991). Assessment not only includes techniques like MCQs, written exams, and viva-voce but includes a detailed list like term papers, projects, presentations, demonstrations, debates, discussions, role plays and so on. In short, it includes all formal and informal techniques used by the faculty to ascertain the progress in teaching-learning leading to development. The most important objective is to draw inferences from the assessment as it provides indications about the effectiveness of teaching-learning process and serves as a rudder in designing a better teaching-learning process. Assessment gives the data points which are analyzed to make relevant decisions to design effective teaching-learning process. The other important perspective of assessment is to impart or reinforce teaching-learning. Thus, designing and developing effective assessment is a key to develop more effective, successful and fruitful teaching-learning process. Assessment should be and is a continuous process and is not only a feedback for students but feedback for teachers as well.
Assessment design and development is a key as it provides evidence of effective teaching-learning process. It is cyclic in nature, where output of one step provides input for another step. The first step in this cycle is to identify the teaching-learning outcomes. The next is assessment design which measures or provides proof of teaching-learning. It is important that the mode or assessment design must map to learning objectives. It should not only check the desired learning outcomes but also level of competence. The activities have to be planned so that goal of the learning outcomes is achieved. The outcome of this step gives the grades, results or the data points. The important step which follows is the analysis of the results and the inferences drawn which provide the inputs about the effectiveness of teaching-learning and the assessment design. The inferences accordingly suggest the changes to be made in teaching-learning process to make it more effective.
The different assessment types adopted correspond to different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. MCQ, short answer or long answer type questions are categorized under lower order learning as these check remembering and understanding. The types placed under higher order thinking skills involve- application, analysis, creation and evaluation are online discussion, video presentations, rubrics, portfolios, case analysis. Performance tasks, simulations, virtual reality are put under psychomotor skills as these involve practice, movement, coordination, strength and speed. These different designs measure different levels of learning outcomes. The lower orders are adapted to classroom environment but the higher levels involve application and prepare students for real life. Any assessment type or a combination of two or more may be selected so as to make the task ‘Google-proof.’
Technology existed earlier also, but pandemic acted as catalyst to adapt and explore the different options. In these times, leveraging of technology is essential for better design. The first step is adoption of technology as a substitute for ‘no-technology.’ The second is augmentation like gamifying assessment, composite MCQs which motivate students not to engage in dishonest behavior. The third should be modification or task redesign like giving group assignments, term papers, promoting original writing, open book examination, rubrics. The last step should be redefinition or transformation like role plays, brain storming, creating web pages etc. As an example, asking student or a group for a recorded presentation or role play allows it to be assessed in multi-dimensional parameters. It provides opportunity of self-review, self-correction, self-improvement, and self-identification of mistakes and then re-records to make it better. The teacher too has options of rewind, pause and zoom to check for different aspects and thus can give better feedback on multiple parameters which might have not been so easy offline.
Assessment design is to be developed such that it checks learners’ competencies in a fair way, while maintaining high standard of assessment validity. It should not be what Albert Einstein wrote, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” So, it is important to match scale and level of learning outcomes with learning objectives for effective assessment design. Support has to be provided to those who are struggling to adapt new approach; and some adjustments to be made for all students while maintaining academic integrity. The system being new for both faculty as well as students, therefore it is important for the entire ecosystem to be sensitive towards each other, so that effective assessment is developed to impart learning. Some of the measures which can promote assessment integrity are; a digital honor pledge to be included, set a passcode, a definite time limit, different set of questions for different student groups, delaying the release of score/key till all the students have submitted. Tools like browser lock-down and online proctoring (remote AI, live proctoring) should also be explored.
To conclude, assessment is really the assessment of teaching-learning. If the students didn’t learn suggests they were not effectively taught. If taught, students will show case learning through assessment. Assessment for learning is more important than assessment of learning. There is always a need to look, design and develop the assessment which not only assesses but also imparts learning. Academic integrity and assessment integrity must be developed and ensured. If students learned what they were taught, there is no need to assess; it is only through assessment that it is discovered whether teaching-learning resulted in the intended learning outcomes and development of learners. Effective assessment is a bridge between teaching and learning.
This write-up is dedicated to Dr. Nazir Ahmad Gilkar who started a best practice of Post End Semester Examination Workshops at CUK.
(Dr. Shah Ubaid ullah is Assistant Professor (Biotechnology), JK HED posted at Islamia College of Science & Commerce, Srinagar. The write up is based on inputs from different webinars.)
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.