If you have picked a course to work on for this project that you and your team are familiar with or have delivered already you may find the process easier than working on a new one.
If have picked to work on a new course and you don't have the practical knowledge and expertise yourself you will need the contribution from subject matter experts and industry professionals in your team to help you design the assessments.
If you have completed the OARAS-Outcomes (CTVSD1) course you would have completed the first element Outcomes of the OARA-template for your course. If you have not, go to OARAS-Outcomes (CTVSD1) course and follow the steps provided to complete the first section of the template before you continue with designing the assessments.
Working with an existing course
If you are reviewing an existing course, think about and discuss with your colleagues what is currently working well in assessment. How are you currently assessing? Is it effective? Is it using, where possible, naturally occurring evidence as the learners learn and work in the workplace? Is it scalable for growing numbers of learners? Is it possible to be completed remotely?
Open the OARAS document with the competed outcomes section and note under the assessment column, for each of the outcomes, things that work well and you would like to continue doing. Consider what needs to be assessed and if there are any gaps or room for improvement. Make a note to develop later. We suggest you review the resource on what needs to be assessed in the learning resources sections of the course to ensure your assessments is aligned and meeting all outcomes.
Working on a new course
If you are working on a new course, think about and discuss with your colleagues in your programme area what assessments are working well in courses with similar context. How similar courses are currently assessed? Which assessments are effective and why? Are there instances of using naturally occurring evidence as the learners learn and work in the workplace? Is what is currently working scalable for growing numbers of learners and delivered remotely?
Open the OARAS document with the competed outcomes section and note under the assessment column, for each of the outcomes, ideas from what is working well in other courses. If there are any challenges that could be relevant to your course make a note of them too. Consider and make notes of what needs to be assessed.
Now that you are aware what is working well, what could work in the course and what the potential challenges could be, you can complete the assessment section of OARAS. Draft the assessments that you think will best assess the outcomes. We suggest you review the resource on what needs to be assessed in the learning resources sections of the course to ensure your assessments is aligned and meeting all outcomes.
Now that you have identified what outcomes need to be assessed consider the following when designing assessment and drafting the assessment section in OARAS.
- Before you start working on the assessment remind yourself what good assessment looks like and check the principles of assessment in the learning resources section of the course.
- Think about the main types of assessment and what will be the balance needed. If you need a reminder of the main types of assessment and their purpose check the learning resource types of assessment in the learning resources section of the course.
- Consider which strategy will best achieve the assessment of competence, its advantages and challenges. You can refer to three often used strategies when assessing competence in the strategies for assessment part of the learning resources section of the course.
- Consider what evidence needs to be collected to meet competency requirements. The key things to be considered are: the type of evidence, the quality of the evidence and how it will be stored. Refer to evidence for assessment in the learning resources section of the course if you need to.
When you have completed your draft post the draft OARAS with the completed outcomes and assessment sections for feedback in the course CTVSD2 forum. Also, check what your fellow learners have posted to get ideas how you could improve on your work, as well as provide feedback and suggestions to others how they can make improvements.
