First Year Assessment ReDesign - A Programme Approach

Paper from the 10th Enhancement Themes Conference held on 11-13 June 2013 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow. An accompanying presentation is also available. A key priority of University College Dublin’s (UCD) Education Strategy (2009-2014) is ‘to foster early and lasting student engagement’. A central strand of this was a strategic Assessment ReDesign Project. In 2011/12, the project was implemented in five programmes, with the Deans leading the process and involving all their first year Module Coordinators. The project methodology centred around three full-day facilitated workshops with these Programme teams. A programme mapping tool was used to reflect on gaps/overlaps in the programme and actions plans were devised for first year assessments. In evaluating the Deans’ and Module co-ordinators’ views, the Deans in particular valued the opportunity to take a programme overview and to a lesser extent the changes made to first year assessment. The coordinators highlighted a significant intention to reduce assessment overload and to develop assessment for learning activities in their first year modules. In summary, findings from this project demonstrated the success of a collaborative and flexible programme approach to curriculum innovation.