A spectrum of assessments

Abstract

Different methods of assessment are used to measure learning outcomes in different academic disciplines. Many learning designers, despite being predisposed to certain assessment methods as they draw on their own specific academic background, work with a broad range of academic disciplines. This can result in difficulties advising academics from a discipline with which they are less familiar on best-practice teaching, learning, and assessment. This paper offers a tool for learning designers and subject matter experts to use when working together to design assessments in various academic courses, based on the characteristics of subject matter within the relevant disciplines. Specifically, we map a set of disciplines and a set of assessment methods on two axes: Pure vs. Applied and Hard vs. Soft (PAHS). For the set of disciplines, we can justify our choice of map locations based on attributes required by relevant accreditation organisations. The scattering of the assessment methods on the map is based on a proposed taxonomy of assessment design and common practice as observed by the authors. Learning designers are encouraged to refer to this paper as a guide when designing assessments for courses outside their knowledge domain.