Determine your assessment methods

Before you begin

Before determining your assessment methods, you should identify the type and level of student learning you want to evaluate. Class size and discipline area, whether students will complete assessments in or out of class, individually, in pairs or small groups, whether TAs will do some of the grading, and what technology they may use to complete the assignments, may also drive your decisions.

Keep in mind that:

• Your choice of assessment methods will depend on the type and level of learning outcomes you have defined for your course.
• You’ll need to work with clear learning outcomes statements to select the most appropriate assessment methods and learning outcomes. For help with this, see more on learning outcomes. A well-written learning outcome will often point to varied and appropriate modes of assessment. 
• Using various assessment methods, you can assess a wider range of skills, allow students to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways, and get more reliable results.

Diversify assessment methods

Instructors often rely on the most commonly used types of assessments, such as exams, essays, quizzes and presentations. While quizzes and exams should certainly have their place in higher education assessment, a heavy reliance on these methods, especially multiple-choice assessment methods, tends to encourage a surface approach to learning (Scouller, 1998) wherein students focus on strategies to pass or get a good grade rather than grasping the subject matter and developing competencies.

Depending on your discipline, content, and learning outcomes, other assessment methods might be more suitable. 

Using the same assessment method, such as high-stakes exams, can repeatedly disadvantage students whose performance is impaired due to test anxiety. By using a variety of assessment methods, you give students the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways. As the instructor, you can also get more reliable and comprehensive results.

Providing a range of assessment methods is also key to inclusive teaching and assessment practices (Thomas, 2002; Waterfield & West, 2010), which are highly valued at Concordia University. Assigning assessments in different formats provides students with multiple forms of engagement, a principle of Universal Design for Learning. Ultimately, equitable assessment and inclusive assessment are coherent with assessment for learning (Butcher et al., 2010; Tai et al., 2022), which sees assessment itself as an opportunity for learning, rather than just a process of assigning a grade.

Align assessments with levels of learning

Another important consideration for planning assessment methods is to ensure that your assessment task is appropriate to your learning outcome. The resource on learning outcomes discusses the importance of situating your learning outcomes at the appropriate level of learning. The type of learning you are targeting will dictate the type of assessment you should conduct.

For example, if a learning outcome states that the student should be able to summarize the arguments of two different authors, but the assessment task asks them to compare and critique the arguments of those authors, they are assessed at a higher level of learning than what was conveyed as requirement. If you expect students to be able to compare and critique different arguments, it should be made transparent to students in the learning outcome statement.  

If the learning outcome is that students should be able to explain procedures, then an infographic may be a good choice. In another example, a take-home exam would work to assess students’ ability to apply theorical concepts to a real-world scenario.

Consider standard academic tasks versus authentic assessment methods

Note: the following lists of learning targets and assessment methods are not comprehensive.