Key concepts

Assessment and learning 

Assessment is a preoccupation for instructors and students alike. For the instructor, it measures student progress and provides feedback on whether your course’s learning outcomes have been met. It defines the curriculum for the student because it indicates what the instructor values. 

Assessment is also an important and influential factor in shaping the student’s learning focus. As an instructor, you probably get asked, “Will this be on the exam?” Students tend to make decisions on what to learn, when to learn, and how much time to spend on certain topics based on how they will be assessed. Your assessments should therefore convey the most important areas you want students to focus on, and the way to achieve this is to ensure that they are directly aligned with your course’s learning outcomes. 

To design assessments that are effective in evaluating learning and engaging for students: 

• Design authentic tasks that are highly contextualized. 
• Disperse assessment activities throughout the semester. 
• Inform students which learning outcomes each activity targets. 
• Use a range of assessment types and, where possible, allow students choices in what they will produce to demonstrate their learning. 

Assessment and well-being

In addition to the key role it plays in supporting learning, assessment is known to have an impact on student well-being (Yeh & Krumboltz, 1995). Well-planned assessments that emphasize assessment for learning (Carless, 2007), include well-developed criteria (Winkelmes, 2023) and are clearly expressed to students (Lynam & Cachia, 2018) can help reduce student stress and anxiety, while allowing instructors to give formative feedback without being overburdened. 

Inclusive and accessible assessments

Being transparent around expectations and informing students how their grades are earned as well as allowing some flexibility are not only good assessment practices, they are also inclusive pedagogical strategies that support all students’ learning and well-being while upholding academic rigor.

Assessment should not disadvantage diverse students because of characteristics or abilities extraneous to the outcomes being judged. All students should be supported to achieve and demonstrate capability in an equitable manner (Tai et al., 2022). Assessment might (often unintentionally) discriminate against and exclude students through requirements that are irrelevant to the outcomes being judged (Tai et al., 2021). If this happens, it calls into question the validity of assessment. It’s for this reason, then, that assessment design should be reconsidered from the perspective of inclusion (Tai et al., 2022).

Concordia is committed to the principles of universal design to guide the continuing work on accessibility and inclusion throughout the University. Accessible assessment practices aim to reduce or eliminate the barriers that impede the full participation of students with disabilities.

Universal design for learning (UDL) entails the creation of sustainable approaches focusing on the accessibility of the environment rather than the needs of specific individuals and seeks to ensure a greater level of accessibility for all (Policy on accessibility and accommodation for students and employees). Given that students learn and interact in diverse ways, accessible assessment practices benefit both students with and without disabilities. Learn more about assessment design.