Support for assessment practice: developing the Assessment Design Decisions Framework

TLDR

Many publications describe assessment and feedback design features, yet educators struggle to apply them because the literature emphasizes institutional change rather than practical support. This paper develops a practical framework to stimulate educators’ thinking when creating or modifying assessments. The framework is built on concepts of assessment decisions and design phases, informed by relevant literature and empirical data. The resulting Assessment Design Decisions Framework offers six key categories—purposes, contexts, tasks, interactions, feedback processes, and learning outcomes—to guide complex assessment design and delivery.

Abstract

There are many excellent publications outlining features of assessment and feedback design in higher education. However, university educators often find these ideas challenging to realise in practice, as much of the literature focuses on institutional change rather than supporting academics. This paper describes the conceptual development of a practical framework designed to stimulate educators' thinking when creating or modifying assessments. We explain the concepts that underpin this practical support, including the notions of 'assessment decisions' and 'assessment design phases', as informed by relevant literature and empirical data. We also present the outcome of this work. The Assessment Design Decisions Framework. This provides key considerations in six categories: purposes, contexts, tasks, interactions, feedback processes and learning outcomes. By tracing the development of the Framework, we highlight complex ways of thinking about assessment that are relevant to those who design and deliver assessment to tertiary students.