Assessing Competence Based Programmes and Modules

Assessing Competence Based Programmes and Modules  

The methods of assessment and ways of giving feedback to students are key parts of the design of your programme. There should be a clear link between how students are assessed and taught. The end of course programme competencies represent the culmination of the knowledge, understanding and skills of your discipline that enable your students to successfully address a given practice or task. As such competencies may need to be assessed in a different way to learning outcomes: they must be taught in practice and assessed in application. The assessment therefore needs to be designed carefully to fit with the content and structure of your programme and should include opportunities for students to be fully supported before undertaking assessment by practicing and gaining feedback (through e.g. formative assessment) and developing their assessment litercacy skills.  

 In designing assessment, inclusive methods should be used to ensure that every student can achieve to the best of their ability irrespective of their background or individual characteristics. Inclusive assessment design facilitates student learning and assessment of specific competencies, irrespective of the students’ background or characteristics and is integral to our anticipatory duty to anticipate and break down barriers to learning for students with protected characteristics. 

 In keeping with the QAA guidance on assessment, which advises the constructive alignment of module content to assessment (QAA, 2018, p 4), the assessment of competence should involve authentic activities that require students to apply their knowledge and understanding and skills through ‘real-world’ activities in the context of the discipline. To that end pedagogic strategies such as research and/or problem-based, or experiential learning and learning through role play or simulation are particularly useful.   

 Methods of assessment 

There are many different assessment tasks you can use which each have their benefits and drawbacks. For example, some may be more appropriate for certain disciplines, or topics, or assess different competencies. They will typically fall under one of the following types: 

– exams 

– in-class assessment 

– take-home assessment 

– online or digital assessment 

All of these can be assessed individually or as group work. Having a combination of types and tasks across a progamme will mean that different skills and competencies can be assessed.  

The table below outlines some of the assessment tasks which may be best suited for different competencies – it is not exhaustive though! Note also that the task itself does not demonstrate achievement of that competence– the content and requirements of the task need to be designed to enable students to demonstrate the competence.