Assessment

Virtual Symposium

In September 2020 we are running a virtual symposium on adaptable assessment, sharing what we have learned from assessing during the pandemic. There are many case studies, tips, and videos to explore.

Theory and Background

There is a vast literature on assessment in higher education, some of it is directly related to economics.

Economics-related

Our Handbook for Economics Lecturers has six chapters relevant to assessment.

• Assessment and Feedback (2019)
• Detection and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Education (2017)
• Undergraduate Dissertations in Economics (2016)
• Assessment Design and Methods (2013)
• Groupwork and Assessment (2005)
• Alternative forms of formative and summative assessment (2002)

The journal Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education is devoted to assessment related matters and publishes many articles on economics.

General

Many books are devoted to assessment. A book with a practical orientation is

• Bloxham, S. and P. Boyd (2007), Developing Effective Assessment in Higher Education: A Practical Guide, McGraw Hill.

In the Handbook for Economics Lecturers there is an older list of relevant works.

A practically-oriented overview of assessment concepts can be found in James Atherton's How to Teach (2013).

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Evidence and Case Studies

We have several case studies focused on assessment, with topics including peer assessment, role play and in-class exams.

A 2005 paper in the journal IREE studied the benefits of rank-order grading.

There is considerable interest in students' views on the efficacy of assessment and feedback. There are many cohorts of students' views contained in the NSS (National Student Survey) and our own surveys.

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Assessment Banks and Resources

• Economics Question Bank: Our password-protected service is open to all UK university staff at no charge. It has hundreds of essay and multi-choice questions as well as problem sets. The questions are categorised by subject and mostly cover core topics and quantitative skills.
• Assessment materials: Links to many external sites
• Maths Resource Index: Quantitative skills assessment resources from several sites
• Writing for Economics: Staff at LSE produced this online tutorial containing example marked essays.

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Events

"Assessment without drowning" and "Creative uses of assessment" are two of the many workshops we can provide to UK departments. Contact us to request a visit.

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Past projects

• Writing for Economists: Embedding the Development of Writing Skills in Economics Courses (Margaret Bray and Jonathan Leape, London School of Economics and Political Science). This includes an online tutorial including real examples of student work and marker's comments.
• Presentation skills for Economics Undergraduates (Judith Piggott, Oxford Brookes University)

FDTL5 projects

FDTL Phase 5 projects, funded by HEFCE, included four Economics projects. All are partly concerned with assessment and two (METAL and Embedding Threshold Concepts) have developed assessment materials.