Practical Guidance for Managing Inclusive Assessment Adjustments
The page provides practical guidance for managing inclusive assessment adjustments in higher education. It covers key actions such as granting extensions, adapting exam conditions, offering multimodal assessments, changing attendance requirements, and breaking assignments into smaller tasks. It also emphasises the importance of meaningful formative assessments, aligning assignments with course structures, providing clear criteria and timely feedback, and accommodating assistive technologies. Additionally, the guidance includes strategies for offering individual consultations, providing access to rubrics and exemplars, and ensuring video content is accessible through captions and transcripts.
Extensions
Action: Implement a clear and streamlined process for requesting and granting extensions.
Practical Steps:
- Template Request Form: Provide a simple online form for students to request extensions.
- Set Criteria: Define clear criteria for granting extensions (e.g., medical issues, personal emergencies).
- Automate Responses: Use an automated system to acknowledge requests and provide initial responses.
Benefit: Reduces administrative workload and ensures consistent handling of extension requests.
Changed Exam Conditions
Action: Adapt exam conditions to accommodate individual needs, such as extra writing time or alternative locations.
Practical Steps:
- Early Identification: Identify students needing accommodations early in the semester.
- Standard Procedures: Establish standard procedures for common accommodations (e.g., extra time, break rooms).
- Coordination: Work with the university's disability services to coordinate these accommodations.
Learn more about Student Equity and Disability Services (SEDS) at Helping students succeed : Staff Hub (unimelb.edu.au)
Benefit: Ensures fair exam conditions with minimal last-minute adjustments.
Options for Different Formats of Assessments
Action: Offer multiple assessment formats to cater to diverse strengths.
Practical Steps:
- Multimodal Assessments: Review this guidance on multimodal assessment from Learning Environments at the University of Melbourne https://le.unimelb.edu.au/news/articles/providing-choice-for-students-in-assessment
- Unified Rubric: Develop a single rubric applicable to all formats (e.g., essays, presentations, videos).
- Clear Guidelines: Provide detailed guidelines for each format to ensure consistency.
- Submission Portal: Use the LMS to manage submissions and provide options for different formats.
Benefit: Reduces complexity by using a unified rubric and clear guidelines.
Changing Attendance Requirements
Action: Provide flexible attendance policies.
Practical Steps:
- Record Lectures: Record and upload lectures for students to access at their convenience.
- Virtual Participation: Allow virtual attendance via video conferencing tools.
- Change Hurdle Task : Remove hurdles or change hurdles to be participation rather than attendance based (requires handbook change)
- Ensure Equity: Where attendance requirements are flexible ensure the learning experience is equitable (e.g. good sound quality on recordings)
Benefit: Increases accessibility without compromising participation.
Smaller Assignments
Action: Break larger assignments into smaller, manageable tasks.
Practical Steps:
- Milestone Submissions: Divide assignments into smaller parts with separate deadlines.
- Chunk Assessment: Chunk assessment tasks down into weekly tasks and instructions so students work on the assessment as part of class participation
- Incremental Feedback: Provide feedback on each milestone to guide students.
- Cumulative Grading: Use a cumulative grading system to aggregate scores from smaller tasks.
Benefit: Reduces student stress and grading load per submission.
Meaningful Formative Assessments
Action: Integrate formative assessments to support learning.
Practical Steps:
- Frequent Quizzes: Use short, frequent quizzes to assess understanding.
- Draft Submissions: Allow draft submissions for major assignments.
- Peer Feedback: Incorporate peer feedback sessions.
Benefit: Provides ongoing feedback and reduces the pressure on final assessments.
Assignments That Follow Course Structure
Action: Align assignments with the course week-by-week structure.
Practical Steps:
- Weekly Tasks: Assign weekly tasks that build towards the final assessment.
- Consistent Themes: Ensure each assignment ties into the weekly topics and learning outcomes.
- Scaffolded Learning: Design assignments to gradually increase in complexity.
Benefit: Reinforces learning and makes assignments more manageable.
Clear and Coherent Criteria and Pointers to Sources of Information
Action: Provide clear criteria and guidance for assessments.
Practical Steps:
- Detailed Rubrics: Use detailed rubrics that clearly outline expectations.
- Guidance Documents: Provide guides on how to approach assessments and where to find resources.
- Workshops: Offer workshops or online modules on research and writing skills.
Benefit: Enhances clarity and reduces student confusion.
Detailed and Timely Feedback
Action: Ensure feedback is detailed and provided promptly.
Practical Steps:
- Feedback Templates: Use templates to streamline feedback.
- Scheduled Feedback Sessions: Schedule specific times for providing feedback.
- Automated Feedback: Use LMS tools to provide instant feedback on quizzes and assignments.
Benefit: Improves the quality and timeliness of feedback without overburdening academics.
Leniency on Spelling/Grammar
Action: Focus on content quality rather than spelling and grammar.
Practical Steps:
- Clear Policies: Clearly state in the rubric that content quality is prioritized over spelling and grammar.
- Proofreading Tools: Encourage students to use proofreading tools.
- Peer Reviews: Incorporate peer reviews to help identify and correct language errors and ensure rubric weighting does not unfairly penalise students involved in peer review.
Benefit: Reduces the emphasis on language mechanics and promotes content understanding.
Use of Assistive Technology
Action: Integrate assistive technologies into the assessment process.
Practical Steps:
- Compatibility Checks: Ensure all assessment tools are compatible with assistive technologies.
- Training Sessions: Provide training sessions on how to use these technologies.
- Support Resources: Offer resources and support for students using assistive technologies.
- Offer alternatives: For any edutech you aren't sure of, include a lower tech alternative option format (i.e. word doc) either in your course or have it ready as a backup so you are proactive in case of issues.
Benefit: Enhances accessibility and supports diverse learning needs.
Captions/Transcripts for Videos
Action: Provide captions and transcripts for all video content.
Practical Steps:
- Automated Tools: Use automated captioning tools for initial captions.
- Manual Review: Review and edit captions for accuracy.
- Transcripts: Provide written transcripts alongside videos.
Benefit: Improves accessibility for students with hearing impairments.
Individual Consultation with Teacher
Action: Offer individual consultations to provide personalised support.
Practical Steps:
- Office Hours: Schedule regular office hours for student consultations.
- Online Booking: Use an online booking system to manage appointments.
- Virtual Meetings: Offer virtual meeting options for flexibility.
Benefit: Provides targeted support while managing time effectively.
Access to Rubric and Exemplars
Action: Provide rubrics and exemplars for each assessment.
Practical Steps:
- Early Distribution: Share rubrics and exemplars at the start of the assessment period.
- Discussion Sessions: Hold sessions to discuss the rubric and exemplars.
- Online Repository: Maintain an online repository of rubrics and exemplars.
Benefit: Clarifies expectations and improves student performance.
Summary of Supports and Resources
Student Equity and Disability Services (SEDS)
Register for Ongoing Support : Student Equity and Disability Services : Current students : The University of Melbourne (unimelb.edu.au)
BEL+T
Built Environments Learning + Teaching (unimelb.edu.au)
Academic Skills
Academic Skills : Current Students : The University of Melbourne (unimelb.edu.au)
Learning Environments
Home page for the Learning Environments website (unimelb.edu.au)