Assessment Principles – continuing the conversations about teaching and learning

Explore how eleven themes for student assessment were developed from consultation from across the UCalgary community.

There are many complex factors influencing student assessment practices across universities: growing class sizes, emerging technologies and GenAI, academic integrity, shifting teaching modalities, student and educator well-being, and a focus on skill development, innovation, entrepreneurial thinking and employability.

In 2023, UCalgary embarked on a journey to develop institutional principles for the assessment of student learning. Our process started by bringing together a group of faculty, students, and staff with expertise and interest in strengthening student assessment practices across all disciplines and contexts. Over the course of two years, we completed a literature review and environmental scan, consulted with hundreds of folks across the university, coded nearly 1000 comments from these conversations, and learned from input from colleagues across our campus.

Eleven themes emerged from this process: student learning and growth; curriculum alignment; parallel processes and ethical space; equitable and inclusive; meaningful feedback; clear communication, mental health and wellbeing; academic integrity; educational technologies; continuous enhancement; and resources and support. These themes provided grounding for the development of a set of institutional principles which provide a framework to guide and influence assessment conversations, practices, and decision-making in courses, across faculties and the institution.

As we discussed the draft principles with the campus community, several questions often emerged: What’s next? How do we make these principles visible? How do we partner with educators, students, leaders, and academic and non-academic units to put these principles into practice? How do we ensure considerations for assessment moving forward include partners across the assessment ecosystem (e.g., students, staff, educators, academic leaders, teaching assistants, postdoctoral scholars)?

As we continue to work together to respond to these questions, we encourage you to reflect on the following and use them as conversation starters with your colleagues and students.

For course instructors

Which of your current assessment tasks align with one or more of these principles?
Which of these principles most strongly resonate with your teaching philosophy or the values and beliefs you hold as a postsecondary educator?
How do you currently share the "why" behind the assessments you use, and how might you make this purpose clearer?
What opportunities exist within the assessments you use to offer students different ways to demonstrate their learning, ensuring the process is inclusive and accessible?
What assessment opportunities are possible as you think about the courses you teach in the future?
How might you design assessments that respect and value students’ and your mental health and wellbeing?

For students

What makes an assessment feel relevant and meaningful to you?
What helps you draw connections between assessments across different courses in your program?
What would assessment look like for you and your peers if these principles were fully realized?
How might you contribute to supporting better assessment practices in your courses and academic programs?
How do these principles challenge or affirm your current understanding of the purpose of assessment in higher education?

For academic program leads

To what extent do the assessment tasks across the program reflect current knowledge, skills, and big questions in your field of study?
When do you make time and space to facilitate conversations among course instructors about how assessment design in individual courses shapes a student’s learning journey throughout the program?
How do assessment tasks provide a trajectory of learning and growth for students across the program?
How might you communicate more clearly and transparently to students what they are/will be learning and how their learning will be assessed across the program?
How might you create ethical space in your program assessments to respect written and oral traditions that honour diverse Indigenous knowledges and perspectives?