Assessment Toolkit
Q4: How do I support students to take ownership of their learning?
Continuing with the six questions to guide your assessment design:
How do I make assessments clear and fair for students?
- How do I ensure I am assessing what students need to learn?
- How do I make assessments clear and fair for students?
- How do I give students opportunities to practice, get feedback, and improve?
- How do I support students take ownership of their learning?
- How do I help students apply their learning in meaningful ways?
- How do I design assessments that support student well-being?
Q4: How do I support students to take ownership of their learning?
Summary: Educators are concerned students are putting in less effort, or that they may be missing core skills needed to achieve at university. Effective assessment practices can directly combat this concern. Having students self-assess, give feedback to peers, reflect on and make choices about how they show what they have learned, and are all connected to better learning and more engagement.
Resources to Support
Implementing into your course: The assessments that make the biggest long-term impact on student learning require them to engage with complex issues and problems, make choices about how to proceed and reflect on how they did.
Quick win: Add a short reflection question to the end of an assignment: "What did you do well, and what would you improve next time?"
USask Resources
- Grading Reflection - Article
- Increasing Voice and Choice in the Classroom - Article
- Assessing Student Reflections - Article
Course Alignment Ideas
Educators can support assessments as learning by:
- Asking students to reflect on their learning after assignments or exams.
- Including self-assessment activities using assignment criteria or rubrics.
- Having students set learning goals and monitor their progress throughout the term.
- Encouraging students to identify strengths and areas for improvement before receiving instructor feedback.
- Using brief reflective writing activities after major learning experiences.
- Discussing effective learning strategies as part of the course.
- Providing opportunities for students to revise work based on feedback.
Common Concerns & Related Literature:
In order for choice to really be equitable, all the choices need to be a relatively equally time consuming and be equally good at demonstrating the course outcomes.
Giving choice to do 3 of 5 long answer questions of similar difficulty (and on the same learning outcomes) during an exam is a simple example of equitable choice.
Have clear criteria for grading reflective assessments (like journals, self-assessments, or critiques) that focus on how well learners explain what they learned, give personal examples that are relevant, and articulate barriers.
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Big ideas |
Literature |
|---|---|
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Peer learning and assessment |
Foundational: Boud (2006) |
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Using case studies so students learn from assessment |
Case studies and how to: Clark (2023) |
Next Question in the Toolkit
Question 5: How do I help students apply their learning in meaningful ways?
The Assessment Toolkit: 6 Questions to guide your assessment design.
- How do I ensure I am assessing what students need to learn?
- How do I make assessments clear and fair for students?
- How do I give students opportunities to practice, get feedback, and improve?
- How do I support students take ownership of their learning? (current page)
- How do I help students apply their learning in meaningful ways?
- How do I design assessments that support student well-being?
Get Support
- Attend GMCTL workshops to learn about the Assessment Principles and how to use within your course.
- Book a one-to-one consultation with GMCTL experts who can help you design a full assessment consistent with the principles for your course.