Process Flow of Outcomes-based Assessment

It is essential to understand the flow process of outcomes-based assessment:

Lecturer Broadcast: Click here to view an explanation on the assessment process.

Communicating Assessment Plans with Stakeholders (People)

The two parties who will be most actively involved in the assessment are the Assessor and the Learner. There are, however, numerous other people involved in the learner’s lead-up to assessment, and it is important to take each role-player’s time and role into consideration to assist in a “smooth sailing” assessment.

Assessment should be planned with all the parties involved. This will ensure that the facilitator gives the learner the required education to be able to reflect in assessment and will prevent unnecessary explanations to parties who feel aggrieved with the learner taking the time to be assessed (this is often a complaint from the workplace).

Drafting a Schedule for the Implementation of your Assessment Plan

Assessments are usually organised on an assessment schedule which is communicated to the learner early on in the learning programme. These schedules usually focus on an exact date, time and venue of assessment that is to take place for a specific programme. Planning via schedules assist everyone involved in the assessment process to co-ordinate their time and plan their individual parts in the assessment.

Booking the Assessment Venue

Booking assessment venues and ensuring that they are safe and conducive to the implementation of the principles of good assessment.

Planning in terms of the venue where assessment is to take place is a critical factor in the success or failure of assessment. The venue should be suitable for the type of assessment that is to take place, i.e. if the learner has to be observed in the workplace, the venue of assessment will be the workplace of the learner, while a written knowledge questionnaire can take place in a formal classroom situation with multiple learners.

Choosing the Appropriate Assessment Tools

Choosing the most appropriate assessment tools or instruments for the learner context and organisational constraints.

The choice of assessment instruments will depend on the situation and might incorporate a range of instruments. Ensuring that you have thoroughly planned which instruments have to be used will ensure that the correct instrument is at hand on the day of assessment and that all the evidence is gathered there and then.

Recordkeeping and Formal Administration

Remember that at the end of any assessment you as the assessor should have evidence that could hold up in a court of law, to back up the reasons for your competence judgement of the learner that you have assessed. Additionally, you should be able to prove that you adhered to all the principles of good assessment.

This naturally requires meticulous recordkeeping and very precise formal administration systems. It has given rise to the perception that assessment can be divided into two clear parts: The active assessment and the “paperwork”!

The administrative compliance framework tends to be a confluence of the SETA formats generally prescribed and a trademark of the person who develops the assessment instrument. But remember that the point of the “paperwork” is to keep record of the evidence and the process of your assessment.