Assessment

In criterion-referenced assessment, students are evaluated based on a set of criteria that are explicitly linked to the learning outcomes. For example, if gaining basic research skills is the outcome, the criteria could be the strength of the research question, or the extent and quality of the literature review. It is important that you clearly communicate the assessment criteria to your students when handing out the assessment tasks.

This is the general anatomy of a rubric.

The number of criteria is variable and can be derived from the learning outcomes. The number of achievement standards can also be variable depending on the grading requirement with headers such as “excellent”, “very good” etc.

Teaching Academic Staff / Cluster: Senior Lecturer Angela Ng and Senior Professional Officer Leong Mun Wai / Business, Communication and Design Cluster

Modules: Project Management for Creative Industries / Public Service and Education Media Production

Brief description of the Authentic Assessment used: Senior Lecturer Angela Ng and Senior Professional Officer Leong Mun Wai collaborated to implement an integrated project where assessments from their modules (Project Management for Creative Industries and Public Service/Education Media Production) were embedded in the project. Assignments were sourced from client briefs from the industry and students worked closely with these partners to produce solutions for real-life problems. The partners would act as assigned clients to the students. The student would then demonstrate how to apply project management skills learnt and produce a final public service or educational video for the client. In doing so, the students would be assessed on the robustness of their project, and the quality and effectiveness of delivering the client’s brand message in their final video. Throughout the project, students were to demonstrate the ability to work well in a group and reflect on the roles they played in a team as teamwork is highly valued in the industry.

Key Assessments:

1. Development of a short-form video production - the creation of a script and storyboard proposal, a logistic and crew plan, a production budget and post-production documentation.
2. Management of project for the industry partner – a project report and reflections for the overall experience.

Teaching Academic Staff / Cluster: Assistant Professor Paolo Del Linz / Engineering Cluster

Modules: Structural Stability and Dynamics / Design of Tall Buildings

Brief description of the Authentic Assessment used: Assistant Prof Paolo Del Linz uses practical examples and tasks that bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and real-world application in Civil Engineering, supporting students through various methods and aligning assessments with industry standards. He took into account the use of calculations to estimate loading (wind and earthquake effects), the problems in the assessments which included specific calculations for lateral stability and used specific design tools which are present in industry.

Key assessments:

1. Calculate wind and earthquake loading which the use of hand calculations to estimate the loading acting on a building. Students are required to calculate some of it by hand as it is a practice in industry and realistic building measurements.
2. Conduct a check using numerical simulations like finite element analysis (FEA) design tools that are used in the industry to assess the performance of a tall building. Students produce a model of a building to see how it behaves.

Teaching Academic Staff / Cluster: Associate Professor Adison Wong / Food and Chemical Biotechnology Cluster

Module: Cell Culture Laboratory

Brief description of the Authentic Assessment used: Associate Professor Adison Wong used the GRASP framework to help construct a performance task with an emphasis on context and role-playing. He used it to craft and conduct assessments that fostered student engagement, effective communication, and critical thinking abilities in Pharmaceutical Engineering. GRASPS is a design tool to help construct a performance task. It represents a way to organize, deliver and assess a project-based assessment. The following is a breakdown of what GRASPS stands for:

• G - Goal (Stating the problem)
• R - Role (Defining the role the students play)
• A - Audience (Identifying the target audience)
• S - Situation (Outlining the context of the problem)
• P – Performance / Product (Creating a result)
• S - Standard (Stating the criteria to be seen)

Key assessments: For their practicum, students are to run a cell culture laboratory by applying their skills and knowledge to produce a drug. In doing so, they must go through the various processes and use the equipment used in the industry. Each student is given a role to play such as quality controller, team supervisor, etc. The ‘company’ that students are to embark on a project for large scale anti-HER2 mAB production so that they can meet the clinical demands in Asia. Students work in shifts, make pitches to raise venture capital and ensure that their reports are following cGMP requirements, very much like what they must do in the industry.

Teaching Academic Staff / Cluster: Associate Professor Valerie Lim / Health and Social Sciences Cluster

Module: Fluency and Related Disorders

Brief description of the Authentic Assessment used: Associate Professor Valerie Lim uses effective authentic assessment strategies for students to demonstrate competency in the Fluency and Related Disorders module. These assessment methods were designed to provide a comprehensive evaluation of a student’s ability to provide information about core topics, assess a patient's speech and communication skills, and identify appropriate interventions and recommendations.

Key Assessments:

1. Development of Media/Presentation to Teachers - the process of creating informative and engaging media presentations to raise awareness on stuttering. It demonstrates the students' ability to effectively communicate and present essential information on this topic to pre-school teachers.
2. Written Test with Videos of Patients - Use of video assessments to evaluate speech patterns and provide accurate recommendations. It helps students to analyse real-life cases and formulate appropriate intervention plans.
3. OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) - provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate their practical skills in assessing and providing speech therapy for patients. Using simulated patients (SPs), this hands-on assessment will highlight their ability to apply theoretical knowledge and therapeutic skills in a clinical setting.

Teaching Academic Staff / Cluster: Associate Professor Goh Weihan / InfoComm Technology Cluster

Module: Digital Forensics and Web Security

Brief description of the Authentic Assessment used: For a student to integrate seamlessly and contribute effectively to the industry upon graduation, they need to be sufficiently competent to perform tasks that will be handed to them.  In the cybersecurity industry, the emphasis is on the ability to do things, e.g., to hack a server, search a computer system for evidence, etc.  Such ability can be trained by having students learn by doing practical tasks in an authentic learning setting. Capture-the-flag (CTF) is a commonly used gamification approach in cybersecurity education, where students are tasked to work on challenges in order to find flags, or information of interest, to solve given challenges and rise the scoreboard.  Solving CTF challenges not only requires knowledge of the underlying theory and possession of technical skills, but also requires critical and lateral thinking, things that are difficult to teach. CTFs have come a long way from being mere collection of independent challenges, to challenges designed around complex, authentic scenarios.  In SIT, CTFs has been a staple of the Digital Forensics and Web Security modules since 2016; in these modules, Associate Professor Goh Weihan designs and conducts CTFs both for student learning and assessments, with the goal of providing an experience not unlike what students will encounter when they go out to the industry.

Key Assessment: Dr Goh's CTFs are structured to encourage students to master skills and apply them in an authentic setting; this done by designing CTF tasks and challenges mimicking real-life scenarios, which students need to solve.  Some examples include:

1. In the Digital Forensics module, students are given computing artefacts extracted from real-world devices like mobile phones, desktop computers, servers, virtual machines etc., which they need to analyze and uncover evidence from, i.e., to answer questions like "when was the photo taken?", "what was the contents of that encrypted note?", "what malware is present on the system?", and so on.
2. In Web Security, vulnerable websites are created and hosted on the cloud, and students are tasked to hack these websites to find answers to the CTF challenges, in a high-stakes time-limited setting.  Here, students need to infuse what they have learnt in the module together with critical thinking in order to design and conduct successful attacks against the target websites.