Steps to Develop VE Assessments

Duration: 3:36 mins.

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RMIT University Logo, swipes to the right to reveal the words ‘Developing VE Assessment tools’ in red.

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Clare Renner (Senior Advisor, Learning and Teaching)

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Portrait view of Clare Renner, facing the camera. As she says the words ‘planning’, ‘design and development’, and ‘validation’, these words pop up on the right of the screen.

There are three steps to developing good assessment; planning, design and development, and validation.

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The previous words disappear, and the word ‘Planning’ reappears on the right of the screen.

Let's talk about planning. During the planning phase, consider the following things. The units of competency, of course, start there. What are the assessment requirements? What is mandated? What can you adapt to meet the needs of a particular area of industry, local requirements, your cohort of students? Also, I think it's really important to think what is the intent of this unit of competency.

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The screen cuts away to a clip of RMIT students operating machinery to move a selection of plastic boxes. One box is lifted by the machine, and carried over to a conveyor belt, onto which it is gently lowered.

You need to think about industry practice, and this is where your own experience comes in. As far as is possible you want your assessment to mirror real industry tasks. This is a good point to start talking to your industry reps.

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Portrait view of Clare Renner, looking at the camera.

You need to think about your cohort of students. Is there anything about your students that might affect how you design assessment? For example language and literacy requirements, workplace experience, anything like that.

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The words ‘Design and Development’ pop up on the right of the screen.

The second step, design and development, you need to consider the following. In the design phase, you think about what is the purpose of the assessment. What is it designed to demonstrate? Then, what is the evidence that we need for someone to be able to demonstrate competency? What kind of evidence are we looking for, and having decided that what is the best way for that evidence to be presented or submitted? Having thought about the evidence then you think what task will enable the students to produce this kind of evidence, and when you're thinking about your students think about what is the best way for your particular cohort of students to apply their knowledge and skills and demonstrate that they can perform the tasks in different contexts and different environments. What are the criteria against which the evidence for students produce will be assessed. Any required standards also need to be clearly articulated so they can be reliably measured.

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The words ‘Assessment tools’ pop up on the right of the screen.

When developing your assessment tools after you've designed your assessment, you need to include the context and conditions for assessment.

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(Scrolling) An RMIT Assessment template.

This clarifies the target group, the purpose of the assessment and the conditions under which the evidence for assessment is gathered. This needs to be clear to both students and assessors. You need to include instructions to students, including the evidence they're going to need to produce for each task, the criteria used to assess that evidence and the decision making rules. You need to include instructions to assessors, including any marking guards, evidence checklists, criteria for assessment and again the decision making rules.

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Portrait view of Clare Renner looking at the camera.

You also need to include any administration, recording and reporting requirements. Here at RMIT we've developed a range of assessment tool templates to assist you in developing your assessment tools.

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Screenshot of the VE Essentials website.

These are available on the VE Essentials site, and will be embedded in Canvas to help you.

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Portrait view of Clare Renner looking at the camera. The word ‘Validation’ pops up on the right of the screen.

The third step in developing an assessment tool is validation, or assessment tools should be validated with industry to ensure that they are relevant and reflect workplace practice. The assessment tool should also be reviewed before delivery by other trainers and assessors, for feedback on clarity and validity. If you can run them by students as well to get their feedback, all the better. If you need any help or support to develop your assessment tools, please contact your program manager and they will arrange with your school or your college for you to receive that support.

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RMIT Logo