13.1.4.3
Transparency
Clearly, in any assessment task it is crucial that students know what they have to do. But it is just as important that they know what the marker is looking for, what aspects of the task or what sub-skills of the activity they will be assessed on. It is no good having assessment procedures that bear little relation to the stated learning outcomes of a module. And it is no help to students to be told that in a language test they will be assessed on their knowledge of French or Spanish: they need to know which aspects or which sub-skills are to be assessed (eg in writing: content, organization of material, accuracy, range of language, etc). Similarly, students need to know by which standards these things will be assessed, ie they need to see and understand the marking criteria. All these issues are aspects of transparency in assessment; besides making the process transparent to students, they are also central to demonstrating to external reviewers the coherence and quality of assessment procedures.
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