Ipsative assessment

Writing the course document, I encounter my already-known stumbling block: assessment.

The training programme I am devising for first year research students won't be formally assessed until the end of their degrees (2 years down the line) and the examiners won't be part of the teaching cohort. This has always caused me problems.

The Glasgow School of Art offerred me to start from scratch, devise what I think would be the best training programme, wiothout any further restriction than our regulations and the QAA Code of Practice. Assessment, in my opinion, is an essential part of the process. How would I, otherwise, know if the student has achieved the level? How would I know what the student's training needs are if I don't assess them?

Of course, with assessment comes criteria and learning outcomes. But before I cross that bridge I need to think about the assessment itself. Needless to say that, for the time being, it cannot be summative (as that will be their Viva, at the end of their degree). However, I wasn't fully happy with only the formative assessment description. Browsing the web I found the term Ipsative Assessment or Type of assessment whereby the norm against which assessment is measured is based on prior performance of the person being assessed - the present performance is assessed against performance in the past. In athletics, "personal best" is an example of ipsative assessment. This seems perfect for the course I am preparing: it will introduce reflection, learning logs and will be aimed at achieveing a satisfactory level of learning outcomes, equipping students with particular skills (information gathering, management, academic writing etc...) that would enable them to carry out their research projects as painlessly as possible.

Oh, I am so excited by this!