Faculty T&L Forum on outcome-based curriculum and criterion-referenced assessment

1. Faculty T&L Forumon outcome-based curriculum and criterion-referenced assessment Presenter: W. K. Kong (BRE)

2. BRE291 Construction Technology I A first year subject for all BRE students in Semester 1 Learning Outcome: • Relate basic construction vocabulary for various building elements/components • Possess a knowledge of functional requirements of various building elements/components • Give preliminary appraisal on the performances of various building elements/components • Relate the inter-relationship among building elements • Interpret and extract information from construction drawings

3. Approaches adopted to address the subject learning outcomes • Use more diagrams and drawings in lectures and tutorials to help students to learn reading and understanding construction drawings • Brief “Case Study” report to allow students to appraise the performance of a building and/or certain building elements • A “Photo Album” assignment to create a chance for students to observe how construction works progress on site over a period of time

4. Learning Outcomes Addressed • Relate Building Vocabulary to actual building elements and on-site operations • Possess a knowledge of functional and performance requirements of building elements • Able to relate the inter-relationship among building elements • To communicate effectively • To work and contribute as a team and to lead effectively

5. Photo Album Assignment • Students are asked to choose a site and take photos periodically about the activities carried out on site for a period of six weeks • Students are required to present the photos in the form of a photo album in which progress of the site works is to be revealed • Students are also asked to provide annotation to photos included in the album to demonstrate their understandings about the site activities observed

6. Issues encountered while preparing criteria for assessing the coursework • If the criteria are too explicit, it may result in “spoon feeding” the students (approach, presentation, etc.) • Also, students’ creativity may be discouraged because of explicit criteria • If there are many criteria and divisions of grading, how to aggregate/compute the final assessment grade?

7. To address those issues: • Use less criteria by combing some similar criteria together • Instead of using very detailed sub-division of grading, only a three-level marking rubric (Excellent/good, pass, fail) is adopted 05291\Criteria for Photo Album.doc

8. Actually (or personally) I think.... • the deign and preparation of assessment criteria and assessment rubrics aims to help students to learn more effectively rather than devising a systematic grading system • Moreover, through preparing assessment criteria and grading rubrics, it helps subject lecturer to revisit the subject learning outcomes and check whether such outcomes are achieved

9. Feedback from students Three questions asked: • Are the criteria useful to students ? • How students use the criteria? • How to make the best use of the criteria? Some responses collected: “I like the table. And I really think that every assignment should have one, with ‘pass’, ‘fail’ and ‘excellent’” “It is of course better not to grade with a curve.” “Our group mates would read and talk about it. It is like a set of guidelines telling us what to do.” “Now with the criteria in hand, we would do better but not do more, and not doing it without thinking.” “With this set, it is clearer as I know what to be based on to give the grades” (tutor)