Improved assessment outcomes in nursing - on the hunt for the holy grail

This presentation will share the experiences of embedding assessment literacy interventions within a large pre-registration nursing programme. As part of the Office for Students (OfS) funded project, the course team selected a range of targeted interventions for implementation with 250 level 4 students. Interventions included: Introduction to the purpose of assessment; Interrogation of assessment rubrics and assessment briefs; Examination of exemplar assignments; Utilisation of feedback. This project ran alongside an iterative approach to assessment redesign in order to address course metrics such as student satisfaction and value added scores. Concurrent assessment design changes included: Introduction of generic assessment rubrics; Introduction of an early low-stakes assessment; Realignment of assessment calendar; Consolidation of marking teams; Implementation of new assessment tools on a new VLE. Early findings from the project show some promising results. However, due to the complexities of assessment design, it may be difficult to isolate confounding factors. It will be interesting to track the potential impact of these interventions on student progress throughout the rest of the programme. Further interventions planned for the next academic year include: Peer review of assessment briefs, assessment literacy interventions at Levels 5-7; Engagement with feedback through personal tutoring; Funded assessment and feedback peer support.