ARG

ASLO

Assessment of Significant Learning Outcomes

Concepts of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are at the centre of the UK Teaching & Learning Programme's conceptual framework. This project focuses on one dimension of the triangle of relationships that link those concepts, the alignment and interactions between curriculum and assessment. The Assessment Reform Group, which initiated the project, has argued that assessment practices should be designed and implemented with the goal of achieving maximum validity both in terms of learning outcomes and learning processes and that those practices should help to advance learning as well as determine whether learning has occurred.

The project builds on the work of the TLRP Learning Outcomes Thematic Group, a key conclusion from which was the difficulty of assessing learning outcomes, however defined, in situations where ‘learning' had not been clearly conceptualised.

This seminar series aimed to develop understanding of the relationship between curriculum and assessment, focusing in particular on those learning outcomes that are acknowledged as significant but are either excluded from, or inadequately represented in, conventional programmes of assessment. An initial seminar examined the generic issues involved, and was followed by a further five context-specific seminars each of which focused on a context in which work has been undertaken on the congruence between significant learning outcomes and evidence derived from assessment.

Reports on each of the seminars, a project ‘framework' paper and a conference paper presented by the project team at the BERA Annual Conference in London in September 2007 can be found on the project's website at:

http://www.tlrp.org/themes/seminar/daugherty/index.html

The project has published a discussiono f its outcomes in:

Daugherty, R., Black, P., Ecclestone, K., James, M. and Newton, P. (2008) Alternative perspectives on learning outcomes: challenges for assessment, Curriculum Journal, 19 (4), 243-254

Members of the ARG most closely involved in this project are:
Prof. Richard Daugherty ( Cardiff University )
Prof. Paul Black (King's College, London )
Prof. Kathryn Ecclestone (Oxford Brookes University)
Prof. Mary James ( Institute of Education, London )
Dr. Paul Newton (Qualifications & Curriculum Authority, London)

Contact:
Richard Daugherty
School of Social Sciences
Cardiff University
rdd@aber.ac.uk

© ARG 2008