Formulating and working with grading criteria
Written grading criteria can put words on what we assess and the qualities we are looking for in a student's performance. They thereby make the teacher's professional assessment more explicit. However, formulating good grading criteria is often a challenge. How do we find a good balance where they are detailed enough to be clear to students while not becoming too restrictive? There are many ways to formulate grading criteria, and it is important to find a format that suits the specific context.
This course is aimed at
- Teacher
- Other teaching staff
Topic
- Pedagogy
About the course
When written criteria are in place, we also need to consider how they can be used in practice. How do we communicate with our colleagues about the interpretation of the criteria to ensure high reliability in assessment? And how should the grading criteria be communicated to students so that they are understandable and a tool they can benefit from in their learning?
Target group
University teachers and other staff with teaching responsibilities at Uppsala University, with experience in assessment and an interest in introducing outcome based grading criteria for assessment, revising existing criteria, or reflecting more on how grading criteria can be used in both teaching and assessment. The course is limited to 20 participants. 'First come, first served' applies to this course.
Prerequisites
To be admitted to the course, completion and approval of the academic teacher training course for university teachers or its equivalent, as well as completion and approval of a course on assessment or substantial experience in assessment, are required.
Course goals
After completion of the course, the course participants should be able to
- Discuss outcome based assessment and how grading criteria can be used to ensure that students have achieved all intended learning outcomes
- Discuss the pedagogical benefits and challenges of grading criteria
- Explain how learning outcomes, grading criteria, and assessment are aligned
- Describe how assessments can be weighed together in various ways to a final grade and reflect on potential effects of this
- Reflect on how grading criteria can be used as a pedagogical tool
- Formulate outcome based grading criteria for their own course and plan for how to implement and use these
- Critically evaluate their own and others' grading criteria
Course dates
For more information about dates see Calendar.
The course will be held at Campus Blåsenhus.
Language
The course is conducted in Swedish. However, course participants can work with own material in either Swedish or English, based on their own context.
Certificate
At the end of the course and when all tasks have been completed and approved, the participant receives a certificate of completion.
Financial conditions
The course is free of charge for staff members affiliated with Uppsala University.
More information
Division for Quality Enhancement, Academic Teaching and Learning
Emma Lundkvist, Phone: 018-471 49 16. E-mail: emma.lundkvist@uu.se
Malin Gadeborg, telefon: 018-471 69 08 E-mail: malin.gadeborg@uu.se
The following applies for all courses given by the Unit for Academic Teaching and Learning: If a course participant is unable to complete a course within the given time frame, all elements / assignments must be completed within three years from the start of the course in order to receive a passing grade / certificate of completion. The prerequisite for this is that course information and course objectives are the same.
Format
The course corresponds to one week. It consists of two scheduled days on campus (one of them half a day), a couple of shorter online meetings (dates for these will be determined during the course), and individual work. Please note that your presence and participation during the first scheduled course session is mandatory in all courses arranged by the unit, unless otherwise stated.
During this course, you will have the opportunity to reflect on the role of grading criteria in learning and assessment. Based on both higher education research and practical examples, we will illustrate different ways to formulate grading criteria and how criteria can be used in teaching and examination. Furthermore, we will discuss the pedagogical consequences of various ways to formulate criteria, with the aim of supporting student learning and making qualitative assessments of student performance.
During the course, you will work on formulating or revising grading criteria for one of your own courses. You will also plan how they should be implemented and used in assessment and teaching.