In response to dissatisfaction with testing cultures in higher education, programmatic assessment has been introduced as an alternative approach. Programmatic assessment involves the longitudinal collection of data points about student learning, aimed at continuous monitoring and feedback. High-stakes decisions are based on a multitude of data…

This study examines the utility of a new method of analysing and reporting qualitative student survey comments. Visualisations of the sentiment of and key themes from qualitative student survey comments were developed for 34 subjects from two undergraduate health sciences courses undergoing transformation. The course and subject visualisation…

In-text comments, in the form of annotations on students' work, are a form of feedback information that should guide students to take action. Both the focus of the in-text comments, and the ways in which they are linguistically communicated, have potential to impact upon the way in which they are perceived by students. This study reports on an…

Assessment rubrics intend to make criteria explicit to students. However, an understanding of assessment criteria requires tacit knowledge about which students may not be aware. The lack of such knowledge is notable in undergraduate health science students taking a compulsory course in the social sciences. This study performed a content analysis…

Authentic assessment is revered to support student learning, but it is typically described within the context of work-integrated learning and professional schools, leaving one to question whether a classroom-based curriculum can offer authentic assessments. This study documented the prevalence of authentic assessments throughout a complete health…

A series of worldwide projects concerning assessment, student outcomes and quality in higher education has revealed the need for a change in how higher education institutions assess student outcomes; however, many academics remain unconvinced. The success of assessment change arguably depends on the assessment culture within the institution. This…

Meeting students' expectations associated with the provision of feedback is a perennial challenge for tertiary education. Efforts to provide comprehensive, timely feedback within our own first year undergraduate public health courses have not always met students' expectations. In response, we sought to develop peer feedback activities to support…

Plagiarism continues to be a concern for all educational institutions. To build a solid foundation for high academic standards and best practices at a graduate university, aspects of plagiarism were reviewed to develop better management processes for reducing plagiarism. Specifically, the prevalence of plagiarism and software programmes for…

Student evaluation committees play a crucial role in internal quality assurance processes as representatives of the student body. However, the students on these committees sometimes experience difficulty in providing constructive and structured feedback to faculty in an environment characterised by a strong power differential between student and…