Earning Criteria

• Verification of Grades Awarded:  Reviewers verify the grades awarded of the selected assessment item, commenting on whether they agree or disagree with the grade given to a sample of student work.  Reviewers provide a rationale for any deviation from the listed grade.  Twelve student samples across the passing grade bands are used for this exercise.  Verification of grades requires reviewers to have an intimate understanding of marking, grading and assessment requirements.
• Analysis of learning outcomes:  Applying their knowledge of AQF criteria, Bloom’s taxonomy and discipline expertise, reviewers comment on the clarity and appropriateness of the course level learning outcomes for the course under review.  In addition, they comment on how the specified learning outcomes compare with those of units/subjects from similar universities in the same delivery year.
• Review of Assessment task: Analysis of the specified assessment task entails applying knowledge and principles of constructive alignment, assessment design and feedback practices to comment on the clarity of assessment task and marking criteria and alignment of rises with the learning outcomes. As well as discussing the comparability of the assessment task and the marking criteria with unit/subjects from similar universities in the same delivery year.
• Review of Assessment task (Continued): The extent to which feedback provided by the marker to the student is appropriate for student learning.  Whether the feedback enables students to make judgements on their performance and enact improvements in future assessment tasks.
• Summary judgement:  In summarising their overall findings, the reviewer provides a global judgement in the calibration of the course reporting on any risks to the quality of the education provided and offers guidance on how these can be improved.
• Reflection on practice: Calibration is also an excellent opportunity for reviewers to evaluate and reflect on their own courses. In many cases calibrators have reported there is a cross-pollination of ideas, where they too have strengthened their own performance by gaining insights into the practices of colleagues at other institutions.