Assessment Innovation Through Programme Redesign

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Higher education is rapidly changing to meet the needs of today’s world. Aiming to ensure we prepare our students for a complex, rapidly changing world, the Adam Smith Business School launched a School-wide Portfolio Review Project, part of which is programme redesign. The School redesign process (involving 8 PGT programmes in the subject area of Economics) is underpinned by backward design approach (see McTighe and Wiggins, 1998) while aligning with the University’s Learning through Assessment Framework (UofG, 2023). In Economics, our objective was to embed innovative assessment methods that actively engage students in authentic, real-world learning experiences. Instead of relying on traditional tests and written assignments, we focused on bridging theory and practice, promoting inclusion through diverse assessment options, and developing adaptability, analytical, problem-solving, and teamworking skills.

Specifically, the redesign included careful assessment design at the programme level, with three key steps and big questions:  

• curriculum mapping: How each course in the programme contributes to the programme learning outcomes?  
• assessment blueprinting: What are all relevant and acceptable methods through which students can demonstrate mastery of learning outcomes?  
• assessment mapping: In this programme, how do we collect evidence about student achievement of learning outcomes?  

Curriculum mapping is crucial for ensuring alignment between course learning outcomes (LOs) and the (revised) programme LOs. By visualising this alignment, teaching teams can identify any gaps in the programme, particularly in how student learning and assessments are scaffolded. Assessment blueprinting involves the teaching team mapping all potential (relevant) assessment methods against the programme LOs. A bit differently, the assessment map shows how programme LOs are supported by current assessments. Through this exercise, it becomes clearer which existing assessments are maybe repetitive or not suitable for measuring certain LOs, and might need adjustments. This is where the blueprinting exercise helps: the teaching teams can now choose an appropriate – different – assessment method from the blueprint map.  

This process also helped us align with the Learning through Assessment Framework (UofG, 2023) and ensure assessments are programmatic and meaningful – and relevant not just within the classroom but beyond it. Furthermore, we could make sure assessments were iterative, giving students multiple chances to learn, grow, and refine their understanding. Especially through assessment mapping, we focused on formative opportunities, which means students get feedback along the way, and can reflect on their learning and progress. Finally, greater diversity of assessments which was introduced, as well as the optionality of assessments at the programme level, contributes to inclusion, and gives the students opportunity to demonstrate their learning in different ways. What is more, optionality in assessment, through which students co-create their own learning journey, leads to a greater sense of autonomy, deeper engagement, enhanced motivation, and has a positive impact on student wellbeing (Firth et al., 2023).

Previously, our postgraduate Economics programmes relied almost exclusively on traditional, high-stakes written exams and assignments to assess learning outcomes. For instance, the MSc in Financial Modelling and Investment offered only three forms of assessment—exams, written assignments, and set exercises—which severely limited opportunities for developing higher-order skills and engaging in learning through assessment.  In our redesign, we replaced a significant number of high-stakes degree exams with a variety of innovative assessment methods, including:

• Case Competitions: In the Venture Capital and Private Equity course, students work in groups to analyse real company data, apply risk management techniques, and address valuation and pricing. The case competition simulates an environment where students need to navigating alternative investments and the increasing complexity of financial markets.
• Hackathons: In the course on Agent Based Modelling, students work in teams to apply different methods that can be used to model and simulate agent behaviours in strategic interaction, and predict and analyse possible outcomes. In the end, each team presents their model, results, and insights to the panel of judges.
• Multimedia Assessments: One of the assignments in the Real Estate Economics and Finance course is a podcast, where students create an episode applying course concepts to a real-world issue, such as the housing affordability crisis. They analyse factors like government policies, interest rates, and market dynamics.
• Computational Projects: In the course on Machine Learning, students will solve a set of computational exercises and produce a notebook with code and results. The project asks students to address ethical and sustainability challenges in financial data analysis, emphasizing responsible data use and awareness of biases within ML models.
• Optionality in assessment: in many programmes students can choose the type of final project they want to do: from a classical dissertation, case study, to an applied project. The MSc Economics programme also offers specialised pathways through which students can further tailor their learning experience.

Without doubt, programme redesign requires considerable amount of time from the whole teaching team, as well as pedagogical and subject matter expertise. For anyone thinking of doing the same, we would recommend following a clear process like ours to make informed redesign decisions, and better understand what changes are necessary for a meaningful positive impact on student learning and experience.

If our goal is to help students succeed academically, in their careers, and in making a difference in society, we have to ensure our assessments go beyond testing knowledge. We have to ensure our assessments prepare students for real-world challenges – in different ways. This idea guided our redesign, and we are excited to see how students will engage with it starting next academic year

REFERENCES

• Firth, M., Ball-Smith, J., Burgess, T., Chaffer, C., Finn, G., Guy, M., Hansen, J., Havemann, L., Glover, N., Kingsbury, M., Pazio, M., Penn, J., Trzeciak, F., Shackleford-Cesare, K., Walker, S., Webb, J., (October 2023). Optionality in Assessment: A cross institutional exploration of the feasibility, practicality & utility of student choices in assessment in UK higher education. Quality Assurance Agency. Available at: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/members/final-report-28th-oct-report-a-summary-of-the-project.pdf  
• University of Glasgow (March 2023). Learning through Assessment: An Assessment and Feedback Strategy for the University of Glasgow. Available at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/learningandteaching/afresourceshub/whatislta/
• Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. ASCD

¹Gorana, Sisir and Yannis worked closely with the programme teaching teams during the redesign process, combining their expertise in higher education pedagogy with subject matter knowledge. This collaborative effort ensured a well-designed learning experience that is both pedagogically sound and aligned with the latest research and developments in different fields of economics.