The Monash University Assessment in Coursework Programs policy is informed by research and best practice models within the higher education sector. There is an expectation that discipline areas will draw on assessment research relevant to their field to underpin how this policy is implemented.
The statements below outline the principles of coursework assessment at Monash. The processes through which assessment in coursework awards is executed are described in detail in the Unit Assessment Procedures.
Principles of assessment at Monash
1. Assessment must reflect the values of effective learning and teaching identified in Monash University key strategic documents and comply with current legislation, and university policy and procedures on privacy.
2. Assessment must be aligned with desired course and unit outcomes.
3. Assessment practices must be conducted and undertaken ethically and with honesty and integrity by staff and students. While acknowledging cultural variations, tasks must be designed and students educated in ways that promote academic integrity.
4. As unit assessment will contribute to and shape students' learning it must be:
Challenging
Assessment must be intellectually challenging, appropriate to the level of study, relevant, and provide opportunities for students to demonstrate evidence of learning.
Engaging
Assessment must be structured in such a way that students are motivated to engage in the intellectual, practical, and professional dimensions of the task.
Integrated
Assessment tasks must foster the integration of theory, practice, and salient professional requirements.
Educative
Students' learning must be enhanced through assessment design and feedback.
5. Grading aspect and parity
Where assessment is:
Criterion referenced,
clear criteria, against which students' work will be assessed, must be provided in the interests of parity across assessors, groups or campuses.
Norm Referenced,
a comparison of students' results across assessors, groups or campuses must occur in the interests of parity.
6. Assessment must be purposeful and the purposes of each assessment must be made clear to students. These purposes include:
- Assessment for learning (diagnostic and formative),
- Assessment of learning (summative),
- Assessment as learning (reflective, self-monitoring, collaborative)
Diagnostic,
tasks must be designed to appraise the knowledge and skills of students.
Formative,
tasks must be designed to help students engage with ideas, skills and practices that they will develop further during the unit or course.
Summative,
tasks must be designed to make overall judgements about students' understandings and performances in relation to the unit and course outcomes.
Reflective/Self monitoring,
tasks will encourage students to reflect on their learning, develop their own learning goals and monitor and improve their own learning approaches and outcomes over time.
Collaborative,
tasks must give students the opportunity to learn from each other.
7. Assessment practices and processes must be continuously monitored for quality assurance and improvement purposes, and must be:
Aligned and credible
Assessment must serve the unit and course objectives or other professional objectives.
Explicit and transparent
The requirements of assessment tasks and the means by which students' work will be judged and overall grades determined must be clearly communicated to students.
Reliable
Assessment tasks must strive to yield consistent and reproducible results
Timely
The scheduling of assessment must provide for the students' learning needs. Where feedback is provided it must be given in time for students to improve their learning.
Responsive
Formative and interim-summative feedback must be constructive and supportive of further learning. | 
