Glossary of Assessment Terms

members of Ulster University are expected to take responsibility for their work and to always act with honesty and fairness. This includes respecting and acknowledging the work and ideas of others where appropriate, and through correct citation and referencing methods.

Academic Misconduct includes acts of dishonesty, deception, and fraud through the attempts to gain an unfair academic advantage. Academic misconduct can be demonstrated through plagiarism, copying, collusion, personation, contract cheating, or the covert use of AI tools.

quality standards articulate the University’s expectations for high quality provision in relation to its modules, programmes and awards.

The QAA UK Quality Code for Higher Education (2024) provides the reference point for setting and maintaining the standards of awards and for managing the quality of provision.

An accessible assessment will not include any irrelevant features that make it more difficult for some learners to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do to the required standard.

A set of instructions (can be multimedia) that communicates clearly the expectations and detailed requirements of a piece of coursework. (see guidance on writing assessment briefs)

Where the student’s name or any identifiable information is masked from the assessor during marking.

The ability for staff and students to understand the purpose of assessment, how and why they are designed, measured and weighted, and to use assessment data and feedback to make critical judgements on performance.

Assessment tasks that are designed to reflect real-world activities, themes or scenarios and to allow students to apply their learning to meaningful contexts.

assessment design (including briefings) that is empathetic to the needs of heterogenous students, and where the designer is cognisant of student demographics, workloads, levels of learning and foundational knowledge, and specific learning needs or social challenges. Compassionate assessment enables flexible and inclusive approaches that ensure equity, a sense of belonging (through student engagement) and the overall maintenance of mental health and wellbeing through the assessment process. Timely support and feedback for learners is key and can include the monitoring of at-risk students. Compassionate feedback offers timely, formative and respectful commentary.

The annual quality review of courses (See CAQE webpage).

A very early, formative assessment task at the beginning of a module that allows a tutor to gauge the level of current knowledge, skills and attitudes around the subject within their student group. The results will help the tutor to shape or edit module delivery or content in response to learner needs.

Feedback offers formative comments on a student’s current performance within an assessed task and can help to justify a given grade. In contrast, feedforward offers additional guidance on steps and actions that can be taken to improve future work. The feedforward could be applied to the current module of study and/or to future modules. This process helps to develop assessment literacy and self-regulation skills.

while diagnostic assessment is undertaken very early on in a module to help shape design and delivery, formative assessments are further and ongoing opportunities for learners to gain feedback on their progress. Formative assessment activities are typically informal and non-credit bearing but provide timely and supportive practice opportunities and feedback to help ensure success. Tutors can also use formative methods for continuous monitoring of student performance to help them shape module delivery and tutorial support.

Where assessment designers are cognisant of course-level content, outcomes and the assessment strategy, and understand how content and assessments across modules might be linked and can build as students progress through the levels. Feedback from one assessment can include feedforward that can shape learning for another assessment. While diverse assessment methods are encouraged to help measure all programme outcomes, there is also value in having some continuity of methods to allow students to build their confidence and assessment literacy. Holistic assessment design also ensures consistency in the quality of assessment design and delivery which can be undertaken through peer review.

A process which will, within designated modules, allow students to rework and resubmit a component of coursework that has not met the threshold pass mark of 40% (process currently in pilot phase).

(see inclusive assessment attributes).

A UK organisation that provides network and IT services and digital resources. They offer support and advice to FE and HE on digital technology for education and research (see Jisc website).

Qualifications frameworks that define and link the levels and credit values of different qualifications in the UK. The Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies (FHEQ) is used for qualifications awarded by bodies across the UK with degree-awarding powers.

(Typically) a formative activity where students are engaged collaboratively in assessment tasks to evaluate and provide constructive feedback on the work of their peers. Like self-assessment, this peer activity helps students to share knowledge, ideas and helps develop assessment literacy and self-regulation skills.

Professional and employer bodies, regulators and those with statutory authority over a profession or group of professionals. PSRBS may be involved in the external review and accreditation of courses for quality assurance purposes. Find out more about External Quality Requirements.

The UK Quality Code for Higher Education (Quality Code) articulates the principles of UK higher education for securing academic standards and assuring and enhancing quality. Built on a shared understanding across the UK, the Quality Code enables providers to see what is expected of them and what they can expect of each other, irrespective of the regulatory framework in which they operate. It informs the public, protects students’ interests and champions the UK’s world-leading reputation for high-quality education provision (See Quality Code website).

Students with disabilities and additional study needs are entitled to support to help them achieve their academic goals. AccessAbility Advisers make reasonable adjustment recommendations (RARs) based on students’ specific needs and communicate them to the relevant schools, departments and professional services within the university to ensure these needs are met. This includes support for assessments. (see Student Wellbeing guidance site).

A rubric is a framework that lists specific evaluative criteria for grading academic work and contains descriptions of different levels of achievement, plus a scoring strategy. Rubrics provide additional guidance for students in terms of assessment expectations and helps with consistency of marking (see guidelines on rubrics).

The provision of support for students to guide their learning and to achieve their learning outcomes. This includes support for learning through an assessment. Support is tailored to meet the changing needs of students as they develop capacity for a subject, activity or an assessment method. Guidance (e.g. multimedia resources and briefs) on how to approach a new assessment method may be quite detailed and model answers or mock assessments will help to build assessment literacy. As students become accustomed to an assessment method, the level of guidance may become less detailed.

A pro-active and introspective method of assessment where learners evaluate and assess their own learning to gauge progress and to action plan for development.

A process where students reflect on, monitor and manage their learning with respect to their levels of cognition, motivation, application and behaviour to help action plan for personal and academic development. Formative assessment activities including self and peer assessment can help students engage with their studies and to become self-regulated learners.

SpLD affect the way information is learned and processed. They are neurological conditions, usually run in families and occur independently of intelligence. They can have significant impact on education and learning and on the acquisition of literacy skills (The Dyslexia Association). AccessAbility Advisers in  Student Wellbeing make Reasonable Adjustment Recommendations  based on the specific needs of learners and will communicate them to the relevant School/Dept to ensure these needs are met.

Ulster University Strategy – People, Place and Partnership

A formal assessment that evaluates and grades student achievement against a standard or benchmark and contributes to the overall award. Summative assessment would traditionally be held at the end of a unit/module of learning, however more formative approaches encourage staged assessment design with smaller assessment components spread over a module allowing for timely feedback and feedforward.

University Regulations: a set of rules and guidelines to govern practice and policy at a university level (regulations currently under review).

The General Programme Regulations are derived from the University Regulations

Extenuating circumstances are events that are of the student's control.

These events can impact performance during studies and students may not be able to attend an exam or submit coursework on time.