This has long been sought after by our students, it is now introduced nationally in order to improve students’ legal rights. The introduction of assessor guidance at UiO was approved by the University Board earlier this year.
Aims to enhance quality
The aim of introducing assessor guidance for all examinations is to strenghten the quality of our study programmes and courses by providing a closer connection between learning outcomes, teaching methods, exam assignments and censorship.
This is something we are focusing on in the InterAct process at the Faculty. The introduction of assessor guidance will be a practical help to guide us in the right direction. The assessor guidance aims to improve the censorship quality by harmonising the evaluation of the sensors and by reducing discrepancy between regular censorship and complaint censorship. Assessor guidance will provide important and requested information to students about censorship and the assessment criteria for grading. We have received many complaints from students about examination grading, we hope that the introduction of assessor guidance for all exams will meet their demands.
General guidelines
The introduction of assessor guidelines applies to all examinations; both written, oral, practical and clinical examinations. The guidelines will be written in accordance to the study programmes and course descriptions based on the learning outcomes and the traditions of examinations and censorship of the scientific disciplines.
It is essential that the descriptions are written in a clear and transparent manner so they are also useful for students.
The assessor guidance will be made available for the students prior to or at the same time as their exam assignments are released. Time and method for making it available may vary depending on the type of examination and the type of assessor guidance.
Assessor guidance for different types of examinations
The descriptions of the assessor guidance may vary depending on the type of exam and the scientific context:
- The descriptions can be general and generic or they can be written to a specific examination. A combination of these two may also apply.
- The descriptions may be based on a specific course description and developed as part of the preparation of the examination, be developed in parallel with the examination as part of the quality assurance of these, or developed after the examination has been completed.
Reviewing the guidelines
A working group at the University of Oslo has conducted a thorough review of the assessor guidelines at our Faculty (pdf, only in Norwegian). The Faculty is planning to gather experiences among Departments from this year's censorship work and review them at the Faculty's Study Committee next year with the purpose to share experiences and best practice. The assessor guidance might be adjusted after that.
The aim of the assessor guidance is to contribute to enhancing the quality in our work with examinations, censorship and give our students reassurance that their legal rights are respected.