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Assignment Design Slide 1 Assignment Design
This presentation gives background information on how BTEC assessment and assessment instruments
work. We plan to give you as the Quality Nominees understanding of what staff are involved in
when delivering BTEC.
Slide 2 Assignment Design BTEC units are assessed either through an
external test, or through internally set assessment instruments, which we call assignment briefs.
Assignment briefs will vary according to the BTEC subject, but they can cover the whole
of a unit, cover part of a unit or be integrated to cover more than one unit. In the creative
arts BTECs there is a tendency to have whole unit assignment briefs or even briefs which
integrate a number of units. All sizes of assignment brief are acceptable as long as
they meet our requirements. The members of the BTEC team should meet to
plan their BTEC course and the starting point is deciding which units to cover when, and
recording this in an Assessment Plan. This will outline the units they will deliver and
the assignment briefs they will use. It will also give timeframes for structuring the course,
with dates for the following: assignment brief hand out and deadline for
submission dates for formative and summative assessment
and internal verification Staff details – assessor and internal verifier
names or initials
Slide 3 Assignment Design Assignment briefs must be fit for purpose
and this means they should enable the learners to carry out activities which give them the
opportunity to meet all the assessment criteria at pass, merit and distinction. The learners
shouldn’t be limited to just the pass criteria. The assignment brief should signal which assessment
criteria are being targeted by each task so that learners know what they are being assessed
against. They should clearly identify the evidence which will be assessed - what format
the learners should use. The learners should also be clear who is responsible for assessing
their work. There should be clear deadlines on the assignment for feedback , both formative
and summative. The brief should be at an appropriate level with regard to language used and tasks
set. It should give appropriate guidance to the learners, drawing on their skills and
understanding. It is very important that the published assessment criteria are not changed
nor adapted as they represent the national standard.
Slide 4 Assignment Briefs This slide shows the information which should
be printed on the assignment, much of it on the front sheet. The brief should clearly
state the BTEC qualification title and level, and the unit title and number. The activities
the learners are asked to do should be set in a realistic vocational context or have
a scenario which is relevant to their BTEC sector. There should be a timeframe – as
indicated by the dates and deadlines. The activities or tasks should guide the learners
on what they are expected to do and the format of the evidence they should produce. These
tasks should be directly linked to the assessment and grading criteria and learning aims, and
it will help the learners if these are reproduced on the assignment brief. It is a good idea
to list the evidence that needs to be handed in and the Assessment Guidance in each unit
gives clear guidance on the types of evidence which should be asked for. And finally, the
assignment brief should be internally verified before it is issued.
Slide 6 Forms of Evidence This slides gives examples of the forms of
evidence which can used and we encourage staff to be creative in the tasks they set as we
think this will engage the learners more. A BTEC task should not be ‘write an essay’.
In fact not all tasks require the learner to write. There are very many ways a learner
can demonstrate understanding and skills – through a discussion or presentation, a role play
or producing an artefact, performance or photograph or using the VLE. Written tasks should also
be varied, from a log book, diary, brochure to a report or written investigation, or an
online blog etc.
Slide 7 Forms of Evidence Whatever format is used, the evidence has
to be captured for authenticating it is the learners’ own work and for internal and
external verification purposes. This is especially important for practical activities which are
transient. There should be an observation record and/or witness statement produced which
provides an individual record of what that learner did at a particular time. These should
be cross referenced to the assessment and grading criteria and outline how these were
met by the learner. Observation records and witness statements on their own may not provide
sufficient evidence and they should be supported by supplementary evidence, like audio or visual
records, checklists, learner preparatory notes or self evaluation, or peer evaluation.
Slide 8 Assessment and Grading
Slide 9 Assessment Decisions When a learner’s work or evidence is marked
by the assessor, they should make an assessment decision based on the assessment criteria
achieved. The assessment and grading criteria are key here of course, but the unit content
and the assessment guidance are also important. The unit content is what has been taught and
learners should be encouraged to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. The assessment
guidance gives the assessor important detail on what is required for each assessment criterion.
The assessor should make sure the learner’s evidence is valid, authentic and sufficient
– to meet the grading criteria. The assessor must be vigilant in looking for plagiarism.
The evidence must be the learner’s own work and any suspicion of plagiarism should be
checked and challenged.
Slide 10 Assessment Feedback Here we will look at formative and summative
assessment which has been a key feature of BTECs for many years.
Formative feedback is when learners are given feedback at an interim stage before they have
finished a task, so work in progress. It is good practice for the assessor to annotate
the work to show where assessment criteria are targeted by the learner - either where
strong evidence can be found or where improvements are needed. It is an opportunity for the learner
to get feedback on their strengths and areas which need to be reworked.
Summative feedback is when a task, activity or assignment brief has been finished and
is assessed. It should take into account the internal verification judgement, in case the
internal verifier disagrees with the assessor’s judgement. It tells the learner where assessment
criteria have been achieved. The summative feedback should be in good time in line with
the assessment and internal verification plan. If work is to be resubmitted after summative
feedback, a deadline should be set.
Slide11 Unit Grading For BTECs, there should be unit grading where
an overall Pass Merit or Distinction is awarded for the unit, once all assignment briefs and
assessment criteria have been attempted. For an overall unit grade of Pass, all the
pass criteria should be achieved. For an overall unit grade of Merit, all the
pass and all the merit criteria should be achieved.
For an overall unit grade of Distinction, all the pass, all the merit and all the distinction
criteria should be achieved. Awarding a grade is not appropriate for an
assignment, which is perhaps one of three for the unit. One of the assignments may target
only some of the pass, merit or distinction criteria. In this case, assessment decisions
should be made against assessment criteria only, and recorded. It is only when an assignment
covers a whole unit, targeting all of the pass, merit and distinction criteria, that
a grade should be awarded. Assessment records of achievement should be kept for a minimum
of three years following certification.
Slide12 Awarding a Unit Grade These two diagrams show the overall unit grade
which should be awarded. In the left hand diagram, for this unit there are 4 pass criteria,
3 merit criteria and 2 distinction criteria available. Pass 1-3 have been achieved, but
not Pass 4. All the merit criteria, Merit 1-3 have been achieved. All the distinction
criteria, Distinction 1-2 have been achieved. Because Pass 4 has not yet been achieved,
the learner has not achieved this unit which cannot be graded. In the diagram on the right
hand side, for this unit, all the pass criteria, Pass 1-4 are achieved, all the merit criteria
Merit 1-3 have been achieve, and Distinction 1 has been achieved, but not Distinction 2
– so for this unit the learner has achieved an overall Merit.
Slide 13 Internal Verification
Slide 14 Internal Verification Internal Verification is an important feature
of BTEC assessment, and it ensures that national standards are maintained across all centres.
It is part of the delivery and assessment process and covers both the assignment briefs
and the assessment decisions. Internal verification should be planned at the start of the course
when assessment is being planned. It should be a continuous process, not just happening
at the end of the unit or at the end of the course, so not end loaded.
Slide 15 Internal Verification The internal verification of assignment briefs
should occur during the planning stage, before an assignment brief is issued to learners.
All unit assignment briefs and all assessors who have devised an assignment brief should
undergo the process. The internal verifier is checking the assessor and not the learner,
so all feedback and comments should be addressed to the assessor. Once the process has taken
place, and if the internal verifier has identified any issues, they should discuss these issues
with the assessor and agree what should happen – perhaps the assignment brief needs to
be amended, or the assessment decisions should be revised. Once the action points have been
acted upon, the internal verifier should sign off the assignment brief or assessment decisions,
to show that the quality assurance process is complete. The internal verification forms
should be retained for at least three years after certification of the learners.
Slide 16 Standardisation This is a different process to internal verification,
and may be required in addition to internal verification. It is an opportunity for assessors
to standardise each other before assessing their learners’ work. This should happen
when more than one assessor is delivering and assessing the same unit to different classes.
It should also occur when a unit is delivered to separate cohorts of learners based in multiple
sites of a centre, by different assessors. An example would be a consortium which is
delivering the same BTEC qualification/units in different sites by different assessors.
They should undertake standardisation to set the standard before work is assessed. Once
standardisation has taken place, summative assessment can take place, followed by internal
verification.