Performance enhancement of the task assessment process through the application of an electronic performance support system

Higher education in Australia, as for many other countries, has changed greatly over the last 20 years at all levels and in many areas of operation including teaching, learning and assessment. The driving forces for these changes have been both internal and external, and have included factors such as: the increasing student population; the increasing use of part-time staff; a reduction in government funding; an increased expectation of institutional accountability; and the growing access and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning. Assessment has not escaped these changes but in many cases has not kept up with exemplary and recommended practice. This is especially so in the specific area of task assessment that involves professional judgement, where assessment is a timeconsuming, expensive, poorly managed, and a stressful professional activity, and is often a negative emotional experience for both learners and educators. Professional judgement of educators in the task assessment process is becoming more important with the trend towards student-centred, standards-based curriculum and the use of authentic assessment tasks that are more subjective in nature. At the same time, stakeholders are demanding greater validity, reliability and transparency in the assessment process. To meet these demands, a new re-framing of the task assessment process is required, involving activities such as the design of the marking key, moderation, marking, feedback, reporting and management. Meanwhile, current methods and practices used in the task assessment process that involve professional judgement have not kept pace with current best practice, nor do they involve the application of ICT to any great extent. The study partly developed from the researcher’s professional reflection on the above issues. The study also developed from the researcher’s observation of the importance that electronic performance support systems (EPSS) and knowledge management (KM) have had in the commercial world in the area of improved performance of the worker and work processes. The premise of the study was to investigate to what extent the performance of the task assessment process involving professional judgement could be improved and enhanced through the application of an EPSS. A preliminary review of the literature identified three fields that needed to be reviewed, investigated and integrated for this study; these were: assessment of achievement, the use of EPSS, and software design and development.