Flexibility in Assessment - An Evaluation of Student Performance

The purpose of this paper is to highlight an often-neglected area of teaching, namely assessment of student performance. Many courses now incorporate some form of continual assessment to establish the overall student grade. While the percentage weighting given to continual assessment and the final exam may vary, it is usual that all assessment components are compulsory. This paper reports the results for a course in which a flexible assessment technique is used. The student performance in a mid-term test and weekly seminars is potentially worth 30% of the overall grade with a weight of 70% given to the final exam. However, the final exam is then considered in isolation as potentially worth 100% of the assessment. The student is then awarded the higher grade from the two methods of calculation. This approach proved successful for a university course thus highlighting the importance of assessment technique in the education sector.