Designing for Learning: Constructing and Critiquing Educational Assessments

In this module, students engage with the design of high-quality assessments that are aligned with learning intentions and responsive to learners’ needs. The course provides a structured exploration of assessment design principles, including alignment with curriculum outcomes, blueprinting, and planning matrices. Students will develop and critique a range of assessment formats, such as selected-response (e.g., multiple-choice), constructed-response, and performance-based tasks, as well as portfolio, self-, and peer-assessment strategies. Emphasis is placed on designing rubrics and marking schemes-both analytic and holistic-and on using item analysis techniques, including difficulty, discrimination, and distractor analysis, to inform assessment quality. The module also explores culturally responsive and inclusive approaches to assessment, encouraging students to consider how design decisions affect learner engagement, fairness, and equity. Digital tools and considerations in online and blended assessment environments are also introduced. By the end of the module, students will have practical experience constructing assessment tasks and critically evaluating their quality using both technical and ethical criteria.