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Programme Quality Assurance and Student Assessment
Subchapter 4.2
Student Assessment
Assessment
Standard 10: The programme has an adequate student assessment system in place.
Read Standard
NSE Benchmark 2023 | Hotelschool The Hague | Breda | NHL Steden | Saxion | Zuyd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
How the examination and assessment match the content of | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
The quality of practical examinations | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
How the form of examination matches the content of the programme | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
NSE Student Survey 2023: BA Hospitality Management Stem Benchmark; 5-point scale
Milestones Completed
Assessment of students applies to the entire Bachelor curriculum and adheres to the HTH Assessment Policy.
Constructive Alignment (Biggs, 1996)
Assessment Policy
The BA.HM has a solid student assessment system, designed to uphold the principles of validity, reliability, transparency, and fairness. HTH recognises that these central tenets of assessment have a pivotal impact on students’ learning. Assessment forms part of the constructive alignment (Biggs, 1996), which is key to the Bachelor course designs, and ultimately critical in the students’ ability to meet the Programme Learning Outcomes.
Each facet of the assessment system is underpinned by a commitment expressed in the HTH Assessment Policy to ensure that assessments accurately measure students' knowledge, skills, attitude, and do so in accordance with the adopted HTH didactic philosophy ‘Significant Learning’ (Dee Fink, 2013).
The HTH Assessment Policy is premised on four core assessment pillars:
01
02
03
04
Individual learning accelerates in groups – social learning with emphasis on individual assessment
A focus is on deep learning (i.e., assessment ‘for/as learning’)
Assessments reflect real life complex skills
Students identify their learning needs & development (creating authentic and reflective learners/learner agency)
Assessment Cycle and Assessment Committee
In Hotelschool The Hague assessments are valid, reliable, transparent, fair and include provision of feedback.
This is governed with the Education and Exam Regulation (EER), a test cycle (assessment cycle) of test-construction; implementation and evaluation (post screening) facilitated by the Assessment Committee (AC). The quality of assessments is safeguarded by various factors, including individual grading of all courses, regular benchmarking sessions between assessors. There are two assessors appointed by the Exam Committee in place for creating and checking written exams; and always two assessors responsible for the Year 4 Final Project‘Launching Your Career’ end assessments.
The Assessment Committee schedule is a planned, cyclical calendar review of all course assessments in the Bachelor programme. The AC meets with the Exam Committee twice per block to establish the priority courses and initiate the assessment/ test cycle, there are pre and post evaluation meetings with course representatives (test constructors), and an evaluation form is shared with said team. The Bachelor Management Team (BMT) is informed as to the evaluation cycle. The Assessment Committee reports to the Examination Committee (ExCIE), and once per annum in the assessment committee annual report to the Board of Directors.
The Assessment Plan
The Bachelor Assessment Plan (available on MS Teams) serves as a translation of the Assessment Policy principles. It addresses the assessment organisation and sets out procedures to ensure that the assessment cycle is implemented. It is valid for one year and is evaluated annually.
Continue reading
BKE- EN: University Basic Qualification in Examination
SKE- EN: University Senior Qualification in Examination
Reflection
Quality assurance of assessments has a solid foundation in HTH lecturers’ skills and expertise, and the school’s promise to ensure 100% of lecturers are
BKE-certifiedby the end of 2018, has since been realised with all new lecturers BKE certified within one year of commencement of employment, and a higher proportion of
SKE certificationsthan has previously been the case.There is an ongoing professionalisation of the assessment organisation at HTH.
There is also the addition of more adept assessment software and systems such as Sakai Gradebook and recently ANS assessment platform. There is added attention to rigour in the HTH assessment
screening processthat forms part of the wider Quality Management Cycles at HTH. These mechanisms ensure accountability to all stakeholders in how the Bachelor students achieve the intended Programme Learning Outcomes and course level learning goals.
There have been powerful positive changes in Assessment at HTH in the last 5 years (realised in and through the innovated curriculum). The COVID-19 pandemic (lockdowns and social distancing) posed challenges, but in certain ways also catalysed our already (then in 2020) ‘new’ Assessment Policy. As HTH shifted to Emergency Remote Teaching, the innovated curriculum was already rolling out, and it became clear that the merits of ‘significant learning’, with more emphasis on ‘learning on how to learn’, on assessment ‘as’ learning, ‘flipping the classroom’, and peer-self formative assessment were made more meaningful with enhanced tech-support; better learning platform design; creation of time-place independent content (e.g. videos and podcasts); and blended learning. The AC and the department Education and Research Support have facilitated calibration sessions to enhance benchmarking and supplied the means to make effective assessment tools (rubrics and test matrices).
To enhance the management and assurance of the desired ‘Bachelor level of learning’. HTH has engaged the
‘AuCom-I model’(Bulthuis, 2021) to frame the level of learning within the Bachelor, and also recognises the need to further nuance and socialise the ‘level of learning’ (for example, to further activate of the ‘AuCom-I model’ with the Bachelor Management Team and Faculty through calibration and elicitation sessions).
In the Spring/Summer Semester of 2023, in response to the challenges and opportunities that AI poses to education, the Assessment Committee performed a risk assessment of AI powered text-generative software (Chat GPT) in all course assessments in the Bachelor programme. The Assessment Committee then distilled the advice (the vulnerability check/ways to embrace Chat GPT while ensuring academic integrity) to the Bachelor Management Team.
Scores in the HTH NSE 2023 on ‘Testing and Assessment’ (positively elevated since the NSE 2017) have shown that tests and assessments are aligned with the ILOs and learning goals and match the programme content:
The Assessment Committee, in assessing the quality of assessments within the BA.HM, has determined that all courses and assignments test the learning goals in a sound manner, and that the PDCA loop between the courses and the Assessment Committee functions properly and has resulted inyearly improvements.
We regard the assessment system as a strategic and operational area requiring constant monitoring and adjusting, thus always committed to making improvements.
Future Aspirations
Back to top
We strive to expand a more integrated view to design of feedback and assessment by incorporating the educative assessment and substantial developments in educational technology to speed up feedback provision, to provide more detailed feedback and to encourage greater engagement of students with the feedback process. This is already being achieved with the addition of ANS software that supports our drive to optimise (auto) evaluation of assessments. Forming part of our drive to work toward a more data-driven; more transparent; stakeholder-engaged and a further enhanced ‘process-oriented’ assessment organisation.
Furthermore, based upon feedback from the Assessment Committee, we are beginning a drive to ensure a greater degree of hom*ogenisation with regard to the level of detail contained within grading rubrics across all assignments used within the programme.
However, while recognising that this is an area requiring constant vigilance, we are still proud of the quality of our students and graduates. This will be illustrated by several recent achievements as mentioned in
Chapter 5.
Follow the Path
Back to Contents
Subchapter 4.2
Programme Quality Assurance and Student Assessment
Student Assessment
Assessment
Standard 10: The programme has an adequate student assessment system in place.
Read Standard
Scroll
Assessment of students applies to the entire Bachelor curriculum and adheres to the HTH Assessment Policy.
Milestones Completed
The BA.HM has a solid student assessment system, designed to uphold the principles of validity, reliability, transparency, and fairness. HTH recognises that these central tenets of assessment have a pivotal impact on students’ learning. Assessment forms part of the constructive alignment (Biggs, 1996), which is key to the Bachelor course designs, and ultimately critical in the students’ ability to meet the Programme Learning Outcomes.
Each facet of the assessment system is underpinned by a commitment expressed in the HTH Assessment Policy to ensure that assessments accurately measure students' knowledge, skills, attitude, and do so in accordance with the adopted HTH didactic philosophy ‘Significant Learning’ (Dee Fink, 2013).
Assessment Policy
04
03
A focus is on deep learning (i.e., assessment ‘for/as learning’)
Students identify their learning needs & development (creating authentic and reflective learners/learner agency)
02
Assessments reflect real life complex skills
01
Individual learning accelerates in groups – social learning with emphasis on individual assessment
The HTH Assessment Policy is premised on four core assessment pillars:
Continue reading
The Bachelor Assessment Plan (available on MS Teams) serves as a translation of the Assessment Policy principles. It addresses the assessment organisation and sets out procedures to ensure that the assessment cycle is implemented. It is valid for one year and is evaluated annually.
The Assessment Plan
In Hotelschool The Hague assessments are valid, reliable, transparent, fair and include provision of feedback.
This is governed with the Education and Exam Regulation (EER), a test cycle (assessment cycle) of test-construction; implementation and evaluation (post screening) facilitated by the Assessment Committee (AC). The quality of assessments is safeguarded by various factors, including individual grading of all courses, regular benchmarking sessions between assessors. There are two assessors appointed by the Exam Committee in place for creating and checking written exams; and always two assessors responsible for the Year 4 Final Project‘Launching Your Career’ end assessments.
The Assessment Committee schedule is a planned, cyclical calendar review of all course assessments in the Bachelor programme. The AC meets with the Exam Committee twice per block to establish the priority courses and initiate the assessment/ test cycle, there are pre and post evaluation meetings with course representatives (test constructors), and an evaluation form is shared with said team. The Bachelor Management Team (BMT) is informed as to the evaluation cycle. The Assessment Committee reports to the Examination Committee (ExCIE), and once per annum in the assessment committee annual report to the Board of Directors.
Assessment Cycle and Assessment Committee
Quality assurance of assessments has a solid foundation in HTH lecturers’ skills and expertise, and the school’s promise to ensure 100% of lecturers are BKE-certified by the end of 2018, has since been realised with all new lecturers BKE certified within one year of commencement of employment, and a higher proportion of
SKE certifications than has previously been the case.There is an ongoing professionalisation of the assessment organisation at HTH.
There is also the addition of more adept assessment software and systems such as Sakai Gradebook and recently ANS assessment platform. There is added attention to rigour in the HTH assessment
screening processthat forms part of the wider Quality Management Cycles at HTH. These mechanisms ensure accountability to all stakeholders in how the Bachelor students achieve the intended Programme Learning Outcomes and course level learning goals.
There have been powerful positive changes in Assessment at HTH in the last 5 years (realised in and through the innovated curriculum). The COVID-19 pandemic (lockdowns and social distancing) posed challenges, but in certain ways also catalysed our already (then in 2020) ‘new’ Assessment Policy. As HTH shifted to Emergency Remote Teaching, the innovated curriculum was already rolling out, and it became clear that the merits of ‘significant learning’, with more emphasis on ‘learning on how to learn’, on assessment ‘as’ learning, ‘flipping the classroom’, and peer-self formative assessment were made more meaningful with enhanced tech-support; better learning platform design; creation of time-place independent content (e.g. videos and podcasts); and blended learning. The AC and the University department team from Education Research & Support have facilitated calibration sessions to enhance benchmarking and supplied the means to make effective assessment tools (rubrics and test matrices).
To enhance the management and assurance of the desired ‘Bachelor level of learning’. HTH has engaged the
‘AuCom-I model’(Saxion, 2021) to frame the level of learning within the Bachelor, and also recognises the need to further nuance and socialise the ‘level of learning’ (for example, to further activate of the ‘AuCom-I model’ with the Bachelor Management Team and Faculty through calibration and elicitation sessions).
In the Spring/Summer Semester of 2023, in response to the challenges and opportunities that AI poses to education, the Assessment Committee performed
a risk assessment of AI powered text-generative software (Chat GPT)in all course assessments in the Bachelor programme. The Assessment Committee then distilled the advice (the vulnerability check/ways to embrace Chat GPT while ensuring academic integrity) to the Bachelor Management Team.
Scores in the HTH NSE 2023 on ‘Testing and Assessment’ (positively elevated since the NSE 2017) have shown that tests and assessments are aligned with the ILOs and learning goals and match the programme content:
Reflection
NSE Student Survey 2023: BA Hospitality Management Stem Benchmark; 5-point scale
NSE Benchmark 2023 | Hotelschool The Hague | Breda | NHL Steden | Saxion | Zuyd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
How the examination and assessment match the content of | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
The quality of practical examinations | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
How the form of examination matches the content of the programme | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
The Assessment Committee, in assessing the quality of assessments within the BA.HM, has determined that all courses and assignments test the learning goals in a sound manner, and that the PDCA loop between the courses and the Assessment Committee functions properly and has resulted inyearly improvements.
We regard the assessment system as a strategic and operational area requiring constant monitoring and adjusting, thus always committed to making improvements.
Future Aspirations
Back to top
We strive to expand a more integrated view to design of feedback and assessment by incorporating the educative assessment and substantial developments in educational technology to speed up feedback provision, to provide more detailed feedback and to encourage greater engagement of students with the feedback process. This is already being achieved with the addition of ANS software that supports our drive to optimise (auto) evaluation of assessments. Forming part of our drive to work toward a more data-driven; more transparent; stakeholder-engaged and a further enhanced ‘process-oriented’ assessment organisation.
Furthermore, based upon feedback from the Assessment Committee, we are beginning a drive to ensure a greater degree of hom*ogenisation with regard to the level of detail contained within grading rubrics across all assignments used within the programme.
However, while recognising that this is an area requiring constant vigilance, we are still proud of the quality of our students and graduates. This will be illustrated by several recent achievements as mentioned in
Chapter 5.