Provide clear information around expectations. Students often struggle with understanding what is being expected of them in assessments, this can be because they are unfamiliar with university jargon and terminology, as well as the different assessment types expected at university (Gill, 2015). You may like to provide a video on vUWS explaining the assessment requirements, or how to search for information to complete the task.

Provide an opportunity for students to ask questions about assessments during or after face to face class sessions

Signpost content in tutorials/lectures with links to how this relates to the assessments in the unit for example: ‘We have just discussed …….in your assessment 1 you will be expected to ……”

Providing clear marking rubrics which outline assessment expectations, the university’s assessment planning booklet provide guidance on how to design marking rubrics which make standards explicit.

Ensuring that your assessment instructions and marking rubrics are written in plain English. Students are often unfamiliar with the assessment types they are expected to complete at university (Gill 2015). You may need to clarify what you mean when you ask for a report or case study and even terms such as “critically analyse” or “evaluate”.

Give students practice opportunities. To reduce student anxiety around upcoming assessment, include formative activities in class that reinforce the skills/knowledge required (and make it explicit to students that these skills are what are being assessed in their formal assessment).

Let students know about the support services available to help them with their assessments online and on campus, such as Study Smart, MESH, and PASS.

Use early, low stakes, formative assessment that can be used to build student confidence and provide them with the opportunity to receive early feedback on their progress.

Talk to other unit co-ordinators in your school when planning the timing of assessment and avoid setting assessments in the same weeks as complementary units. Students can become overwhelmed when they have multiple assessments due in one week. Some programs develop an assessment grid for each semester showing that there has been discussion beforehand to manage the number of assessments due in a given week. This tool can also be used as a time management tool for students.

Consider the level and expectations of the assessment – It often appropriate for earlier assessments (particularly in first year) to cover simpler skills needed for higher-level assessments later on in the unit. To ensure the level of assessment is aligned with the level of the unit and skills/concepts examined early in the unit you may wish to use Bloom’s taxonomy of skills/concepts.

When designing a unit make sure you are not over-assessing students. Assessments tasks should ideally be assessing different ULOs. If all assessment tasks are addressing all ULOs then these tasks should be revised and differentiated.