Pilot project: Programmatic testing and resit weeks 

Reason for this pilot project

"Will this be on the exam?" is a question students often ask. Students often only study for passing tests. The knowledge is quickly lost after that. The Faculty of Social Sciences is launching a faculty-wide project to re-examine the how and why of testing. With the help of a faculty assessment policy framework, programmes are given more direction and frameworks for testing within the programme. One of the goals within that framework is to apply more formative testing, so that students are intrinsically motivated to learn. In this way, the faculty also wants to spread and reduce the workload and test pressure for both students and lecturers. 

Formative testing

With formative testing, students and teachers get an impression of where the student stands in the learning process during the year and can adjust accordingly. It is a measurement without consequences. As a student, you can use the feedback to see what you have already mastered and what you need to delve into more. This can prevent students from having to resit and therefore build up a backlog. Of course, the teacher plays a crucial role here, to provide the learning climate and the frameworks for peer feedback. 

The ambition

The main goal of the project is to put the control back in the hands of the students and to increase intrinsic study motivation. The ambition is therefore to use less summative testing (learning to pass the test) and to reduce the workload for students and lecturers. It is expected that intrinsically motivating students to learn will result in a reduced workload around the exam weeks (after all, students know better how they are doing). 

For lecturers, the challenge is to better understand how certain courses relate to what they want to become. You set a dot on the horizon by setting a long-term goal that students are working towards and how the course content contributes to this. 

The approach

A core assessment team has been set up for each programme. The core team examines whether or not the programme currently complies with the faculty assessment framework. We look at what is already in line with the framework and where improvements can be made. The core team looks at various points of attention and thinks about how to deal with them, such as Generative Artificial Intelligence, summative testing and peer feedback. Subsequently, a recommendation is drawn up for each programme and shared with Director of Education Mariska Kleemans. In the autumn of 2024, discussions will take place in which, based on the advice, it will be examined what needs to change in concrete terms and the programmes will start working on redesigning testing.