Developing Assessment Tools

One of the responsibilities is to develop assessment tools. The assessment principles state that assessment should be valid, reliable, fair, flexible and cost effective. These relate to how you develop your assessment strategy, the choice of tools, your understanding and incorporation of the learner's needs, and how you map the assessment to the competencies.

Competency-based assessment is very different to any other type of assessment. The specific skills and knowledge are assessed against specific performance criteria found in the competency standards.
To be deemed as competent, learners must demonstrate their competence against the elements (learning outcomes) within the applicable competency standards (modules). As an assessor you can use one or a combination of each of the following types:

Formative assessment

This type of assessment takes place over a period of learning or practice. It is a supportive format that is designed to give learners appropriate feedback about how well they are doing over a period of time. This feedback assists in guiding future efforts and enables you to identify when the candidate may be ready for the assessment to be conducted. An example includes a test. The following form is a guide that can assist if you were developing a formative assessment.

Summative assessment

This type of assessment is designed to formally rank learners, usually at the end of a topic with a decision being made as to whether the performance criteria has been met.

This type of assessment can be done through:

Observation

The most valuable way of collecting evidence is through observation. You can do this through:

• demonstration
• simulation
• role play
• video

Whenever you are using the observation method, you should use an observation checklist so that you can take notes of what you're observing during the assessment and refer to these notes later when making the assessment decision.

Questioning

Questioning is an important part of the assessment process, not only to help you assess underpinning knowledge and key competencies, but also to clarify or seek additional information during the assessment process . You can ask questions:

• during a demonstration as long as it is not disruptive
• during training to support understanding
• at the end of training
• in the form of a written or oral test

Product and/or process

A final product and/or process that candidates complete is an excellent way to prove competency. However, it is not always easy to do. Here are some things you can use to help you gather evidence.

• portfolio of evidence
• a structured interview
• a third party report
• a sample of a finished product

Skills Recognition

This a process where the assessor recognises that the learner obtained competencies through previous training, work experience or life experiences. the following information will assist you in determining the criteria to gather the evidence to assess competence.