Blogs by The Assessment Network

Grading is the procedure of setting thresholds, boundaries or cut-off scores to distinguish how well a candidate has performed in assessments for a particular syllabus. In this blog, Dr Ellen Leggate, Senior Assessment Advisor at Cambridge Assessment International Education will cover some of the key approaches for setting and maintaining a grading standard and the sources of evidence which can be used.

A curriculum can be broadly defined as anything that contributes to the definition of a learning programme. In this blog, Cambridge experts Dr Daniel Morrish, Sarah Nelson and Dr Nayla Aramouni explore the subject of curriculum design and development and share details on their upcoming five-part workshop series on the topic.

Understanding item banking is essential for professionals involved in creating assessment content in a variety of contexts. In this blog, Margaret Cooze, a freelance language and assessment specialist with years of experience working at Cambridge, sheds light on the fundamental aspects of item banking.

Cambridge Assessment Network member Tonia Parker is Department Chair for Psychology for the American Public University System. We spoke with her about her learning from A104 and developing a data code of ethics in Higher Education assessments.

The Assessment Network have launched a new workshop to help practitioners understand the fundamentals of research to empower their assessments. We spoke with the course trainers Dr Sylvia Vitello, Dominika Majewska, and Emma Walland, about their research careers, and discussed why research remains a cornerstone of great assessment practice.

To start the year, the Assessment Network team has asked experts from across our community to share their predictions on some of the key trends which will likely appear or develop in assessment in 2024.

Cambridge Assessment Network member Phillip Bryant is Head of End Point Assessment & Apprenticeships for the International Compliance Association. We spoke with him about AI opportunities and challenges in assessment design, the benefits of competency based assessments and his 'lightbulb moment' around creating truly accessible assessments.

Cambridge Assessment Network member Scarlett Wang is an Economics Teacher based in Shanghai. We spoke with her about how she got interested in learning more about assessment and why that led her to studying on the Advanced Assessment Practitioner Award.

Recently, our Professional Development Projects Specialist, Hannah Williams, attended the annual Assessment in Higher Education conference (AHE) in Manchester. This event brought together educators, professionals, and experts from various fields to explore the evolving landscape of assessments in higher education.

Abigail Trickey is a musician, graduate of our Postgraduate Advanced Certificate, and last year completed an MEd at the University of Cambridge. We spoke with her about her research – which investigated changes made to music assessments during the pandemic - and how these changes impacted teachers and learners.