The College of Humanities Curriculum Transformation Project led by Professor Labby Ramrathan, recently hosted a continuous assessment workshop led by Professor Anil Kanjee (Tshwane University of Technology) and Dr Upasana Singh (UKZN).

The objective was to explain what the concept of continuous assessment means, why it is important,  how it should be done and how it should be integrated into the Humanities curriculum.  Assessment for learning was the sole focus of the workshop.

‘Identify crucial things that students need to learn and develop success criteria and performance evidence (or indicators) around these crucial things along the lecture progression to track and monitor student learning.  The success criteria and performance evidence need to be established prior to the lecture,’ said Kanjee. ‘Provide constructive comments to assist learners to improve learning. Encourage learners to be learning resources for each other by creating group work and encourage peer assessment.  Also, encourage students to self-assess.’

While the workshop was informative and necessary, one participant raised the concern that self-assessment would be only possible for mature students, to which Ramrathan replied, ‘Self-assessment can be done by mature students, and they can acquire maturity in their first year if they are provided with the necessary guidance and support.’