Inclusive assessment

What is it?

Inclusive assessment is an assessment design approach that ensures the ways we assess student learning do not exclude and/or unfairly disadvantage students. Inclusive assessment recognises and values the diverse ways in which students approach and complete assessments. This assessment design approach provides opportunities for students to showcase their learning strengths rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all approach to assessment, thus allowing for a more comprehensive evaluation of student learning.

Making assessments more inclusive and accessible does not equate to lowering academic standards. The ultimate goal of inclusive assessment is to create equitable opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning.

Why is it useful?

Benefits for students

• Improve students’ motivation and engagement with the learning process: When the assessment methods and the assessment process are inclusive and cater for students’ diverse learning abilities and styles, students are more likely to be motivated and engaged in the learning process, as well as the completion of the assessment. This, in return, will lead to a more positive student learning experience and better academic results.
• Enhance students’ self-confidence: When students feel like their diverse abilities and strengths are acknowledged and valued through the assessment process, this recognition can boost their self-confidence and enable personal growth as well as academic success.

Benefits for educators

• Expand educators’ teaching toolkit and pedagogical repertoire: Inclusive assessment practices encourage educators to reflect on their current assessment strategies, and to think critically and innovatively about the way they assess their students. This process of reflection and innovation can lead to the adoption of new assessment methods and practices, allowing educators to acquire the pedagogical knowledge and skills that they did not have before.
• Create an inclusive and productive learning environment for all students: By adopting inclusive assessment practices and minimising potential barriers to student learning, educators can ensure a positive learning experience for all students.
• The University of Melbourne framework for educational excellence defined what an excellent educational experience is. It includes as one dimension: evidence-based and inclusive teaching practices. Implementing inclusive teaching aligns with the University teaching framework.
• Comply with institutional policies: The University of Melbourne’s Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326) – item 4.29 requires that “Assessment must be fair, equitable, inclusive, objective and auditable and accessible by, and meet the needs of a diverse student population”. Implementing inclusive assessment helps educators comply with the University’s Assessment and Results Policy and other institutional directives on diversity and inclusion.

How do I implement it?

• Identify the barriers or challenges (for example, learning difficulties, or language barriers) that might impact the performance of your students in the assessment.
• Determine the level of support needed for students to complete the assessment, and when and how the support may be provided (for example, flexible timing, assistive technologies).
• Incorporate a more diverse range of assessment tasks (formative and summative) at the program level and the subject level to cater to different learning styles and abilities. Over-reliance on a single type or limited number of types of assessment may not accurately capture the abilities of students.
• Provide students with different options to demonstrate the intended learning outcomes for an assessment. For example, instead of requiring all students to submit written work, they could be allowed to give oral presentations, creation of visual artefacts, or other alternative submission methods that align with the assessment criteria.
• At the individual task level, consider the nature of the assessment task, the timing of the task, and the conditions in which the task is undertaken to ensure a comprehensive and fair evaluation of student learning. Questions to ask may include: “Is the assessment task appropriate for the level of the students and the subject matter?”, “Is the assessment task scheduled at the appropriate time during the teaching period to allow students sufficient time to learn and prepare?”, and “Have clear instructions for the assessment task, including expectations, criteria, and deadlines be made accessible to students in a timely manner?”.
• Ensure assessment instructions and marking criteria are clear, unambiguous, and prominently displayed within the LMS.
• Allow students multiple options to ask clarifying questions about the assessment requirements and expectations.
• Involve students in assessing their learning progress by providing opportunities for self-assessment, and peer-assessment, when appropriate.

The recommendations we have provided above are informed by the universal design for learning (UDL) guidelines. You can find more about the UDL guidelines on the CAST website.

Supporting technologies

• Use of sections in the LMS: Sections in the LMS can be used to segment the student cohort for administrative purposes, for example, different sections can be assigned a different assignment due date using the Assign To function in LMS Assignments, allowing staff to manage students with extensions more effectively.
• Ally – accessibility tool: Ally is an accessibility advisory tool which integrates with the LMS to improve the accessibility of content for students. When developing an assessment task in the LMS, staff are recommended to check the Ally ratings to ensure their assessment content is accessible to students and make any necessary adjustments as recommended by the accessibility tool.

Resources

• CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0. CAST
• Centre for Teaching and Learning, Oxford University. (n.d.). IncludED: A guide to designing inclusive assessments
• Hanesworth, P. (2019). Inclusive Assessment: Where Next? AdvanceHE
• Nieminen, J. H. (2022). Assessment for Inclusion: rethinking inclusive assessment in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 29(4), 841–859
• Tai, J. H. M., Dollinger, M., Ajjawi, R., Jorre de St Jorre, T., Krattli, S., McCarthy, D., & Prezioso, D. (2022). Designing assessment for inclusion: an exploration of diverse students’ assessment experiences. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 48(3), 403–417
• Tai, J., Ajjawi, R., & Umarova, A. (2021). How do students experience inclusive assessment? A critical review of contemporary literature. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 28(9), 1936–1953
• Tai, J., Ajjawi, R., Bearman, M., Boud, D., Dawson, P., & Jorre de St Jorre, T. (2022). Assessment for inclusion: rethinking contemporary strategies in assessment design. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(2), 483–497
• The University of Melbourne. (2024, June 03). Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326).