Align the course assessment plan

After creating the structure of your course, but before you start developing your course in more detail, it is important to align the course assessment plan with your course structure. This page describes how.

Why alignment is important

Constructive alignment considers learning to be efficient when the learning activities (what students do) and the assessment (what students are assessed and receive feedback on) are in line with the learning objectives (what students should learn). A mismatch in any of these pillars will lead to students not learning what they are supposed to or not learning at all.

Create an assessment overview

To be able to check the constructive alignment of the course, we recommend creating an assessment overview, as a first step to creating a full assessment plan. An assessment overview is a table listing all assessments in the course, together with all the relevant details, like the method of assessment, the outcome, and the learning objectives it assesses. Instructions on creating an assessment overview, together with an example, can be found in Chapter 1 of the TU Delft Assessment Manual.

Check alignment

When the assessment overview is complete, check the following:
•    Are all learning objectives assessed?
•    Are all assessments linked to at least one learning objective?
•    Do the assessment types fit the delivery mode of the course?

Close the loop

With the learning objectives (what students should learn) covered and the assessment overview (what students are assessed and receive feedback on) complete, the only missing pillar from the constructive alignment model is what students do: the learning activities. The Create a lesson plan page takes you through the steps of creating a plan for these activities.

How to get help

Do you need help creating an assessment overview or course assessment plan for your course? Reach out to the assessment experts or educational advisors at your faculty or contact Teaching Support for 1-on-1 guidance.