This is a prototype definition of the range of possibilities for assessment of a skill or competency, whether in principle or in practice. Three facets are distinguished: the basis of assessment; who can act as the assessor; and what enduring evidence there may be.
Defining the possible assessment methods of a competency acts as a check that proposed actual assessment methods are of a generally appropriate type.
This model may be used in two ways. Firstly, in a competency concept definition, it should be used to define the possibilities, and to exclude (by omission) what is not a plausible or feasible means of assessment in any envisaged situation. Secondly, for a practical definition for learning or assessment in a particular context, it may define the actual methods used for assessment.
For the actual definitions, please see the VDEX files.
| identifier | caption | description |
|---|---|---|
| selfAwareness | learner’s self-awareness | |
| choices | learner’s choices | |
| responses | learner’s responses | |
| statements | learner’s statements | |
| actions | learner’s actions/performance | |
| products | learner’s products | |
| consequences | consequences or outcomes | |
| sharedPerformance | group performance | |
| sharedProducts | group products |
| identifier | caption | description |
|---|---|---|
| learner | the learner | |
| humanMarker | human marker of records | |
| automaticMarker | automatic marker of records | |
| experts | expert judges, assessors or practitioners | |
| clients | one or more clients | |
| peers | a peer or peer group |
| identifier | caption | description |
|---|---|---|
| thing | the thing assessed | |
| certificate | certificate or transcript | |
| testimonial | testimonials or witness statements | |
| survey | the results of surveys | |
| photographic | photographic evidence | |
| audio | audio recordings | |
| video | video recordings |
A particular competency will then need to have its assessment potential defined as a subset of the possible general range of assessment potential for all skills and competencies. Note that for compound competencies with diverse parts, the assessment potential facets may not interact well. For instance, if an expert judge assesses the product, while a peer group assesses the dialogue, ticking all four boxes will not separate these aspects. It will have to be understood that if more than one 'tick' is put on the list, this is only to scope the possibilities, and does not necessarily represent what is or is not plausible. That may only be dealt with at a lower level, when considering the components of the skill assessed.