Open Accreditation- a Model

Reflecting on the possibility of initiating an Open Accreditation System, Jenny Hughes, Pontydysgu-Bridge to Learning, outlines the characteristic features of such a system. Snippets:

Reliability- it should be based on an assessment process that yields the same results irrespective of who is conducting it or the environmental conditions under which it is taking place.

Validity- Face validity implies a match between what is being assessed or tested and how that is being done. Content validity means that what you are testing is actually relevant, meaningful and appropriate and there is a match between what the learner is setting out to do and what is being assessed.

Replicablity- Ideally an assessment should be carried out and documented in a way which is transparent and which allows the assessment to be replicated by others to achieve the same outcomes.

Transferability- Although each assessment should be designed around a particular piece of learning, a good assessment  system is one which could be adapted for similar  situations or could be extended easily to new activities.

Credibility- People actually have to believe in your assessment! It needs to be authentic, honest, transparent and ethical.

Practicality- This means simply that however sophisticated and technically sound the assessment is, if it takes too much of people’s time or costs too much or is cumbersome to use or the products are inappropriate then it is not a good assessment system!

Comparability- Although an assessment system should be customized to meet the needs of particular learning events, a good assessment system should also take into account the wider assessment ‘environment’ in which the learning is located.