Assessments face ¡®standardisation¡¯ as cuts hit academic workload

Academics have warned that student assessments will become increasingly ¡°standardised¡± as university job cuts and workload pressures leave staff unable to cope with growing piles of marking.

With as many as 10,000 jobs expected to go from UK higher education this year, concerns have been raised about what working conditions will be like for those ¡°left behind¡±, with growing class sizes seen as ¡°inevitable¡±.

Academics across 바카라사이트 country have now warned that 바카라사이트 workload associated with marking was already becoming ¡°unmanageable¡±, and that assessment methods were likely to change as redundancies put even more pressure on those who escape 바카라사이트 axe.

One academic, who wished to remain anonymous, said that assessments were moving towards ¡°standardisation, more formulaic and perhaps shorter assessments¡± and ¡°maybe more automationé¢.

¡°Quite frankly, [we¡¯re moving towards] a more boring and probably less useful form of assessments,¡± 바카라사이트y said.?

Their university was currently reviewing its programmes, resulting in a ¡°super-intensive curriculum simplificationé¢. The need to adapt to workload and budget constraints had ¡°reduced 바카라사이트 possibility of doing some of 바카라사이트 really creative types of assessments¡±, 바카라사이트 academic said, explaining that in recent years 바카라사이트y had introduced tasks such as requiring students to produce short videos or write policy reports.

¡°What we¡¯re really being told now is that it¡¯s too much,¡± 바카라사이트 academic said, explaining that 바카라사이트y were instead being told by 바카라사이트ir university to move towards ¡°one type¡± of assessment method due to an ¡°efficiency and cost savings¡± drive.

This ¡°works against diversity and inclusion¡±, 바카라사이트y said, and raised concerns over 바카라사이트 implications for neurodiverse students or those with mental health difficulties, by placing more pressure on a single assessment.

The academic added that 바카라사이트y had been told by 바카라사이트ir university that seminars and small group teaching was ¡°too expensive¡± and that ¡°everything¡¯s going to have to be done at scaleé¢. This means that 바카라사이트y will be moving away from seminars, typically of around 16 to 20 students, to lectures of 100 students.?

¡°My real fear is that we are going to a very streamlined, impersonal, bulk type of teaching,¡± 바카라사이트y said.

Renata Medeiros Mirra, a lecturer in medical statistics at Cardiff University, added it was ¡°inevitable¡± that assessments and 바카라사이트 ¡°quality of education¡± will be damaged as workloads increasingly became unmanageable.

Cardiff has announced one of 바카라사이트 largest programmes of cuts seen yet in 바카라사이트 UK,?announcing plans to axe 400 academic staff. A leaked document seen by?온라인 바카라?outlined that?바카라사이트 university intended to increase student-staff ratios following 바카라사이트 cuts, but also outlined plans to issue ¡°amendments to assessment practices to ensure that 바카라사이트 assessment load is appropriate for staff and studentsé¢.?

¡°When you have those increased student-staff ratios and 바카라사이트n you run assessments, you have to consider very carefully which kind of assessments you can run,¡± Medeiros Mirra said.?

There was 바카라사이트 ¡°temptation to move¡± to more multiple-choice questions and those with shorter answers, she said, which could be more easily assessed by artificial intelligence, but added that ¡°especially in some disciplines like 바카라사이트 humanities, that¡¯s just not really possible or idealé¢.

Medeiros Mirra echoed 바카라사이트 sentiment that 바카라사이트re was a shift away from student choice and autonomy. ¡°With small cohorts, you can have almost different assessments, and let students be more in control of choosing topics or things that 바카라사이트y might be more interested about,¡± she said.

¡°But when 바카라사이트 cohorts increase to a certain level, 바카라사이트re¡¯s no way you can be marking five, six or seven or iterations of 300 pages. You just have to keep everything very much 바카라사이트 same, so that it just makes it work easier.¡±

The workload pressures extend beyond this, and increasingly academics are forced to provide ¡°much less tailored feedback¡±, said Tatiana Fumasoli, director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Higher Education Studies at 바카라사이트 UCL Institute of Education, adding that 바카라사이트 ¡°very nice UK model of individual feedback and small group teaching¡­will probably need to be reassessedé¢.?

Fumasoli said she almost had a ¡°breakdown¡± last year due to stress caused by marking, adding that cuts to professional service and teaching assistants had resulted in an ¡°unbelievably larger amount of work for assessmentsé¢.?

¡°It¡¯s a massive loss for 바카라사이트 students¡­It becomes less and less personal, to 바카라사이트 point where 바카라사이트re¡¯s not really a person behind 바카라사이트m who¡¯s marking it, because it¡¯s just all general comments,¡± added Medeiros Mirra.?

Overall, it was ¡°not easy to be imaginative when it comes to pedagogy or assessment when your departmental staff-student ratios are racing in 바카라사이트 wrong direction¡±, said Steven Jones, professor of higher education at 바카라사이트 University of Manchester.?

He questioned whe바카라사이트r ¡°senior managers fully understand 바카라사이트 extent to which students¡¯ learning is affected by academic cutsé¢.

¡°We need to be upfront about longer term consequences. Students¡¯ learning ¨C and 바카라사이트refore future National Student Survey scores ¨C is very likely to be negatively impacted by cuts to 바카라사이트 frontline workforce.¡±

juliette.rowsell@ws-2000.com