THE 5 CS FRAMEWORK FOR EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT COMMUNICATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Purpose: Higher education students experience elevated levels of anxiety in relation to summative assessment (Walsh, 2021;Knight and Walsh, 2023).This can be exacerbated by ineffective communication of assessment requirements and expectations.However, developing clear, accessible and inclusive assignment briefs is challenging.Background: Drawing on best practice and emergent research, this practical, hands-on workshop will share a recently developed framework to support the development of effective assignment briefs as part of inclusive assessment practices.By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to: identify the characteristics of effective assessment communication; apply a critical framework to an assignment brief to identify potential communication issues; and, use a framework to develop a communicatively effective assignment task.Key points: The 5 Cs Framework requires assignment briefs to be clear, consistent, concise and comprehensive.It is also important to design opportunities for students and staff to engage in conversation around the brief.This promotes critical engagement with disciplinary, academic and institutional norms at a level appropriate to their needs and supports the internalisation of valued tacit knowledge.Procedure: Following a brief presentation and rationale for the 5 Cs Framework, participants will engage with and critique an example brief and then develop their own assignment briefs.Participants are encouraged to bring their own assignment briefs for review and development.Workshop activities will involve a mix of individual and paired/group work with opportunities for questions and discussion.Participants: This workshop is relevant to all higher educational professionals involved in assessment processes.