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Supporting Students to build Evaluative Judgement (in assessment and beyond)

Dr Verona Ní Drisceoil

Reader in Legal Education

Sussex Law School

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What is evaluative judgement (EJ)?

“Evaluative judgement is the capability to make decisions about the quality of work of oneself and others.”

(Boud et al.)

Students need to be able to self-evaluate and self-assess; understand where they are in their learning.
EJ should be embedded into day-to-day learning practices + as an element of assessment

Previous work of Sadler – on ‘evaluative knowledge and evaluative expertise

“Evaluative judgement is the capability to make decisions about the quality of work of oneself and others.”

(Boud et al.)

Central to David Boud’s premise is that students need to self-evaluate.; students need to be able to self-assess; to consider where they are at with their learning.

This should be embedded into the day-to-day learning practices but also as an element of assessment itself.

In the working environment, we are faced with making an evaluative judgment on ourselves all of the time; so too should our students as they navigate academic life and prepare for life after their academic studies.

Fung ‘By designing particular kinds of student assignments, educators are shaping the ways in which students orientate themselves to their studies.’

Dilly Fung, Connected Curriculum 101

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Authentic Assessment in Law

Case Study: Legal Case Briefing Assignment

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English Legal System - Year 1 module (300+ students)

Write a case-note essay 1500 words

2021

‘Podcast’ pre-recording - you have been invited on to x podcast as an expert to speak about the recent Supreme Court case of X.

2022/23

You are a trainee solicitor – your supervising solicitor asks you to research a Supreme Court case – prepare a case briefing on zoom for client + 2 partners. [audience]

After the presentation – debrief with your supervising solicitor – reflection/self-evaluation. [evaluative judgement]

Rationale: Give ALL students the opportunity to develop voice work skills.

Amended 4 seminars to specifically support voice work/presentation skills (backward design is key)

It was…

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Instructions to students…

Nicol (2021)…a type of ‘self-feedback’

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How it works…

‘I’m proud of myself…’
‘That was challenging but…’
‘I’ve never done anything like this before, but it has been really helpful…’
‘Next time, I will… (slow down, focus more on X, spend more time researching X etc.)

Rubric

‘Sustainable assessment approach’ (Boud 2000)

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Build evaluative judgement into teaching and learning practices…

What feedback would you give yourself?

Encouraging students to give feedback to others…

Exemplars: Mark work using assessment rubrics…

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Bearman, M., Tai, J., Dawson, P., Boud, D., & Ajjawi, R. (2024). Developing evaluative judgement for a time of generative artificial intelligence. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1–13.

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In this new reality…

“…There is an urgent need to develop students’ evaluative judgement…
‘Developing evaluative judgement means building the ability to critically reflect on information which is superficially persuasive’ (5)
‘Students must weigh up the credibility of the generative outputs’ (5)
+ evaluative judgement of Gen AI processes (ethical and moral engagement)

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Resources

Bearman, M., Tai, J., Dawson, P., Boud, D., & Ajjawi, R. (2024). Developing evaluative judgement for a time of generative artificial intelligence. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1–13.
Boud, D. et al. (2018) Developing Evaluative Judgement in Higher Education: Assessment for Knowing and Producing Quality Work Abingdon, Oxon; Routledge.
Tai, J.,Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., Dawson, P., & Panadero, E. (2018). Developing evaluative judgement: enabling students to make decisions about the quality of work. Higher Education, 76(3), 467–481