In this project, the calibration activities focused on a specific national threshold standard, ‘written communication skills’. Each participating university contributed assessed work by final year accounting students, from which a random sample was selected and de-identified. Individual participants graded three pieces of work on a continuous scale from 0 to 100 from ‘meeting’ to ‘not meeting’ the standard, coupled with written reasons for the grade awarded, suggestions for ways in which the work could be improved and ratings for the validity of the task.
This was done anonymously and facilitated by an electronic repository which revealed and analysed all assessors’ responses prior to a face-to-face workshop. During the workshop, the collated responses were used as a basis for discussion of the task validity and the sample of student work, both in small groups and in plenary, with the ultimate purpose of achieving a shared understanding of the threshold standard and a consensus on each piece of student work.
