Improving the quality of assessment grading tools in Master of Education courses: a comparative case study in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

This study compares the use and efficacy of assessment grading tools within postgraduate education courses in a regional Australian university and a regional university in the US. Specifically, we investigate how the quality of postgraduate education courses can be improved through the use of assessment rubrics or criterion referenced assessment sheets (CRA sheets). The researchers used a critical review of rubrics from Master of Education courses, interviews and a modified form of the Delphi method to investigate how one can assure the quality of assessment grading tools and their effects on student motivation and learning. The research resulted in the development of a checklist, in the form of a set of questions, that lecturers should ask themselves before writing rubrics or CRA sheets. The paper demonstrates how assessment grading tools might be researched, developed, applied and constantly improved in order to advance the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.