Tutor observation is conducted regularly by other tutors and your Team Leader.
A schedule of observation will be given to you by your Team Leader and managed by them.
A new process for this is currently under development by the Quality team and will be published 2022.
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This section is more an FYI section so that you understand you are part of a team that is guided by educational principles, and this links to policies and processes that form part of our Self-Assessment Review (SAR) for Quality purposes.
You may be asked to post-moderate assessments, or you may hear the results of the external moderation. In all cases the internal and external moderation forms part of Yoobee’s quality assurance and can be seen in such things as a report for the Monitor, the NZQA SAR reports or EER visits.
What is moderation?
“Moderation is the process of teachers sharing, working through and agreeing their understandings of expected curriculum levels of student achievement and progress. It supports teachers to compare their own judgments to either confirm or adjust them. Teachers collaborate to establish a shared understanding of what quality evidence looks like.” Reference TKI: LINK
Moderation is an action to ensure the summative assessment used meets the objectives of the assessment. It strengthens our practice. Moderation is used:
- to align curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and reporting.
- as an indicator of learning through the curriculum, potentially to adjust assessment or content.
- to support consistency of assessor judgements against the assessment/marking rubric.
There is a really useful section on Sharepoint around everything moderation LINK (you must be logged in to Sharepoint to access this info)
Pre-moderation and Post-moderation
Internal moderation is divided into pre-moderation and post-moderation and both are part of the ongoing quality assurance by Yoobee.
Pre-moderation is done by peers within the subject area to ensure the principles of moderation are within the assessment. It is done before the assessment is released to the students.
Post-moderation is also done by peers and is to confirm assessor’s judgements on the marking upholds the principles of moderation and to review the assessment judgements made at pre-moderation.
When do we moderate?
The cycle of pre-moderation, and post moderation is managed by the Faculty Leaders. There is more within the moderation policy, which can be found on Yoobee SharePoint.
WHY DO WE MODERATE?
The four main principles of moderation are: validity, reliability, fairness and authenticity.
- Validity – to ensure the assessment is meeting the learning outcomes LO(s) and level that it covers. That there is no other task outside of the LO(s) being required as part of the assessment.
- Reliability (Consistency) – to ensure that the assessment will achieve similar results across different intakes, different assessors and different campuses. It also checks if the process of the assessment is clear and consistent. It matches the teaching and learning experiences to the assessment.
- Fairness (Equity) – to ensure that the assessment is accessible and inclusive to all students regardless of first language, gender, ethnicity, learning styles etc. It also reviews if the assessment is transparent and if the assessment is manageable. The goal is for the student to achieve the highest possible grade within the two other principles.
- Authenticity (Accuracy) – to ensure that the assessment is relevant to the subject being studied and mirrors tasks undertaken in the industry.
EXTERNAL MODERATION
External moderation is managed by Faculty. This process involves the assessment being reviewed by an external independent peer or stakeholder. It forms part of Yoobee’s SAR process.
LINK here for the latest moderation forms. (You must be logged into Sharepoint to access this link.)
ASSESSOR VERIFICATION
Another part of Yoobee’s quality assurance is to have all assessors verified. Look in 6.2.3 (i.e. the next section below) for more information on this.
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When an assessor is marking an existing, new, or significantly modified assessment for the first time, the verifier checks three samples of marked work and discusses with the assessor before marking is completed for the whole class.
Assessor = The person who has marked 3 students assessments
Verifier = The person(s) reviewing the marking
Assessor Verification
Assessor verification should be planned and carried out promptly following an assessment due date (the next day for example), in order for the whole class to be marked within expected timeframes. Students’ marks and feedback can only be provided to students after the assessor verification process has been completed.
If the Assessor Verification is due to an assessment being new or significantly modified:
The Faculty Leader and/or Quality will:
- Create appropriate folders on Sharepoint and add the assessment materials.
- Communicate to TL’s that Assessor verification is required due to the assessment being new or significantly modified.
OR If the Assessor verification is due to the Tutor being new to the College or programme
The Team Leader (or delegate) will:
- Create appropriate folders on Sharepoint and add the assessment materials.
- Assign a Verifier.
THEN
The Assessor will:
- Mark 3 students work, gauging what may be a high, mid, low outcome.
- Upload the 3 student samples to the appropriate area on Sharepoint.
- Download the Assessor verification form from Sharepoint, pre-fill the programme details on page 1 and student details on pages 2-4.
- Notify assigned Verifier the samples are ready.
The Verifier will:
- Check appropriate materials are provided on Sharepoint before starting.
- Familiarise themselves with the provided materials.
- Step through the form prompts (it is designed to guide the Verifier), providing constructive feedback.
- Discuss the verification outcome with the Assessor.
If the outcome is;
- Verified–the Assessor can proceed with marking the rest of the class.
- Verified with suggestions–the Assessor is to apply the suggestions and proceed with marking the rest of the class.
In case of any disagreement, the Team Lead will provide resolution.
- Further verification needed–the Assessor must not continue to mark until the Team Lead has actioned a plan which may include; facilitating further verification, facilitate an experienced assessor to co-mark some or all of the remaining class, creating a personal development plan to support the Assessor.
LINK here for the latest Assessor Verification forms. (You must be logged into Sharepoint to access this link.)
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After completing the section Online Campus Information you would have seen the processes the campus has.
Reflect on the similarities:
- What have you learnt that an on-campus tutor and an online tutor does the same?
- Why is it the same?
Reflect on the differences:
- What extras does an online tutor do with regard to the processes within Yoobee Online?
- What processes does an online tutor not do that an on-campus tutor does?
- Why are the differences there?
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