Assessment

Mission
The primary aim of the Expert Group Assessment is to offer assistance in designing, assuring the quality of and innovating assessment and assessment programmes in the educational domains and programmes of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences. The expert group has the following key responsibilities:

• Co-direct the achievement and assurance of assessment quality, including teacher training
• Offer advice on, support and facilitate assessment-related innovations; and
• Co-develop an assessment policy for various FHML programmes.

Expert group structure
The Expert Group Assessment is composed of a core team that is organised around a set of four areas of expertise (which partially overlap; see image).

These areas of expertise concern:

• Knowledge testing (knows and knows how)
• Skills and simulation (shows how)
• Assessment of workplace performance (does) and competence development (portfolio); and
• Psychometrics.

The members of the Expert Group Assessment are all employed in the Department of Educational Development and Research.

Activities
The activities of the Expert Group Assessment relate to the following specific areas:

1. Pre and post quality control of assessments and assessment materials, including co-design of assessment plans for blocks/clusters/clinical rotations for the Management Teams and the Boards of Examiners; review of test materials; item analyses and provision of advice on the final test content and structure; evaluation; student feedback; provision of advice on how to improve assessments and assessment programmes
2. Assistance with and improvement of the administrative organisation and production of assessments
3. Support (policy-related or otherwise) and initiation of scientific research, educational development and innovation
4. Internal service delivery including policy advice, educational and psychometric advice to examiners, board of examiners and management; training examiners and teachers in the field of assessment design and development; item writing; student feedback; data management
5. Social support (such as participation in external national and international committees, delivery of lectures, workshops).

Target group
Our activities are targeted at individual teachers, teacher teams (such as block planning groups), students, the Boards of Examiners, Education Committees and the programme management. The Expert Group undertakes its activities in close collaboration with faculty staff members (teachers) who have educational roles in the field of assessment.

Contact information
FHML Expert Group Assessment secretariat
Telephone:
Email: 

Expert group chair M. Govaerts, PhD
Email: m.govaerts@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Visiting address
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences
Department of Educational Development and Research
Universiteitssingel 60, room no. N
Maastricht

Postal address
Maastricht University
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences
Expert Group Assessment
PO Box 616
6200 MD Maastricht

Literature
Van Der Vleuten, C. P., Schuwirth, L. W. T., Driessen, E. W., Govaerts, M. J. B., & Heeneman, S. (2015). Twelve tips for programmatic assessment. Medical Teacher, 37(7), 641-646.

Driessen, E. (2017). Do portfolios have a future? Advances in Health Sciences Education, 22(1), 221-228.

Sluijsmans, D., Peeters, A., Jakobs, L., & Weijzen, S. (2012). De kwaliteit van toetsing onder de loep. Tijdschrift OnderwijsInnovatie, 4, 17-25.

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112.