The assessment strategy for the course combines formative and summative elements i.e assessment for learning and assessment of learning. It is designed to foster strong links between learning on the course and the lived realities of dental educators working in a range of clinical and academic contexts. It is also designed to enable you to evidence your achievement of standards for dental educators in order to satisfy requirements of professional bodies and organisations.

The choice of assessments is determined on the basis of their fitness for purpose i.e. to evidence achievement of unit learning outcomes at masters level (Level 7). However they also rehearse writing for a range of academic purposes; an early assessment point in Clinical Education in Practice unit is designed to rehearse writing in the reflective genre and Harvard referencing conventions. Later assessments move to writing in the academic genre within the traditions of the social sciences.

Increasing emphasis is placed on academic literacy and the ability to present complex ideas coherently with reference to appropriate literature. Plentiful opportunities are built in to the course to rehearse these skills e.g. exercises in problematising practice in assessing exemplars of actual (anonymised) assignments using the criteria we use on the course.

By modelling and analysing best practice in educational assessment you will gain confidence and skills in critiquing using and developing their own approaches to assessment. To enhance your understanding and experiences of assessment practices (relevant to your role as an educator) you will encounter a wide range of assessment methods.

Examples of assessment methods used across the course are: Reflective report writing (e.g. Clinical Education in Practice); critical appraisals (Understanding Learning in the Workplace; literature review (Understanding Learning in the Workplace) Teaching and Learning patchwork (Clinical Education in Practice)