Advancing assessment in co-design with students - an evidence informed approach to enhancing practice

Hughes, Claire, Doyle, Declan, Wallington, Amy, Moore, Bobbi, Walker, Simon, Albary, Suzanne, Squire, Louise, Lam, Chloe, Chowdhury., Shuzeda, Kontogianni,, Anastasia, Millidge, Lucy and Kondkari, Ashna (2025) Advancing assessment in co-design with students - an evidence informed approach to enhancing practice. 12th Change Agents' Network (CAN) Conference - University of Plymouth, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom. 27 - 30 May 2025.

Abstract

Students’ views are shifting in how they want to engage in higher education, driven by the complex socio-economic landscapes they are operating within (Hughes 2023). Central to this is their experience of assessment and feedback which remains as a point of weakness in their overall university experience. It is imperative that HEIs hear their voices around learning development and assessment journeys, especially given the other demands on their time (Neves et al 2024) and work in co-design to build connectiveness (McIntosh and May 2025).
In response, the University of Southampton has developed a 5 year Advancing Assessment Strategic Major Project to enhance assessment thinking. This has included the introduction of an Assessment Consultancy, which provides bespoke programme development with a core ethos of student co-design. It also delivers the Southampton Transformative Assessment Redesign with Students (STARS) programme providing an evidential base to support enhancements (CHEP 2025). This has also included the introduction of student interns to the Advancing Assessment team who work as a core part of the project team.
This session will be co-presented with our student interns to discuss up to date findings from the project and relay initial evaluations of the approaches to embed student co-design as a core element. The session aims to encourage rich discourse about the valuable contribution that students as change agents can make and how this will support enhancement and innovation within emerging trends in assessment and feedback including optionality or assessment and cohesive programme development design (Walker 2025).

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Contributors

Author: Claire Hughes

Author: Bobbi Moore

Author: Suzanne Albary

Author: Louise Squire

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