Call for Proposals: Assessment and Confidence in HE Qualifications included in the NFQ
Exceptionally, to mark its 10th Anniversary, QQI will invest €250k in total in 2022/2023 in projects that will help institutions to build the momentum of assessment scholarship and/or professional development relating to assessment in the context of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). This is a further step in the work QQI has been doing with higher education providers on assessment and represents a great opportunity for higher education institutions in Ireland to undertake some timely and innovative research.
In grant aiding projects in this area, we are interested not only in the discrete project outcomes but in fostering a growing community of practice in this area and in making an impact on the professional development of staff involved in assessment in the context of the NFQ. Overall, we wish to help create a platform for enhancing assessment in the context of the NFQ and the reputation of Irish qualifications.
The field of assessment is vast and to avoid diluting efforts we are calling for proposals that address one or more of the following six topics.
- Topic 1: Approaches that HE providers can effectively use to determine the validity, reliability and efficiency of their programme assessment strategies in the contexts of intended programme learning outcomes including intended graduate attributes, and their teaching and learning strategies
- Topic 2: How are degree classifications (grades) calculated and what are the qualitative reasons for the trends in degree classifications profiles?
- Topic 3: Designing assessment that is robust against academic misconduct
- Topic 4: McCabe-ICAI Academic Integrity Survey
- Topic 5: Rethinking assessment following the COVID-19 experience
- Topic 6: The influence of external examining on assessment
In addition to providing funding, QQI will arrange a set of masterclass events relevant to the topics described in Section 4 of this call for proposals. These will be opportunities for personnel from grant-aided projects to be part of a peer community and network. They will be open to all.
Finally, QQI is planning an initial one-day conference on 30 January 2023 to help build momentum around the topic of assessment. Queries about the call for proposals may be submitted by email to assessment.grants@qqi.ie.
