The introduction of the four-year degree courses is set to usher in a marked change in the learning assessment protocol. The Kerala State Curriculum Committee for Higher Education has recommended 40% weightage for continuous assessment through multiple methods for the undergraduate programmes.
The committee led by the former executive vice president of Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, Suresh Das, which has drafted the curriculum framework, has mooted continuous evaluation as well as end semester evaluation for each course. The continuous assessment system will likely involve library assignments, class tests, and mid-semester examinations as decided by the faculty in charge.
Modes of evaluation
The end semester evaluation could adopt modes such as written, computer-based, oral, practical examinations or performance assessment. These may be conducted either in person or online. The examinations will have a minimum of one-and-a-half hours and a maximum of two hours of duration.
The committee observed that the existing assessment process through written examinations fails to capture the cognitive ability expected in students. It emphasised the need for better modes of assessment that measures how far students can demonstrate their grasp of a particular knowledge.
While greater focus has been recommended towards continuous evaluation tasks that require the students’ direct engagement with knowledge than their recollection of it, courses will culminate in a terminal examination.
Theory comprehension
The framework that has been circulated among the universities also proposed periodic review discussion and regular assignments to assess the students’ comprehension of theory by requiring them to apply knowledge to real-world problems. Slow learners must be provided remedial support and extra learning material, while the other students must be exposed to lectures by eminent academicians, group discussions and seminars, it has been proposed.
Kerala University, which has identified four courses that could be piloted in the four-year degree mode, is in line to trial the reformed assessment pattern during the current academic year.
