Foundations of Assessment (7 September to 16 October 2026)

SGD 1,380.00

This course is designed for health professional educators who want a comprehensive introduction to evidence-based assessment principles, and also for experienced educators who would like an update on contemporary best practice in assessment.

This course is designed for health professional educators who want a comprehensive introduction to evidence-based assessment principles, and also for experienced educators who would like an update on contemporary best practice in assessment.

Pre-recorded voice over presentations

  • Discussion Board: participants post questions, outcomes of tasks, comment on other posts. Tutors will engage in discussions asynchronously

  • Live chat sessions, so participants can ask questions of the tutors in real time

  • Activities relating to the application of the module content, which can be attempted in groups, or individually. Tutors will feedback via the Discussion Board

  • A curated repository of key literature relating to the topic(s) of the module

Live chat sessions will be offered twice a week

  • Tuesday of each module

  • Friday of each module

Certificates of completion, based on the following criteria

1) Engagement with the course and other participants by posting on the Discussion Board and commenting on other participants’ posts. The tutors monitor and comment at least once a day.

2) Active participation in the webinars, in discussions and where there are some activities

  • Participants will

    • Gain insights into current pedagogy and best practice in assessment

    • Explore the critical literature about health professions assessment

  • Participants will

    • Consider constructive alignment of assessment at course and test level

    • Learn about blueprinting a test

    • Learn about test construction

  • Participants will

    • Acquire understanding of the evidence relating to different formats of testing knowledge and the current evidence for the use of the different tool formats

    • Learn to write Single Best Answer items (SBAs)

    • Experience best practice in reviewing and quality assuring test material

  • Participants will

    • Gain an overview of evidence relating to traditional clinical assessment formats

    • Learn about pedagogy and best practice relating to OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations)

  • Participants will

    • Gain an overview of the literature around the development of WBA

    • Evaluate some of the most widely used WBA tools

    • Consider best practice in the use of WBA

    • Systems of assessment

    • Setting pass/fail standards

    • Understanding basic test metrics

    • Assessment and Covid-19

What our past participants said

  • "Thank you very much for a brilliant course. A very good balance between learning material and activities."

  • "I enjoyed in particular the way you made me make valuable feedback to peers. Also having access to three international experts in live chats was a luxury."

  • "Lots of pearls and new insights gained even though I consider myself an experienced assessor. Especially the WBA module and the focus on narrative feedback will be very useful for me directly."

  • "I would like to thank all course educators and administrators, as I really enjoyed this course. It gave me a good input and stepping stone into medical assessments."

  • "I think this format is really good because it gives the time to look at the material, work on the assignments and get more exposure to the concepts."

  • "The discussion board was good. Live discussions excellent and making them available on demand is a great idea for those days that I couldn’t attend."