Assessment
Our approach to assessment has been devised to suit the goal of the programme to deliver internationally oriented, socially engaged professional practitioners who can contribute to the future of museums and cultural heritage, ranging from well-established institutes to alternative organisations. Assessment policy should reflect the core themes of the programme. Assessments should allow for participation and multivocality, and value innovation. As we consider students to be colleagues-to-be, they should be entrusted to have a say in setting their own assessment criteria. Peer feedback is the logical supplement to the peer education we promote in the diverse international classroom. Students are encouraged to critically reflect on their own performance, just as they are encouraged to critically evaluate teaching modules and the programme as a whole. Assessment forms can make use of new digital technologies. The programme has a regular assessment structure, which is described in the online programme book. The rules and procedures are set out in the Education and Examination Regulations (EER), which is supplied separately.
Each of the four modules is guided by a general theme, to be addressed in different kinds of assignments, assessed either formatively or summative in accordance to the RWA Educational Policy and the RWA Assessment Policy.
Feedback and grading of assignments usually takes 10 office days from the submission deadline date; the assessment of final research projects takes 15 office days. All feedback is accompanied by written comments and an explanation of the mark awarded. Students can refer to the Education and Examination Regulations for full details of the official regulations. The assessment and grading are based on the Dutch system that uses grades 1 (very poor) to 10 (excellent). 5.5 is the pass mark. No partial grade is allowed to be below 5.0.
Summative assessments are all scheduled during the assessment weeks at the end of each term. All work is submitted through MS Teams. This arrangement facilitates both timely marking and appropriate archiving of submitted work. Lecturers give individual feedback to each student. In the case of presentations, oral feedback is given, and written feedback is only provided in the case of a summative assessment. Written assignments always receive written feedback in addition to possible oral feedback. Only Reinwardt Academy lecturers and guest lecturers, appointed by the Examination Committee, are mandated to perform assessments.
For assessments, a rubric is used to ensure standardization in marking. The rubrics are devised in such a way that they are in line with the AMHS vision on education. If an assignment is deemed unsatisfactory, the student is required to resubmit it. Students who gained a satisfactory mark of 7.0 or below but would like to incorporate the feedback are also given the opportunity to resubmit the assignment for assessment. This way students are encouraged to excel. Resubmissions take place in the subsequent assessment weeks. Any work, other than the final research project, can be resubmitted twice during the academic year to allow for maximum learning.
In the course of the four modules, there will be opportunities for formative assessment for the student to gauche there learning so far. We value peer feedback in this process. In the programme a mix of assessment methods is used to suit the diversity of the classroom.