Maintaining effective assessment mapping is an integral part of the assessment process for RTOs, and is key for staying compliant.
Assessment mapping is the process of comparing an assessment to each part of a unit of competency, for the purpose of ensuring the assessment can effectively collect evidence across the whole unit. Assessments should be mapped against the elements and performance criteria, performance and knowledge evidence requirements, and foundation skills[1].
Assessment mapping can be an extremely valuable tool for developing and reviewing assessments, and for easily showing auditors evidence of compliance. Mapping also allows assessors to easily see where learner knowledge gaps are after marking and grading.
Checking that your assessments cover the requirements of the unit and also that you are not over-assessing or under-assessing can also be made much easier by using mapping.
ASQA states that RTOs must ‘demonstrate the validity of their assessment tools’[2]. This means that although assessment mapping isn’t explicitly expressed, mapping is crucial for achieving assessment tool validity, improving assessment processes such as developing and reviewing assessments, identifying non-compliance and more.
It’s important to to ensure that your SMS and LMS is able to provide the following functionality:
We know assessment can be tricky. Mapping ASQA’s training components to assessments to stay compliant is cumbersome, especially with paper-based assessments remaining costly and time-consuming. Online assessment can resolve all of these issues, for both theoretical and practical assessments. With benefits such as reduced administrative burden, quicker marking, cost effectiveness and easier mapping, you’ll easily forget about the days when assessments were printed, written on with ball-point pens and marked page-by-page on your desk.
Using Learning Plans is another great tool to use. Learning plans perfectly complement the mapping and compliance process, with supporting features such as:
The mapping process for online assessment is a much easier and more streamlined way to ensure validity for your assessment tool, ensuring compliance with ASQA.
To learn more about how aXcelerate’s online assessment and assessment mapping tools can help support your RTO, take a look here.
.png)
Work-based learning (WBL) is an educational method that immerses learners in the workplace, bridging the gap between theoretical classroom learning and practical, real-world work experiences.
Delivering exceptional support for learners is a mark of a truly successful training organisation.
Mark Paterson joined the Australian Skills Quality Authority in May 2016 as the Commissioner of Regulatory Operations. He assumed the role of Chief Commissioner on 1 January 2017. Previously, he served as Secretary of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources (Cth), and later, as Secretary of the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Cth). We spoke to Mark about recent changes to the auditing model used by ASQA to assess compliance of RTOs with the national standards.
