Assessment-driven course design foundational patterns

Assessment is one of the most important areas in education yet many university teachers are not trained in assessment strategies and the underlying principles. Assessment should be fair and relevant for the targeted learning outcomes. While these are honorable goals, the principles do not state how to achieve them. This is where patterns come to the rescue as they capture tested ways to ensure constructive alignment, a learning outcome oriented course design, and a clearly stated and communicated list of assessment criteria. The patterns presented in this paper have been mined by a group of practicing educators during the first EduPLoP. They are foundational assessment patterns and can be considered as entry point for more specific patterns on different assessment types.