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Courses
Courses
Choosing a course is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make! View our courses and see what our students and lecturers have to say about the courses you are interested in at the links below.
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University Life
University Life
Each year more than 4,000 choose University of Galway as their University of choice. Find out what life at University of Galway is all about here.
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About University of Galway
About University of Galway
Since 1845, University of Galway has been sharing the highest quality teaching and research with Ireland and the world. Find out what makes our University so special – from our distinguished history to the latest news and campus developments.
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Colleges & Schools
Colleges & Schools
University of Galway has earned international recognition as a research-led university with a commitment to top quality teaching across a range of key areas of expertise.
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Research & Innovation
Research & Innovation
University of Galway’s vibrant research community take on some of the most pressing challenges of our times.
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Business & Industry
Guiding Breakthrough Research at University of Galway
We explore and facilitate commercial opportunities for the research community at University of Galway, as well as facilitating industry partnership.
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Alumni & Friends
Alumni & Friends
There are 128,000 University of Galway alumni worldwide. Stay connected to your alumni community! Join our social networks and update your details online.
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Community Engagement
Community Engagement
At University of Galway, we believe that the best learning takes place when you apply what you learn in a real world context. That's why many of our courses include work placements or community projects.
Assessment
Assessment
This section attempts to provide guidance and resources on aspects of assessment.
Design your course assessment
Assessment should be valid, reliable, fair, transparent and authentic. In the context of Learning Outcomes, assessment tasks (and marking criteria) should enable students to demonstrate their achievement of these outcomes and facilitate robust decisions. Within each programme, therefore, a range of assessment instruments should be used without over-reliance on a single approach (such as the traditional unseen written examination papers). Further, programmes need to avoid ‘over-assessment’ of students and maximise the opportunity for students to learn from previous assessments (as is agreed to be one of the educational purposes of assessment).[1]
Research shows that formative assessment is educationally powerful.[2] Schools and Programme Boards work to ensure that each programme provides students with sufficient opportunity for such formative feedback. Each programme will measure the degree to which students do engage with such support when it is available. Integrative assessment[3] strategies can be developed which attempt to tackle this issue within the context of a range of academic disciplines and modular programmes.
[1] Adapted from University of Manchester, Assessment Principles http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/tlso/map/teachinglearningassessment/assessment/sectiona-principles/
[2] Nicol D and Macfarlane-Dick D (2006) “Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice”, Studies in Higher Education, 31.2, pp 199-218
[3] Enhancement Themes: Integrative Assessment https://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/completed-enhancement-themes/integrative-assessment. Approaches include using ‘feedforward’, cumulative and progressive assessments, for example.
Rubrics
As per the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy, “Assessment should be valid, reliable, fair, transparent and authentic”. One useful way of ensuring reliability and transparency in assessment is through the use of rubrics, which can help communicate expectations to students, ensure consistency of grading and are also a very quick way of providing feedback to students. For more information have a look at the quick guide to rubrics below:
Download a PDF version of the Rubrics Guide guide.
The example rubrics shown in the Rubrics guide can be imported into your Blackboard course. Save the Blackboard Rubric Export (Zip file). zip here to your computer and navigate to Course Tools -> Rubrics in your Blackboard course to import
Self and Peer Assessment Guide
Many academics in NUI Galway are using self- and peer- assessment, as an effective learning method for students. The following guide will give you an overview to how Self- and Peer- assessment can be beneficial for both the student and lecturer.
Download a PDF of the Self And Peer Assessment Guide guide