The College has decided to retain its “assessment fellows”, introduced last year as part of the Trinity Education Project (TEP), for a second year.
The fellows, who were responsible for guiding departments to better assessment practices, were only meant to work for a year, but College has opted to keep them for 2019/20.
In an email statement to The University Times, Vice-Provost Jurgen Barkhoff said: “While Assessment Fellows were originally recruited for 2018-19 only, their work with Schools has proven to be so valuable that it will continue in 2019-20.”
“We intend to recruit or retain at least four Assessment Fellows”, he added.
The College announced the creation of the positions in January to examine students’ workload under TEP.
In an email statement to The University Times in January, College’s Head Of Academic Practice, Dr Ciara O’Farrell, said that the assessment fellows would work to “embrace assessment as a vehicle that not only measures but also supports and enhances student learning”.
“One of the challenges of the modular system is that module assessments can sometimes be designed independently, without a connection to the wider programme”, she said.
O’Farrell said assessment fellows could help avoid problems with modules, such as clashing assessment deadlines and increased workloads, brought about by TEP’s implementation.
Last December, The University Times reported that students were suffering “massive stress” due to the convergence of Trinity’s first-ever set of Christmas exams and numerous essay deadlines.
In January, students condemned the implementation of the project as “catastrophic” in an open letter that gained over 300 signatures.
