Types of assessment

Make clear and specific reference to the type(s) of assessment students receive for the subject. Below is a list of terms that are useful when discussing assessment.

Grading system

In universities in the Xarxa Vives d’Universitats, Catalan academic grades are translated in the following way.

Mark and grade

The terms mark and grade are often used interchangeably but note the following differences between them.

Mark

• More common in UK English
• Numerical
• Any assignment or overall course

Grade

• Typically US English
• A, B, C, D, E and variations of this scale
• Any assignment or overall course

At UVic, in general, all marks and grades are numerical, 0 – 10. We tend to use mark for individual grade items and grade, with a description (Pass, etc.), for overall course grades.

Percentages

In course guides, indicate percentages numerically, with the per cent sign closed up to the value (75% not 75 %).

Types of class

The following terms may be useful when discussing types of class.

ECTS credits

The acronym ECTS means European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. When indicating the number of credits awarded to a particular subject, we recommend using the word credits after the acronym ECTS. Therefore, not

but rather

Use of the present tense

In any section where you describe the content of the course or of one of its topics in more general detail, use the present simple. Examples:

The student or students

Generally speaking, referring to students in general, use the plural students:

However, when you want to emphasise the individual nature of the learning, such as in course guides that describe the end-of-degree project, use the singular:

In this case, if you need to use pronouns, use they, them and their. This is more concise and inclusive than using expressions such as he or she, him or her or his or her.

Therefore, not

but

Independent learning

The ability to choose the best approach to extending one’s knowledge and to learn new methods and technologies.

Teamwork

The ability to work in a team, whether as a member or as a leader, with the aim of contributing to projects pragmatically and responsibly and making commitments in view of the resources available.

Foreign language

Spoken and written knowledge of a foreign language.

Reasoning

The ability to think critically, logically or mathematically. A capacity for abstraction, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

Stative and dynamic verbs

When you describe learning outcomes of your course use dynamic verbs rather than stative verbs: in other words, use verbs that describe the outcome in question as a specific, observable and therefore measurable action, like explain, classify, define, analyse or discuss, rather than as a general state or condition that cannot be easily evaluated, like know, understand, have experience of or be familiar with.

Consider the following list.

An almost word-for-word translation of the above list might be

However, these verbs are neither measurable nor dynamic, so a more appropriate translation would be the following:

The above is particularly a problem when dealing with the Catalan verb conèixer, sometimes (in the past) used in lists of learning outcomes. To translate this verb, do not use the stative verb know, which is neither measurable nor dynamic and cannot combine grammatically with the verbs can or be able to. Instead, use a dynamic verb. In the following list we give some recommended English translations of Catalan phrases.

For a longer list of suitable verbs, see the Appendix.