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A new assessment methodology that aims to streamline the grading process and improve the feedback quality for students and teachers was developed by Dr Colin Lee, assistant professor at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). The methodology is called Harmonized Appraisal (HAPP), and it integrates the grading and feedback processes into one, simplifying the assessment workflow for teachers and enhancing the learning experience for students. HAPP was developed with funding from HoKa and support from a Community of Learning & Innovation fellowship.

HAPP introduces a dual-rubric system, which is a type of scoring guide to assess and articulate specific components and expectations for an assignment. The student rubric acts as an instructional guide, outlining the grading criteria and defining what constitutes mastery. The instructor rubric, meanwhile, provides a comprehensive tool for evaluation, detailing the specific components of each criterion and their requirements across different grade levels. Each level is directly linked to a corresponding score and relevant feedback from a comment bank, enabling assessments that result in customisable narrative feedback messages and adjustable grades. The approach blends the efficiency of structured rubrics and comment banks with intelligent personalisation and customisation.

Innovation for evaluation

HAPP has several advantages over traditional assessment methods. Trials have shown that assessment with HAPP typically takes just as much time as selecting scores in a rubric and that grading is more consistent, while students consider the feedback to be of higher quality and are less likely to ask for a re-evaluation. Users have reported positive experiences with HAPP, praising its effectiveness and the promise it holds for advancing assessment in higher education.

RSM and Erasmus University Rotterdam have custom software and, for the time being, there is an alternative implementation that people outside the university can use. Teachers from other universities can also explore the possibility of using HAPP for their courses, by using the Google Apps Script implementation of HAPP which is available under an academic non-commercial license.

HAPP is a promising innovation for higher education, as it revolutionises the evaluation experience for students and teachers. Find out how it works and how to get in touch with the developers on the HAPP website.

Dr Colin Lee

Dr Colin Lee’s research lies at the intersection of human resources, organisational behaviour, industrial and organisational psychology, and career studies. His research leverages recent developments in data extraction, normalisation, and processing to provide insights into how people can be matched to work and to develop tools for the dissemination of academic knowledge in his fields of interest.


More information

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers. www.rsm.nl

 

For more information about RSM or this release, please contact Erika Harriford-McLaren, communications manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at harriford@rsm.nl.

 

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