Postgraduate Diploma in Education- Educational Assessment
Enabling practitioners to build assessment perspectives and practices to nurture student learning.
Assessments constitute an integral part of the teaching-learning process. At present assessment is seen as an evaluative exercise that focuses on measuring a very limited range of abilities in students. The primary purpose of assessment is to support learning, and to provide a holistic view of students’ abilities and progress towards fulfilling the aims of education.
In such a context, there is a pressing need to move towards competency-based assessments that are focused on enhancing students’ higher-order thinking skills, such as analytical ability, critical thinking, and creativity. This in turn would require practitioners ranging from teachers, teacher educators, school leaders, education functionaries and other specialists in the field to have a holistic understanding of the domain of educational assessments.
The Postgraduate Diploma in Education- Educational Assessment to be offered by Azim Premji University aims to build capabilities among key stakeholders by providing knowledge, skills, values and dispositions that are necessary for planning, designing, and utilising assessments in order to bring about a positive shift in the culture of assessments.
To know more about our work in assessment at Azim Premji University, please click here.
The programme is designed for professionals working in the area of education preferably for at least 2 years.
- Teachers, academic coordinators, and head teachers.
- Teacher educators.
- Curriculum designers, test paper developers, textbook writers.
- Educational consultants and assessment practitioners
Applicants should have an undergraduate degree in any discipline with a working knowledge of English (reading, writing, and speaking).
The programme is designed to develop among participants a comprehensive understanding of assessment concepts, principles, approaches, and their role in improving the quality of education. It will expose them to the practices and processes of designing valid, reliable and fair assessment tools along with building an understanding of how to interpret assessment data and utilise the results to improve student learning. The programme is taught by experienced academics and practitioners in the field of educational assessment. As such participants will be exposed to both theoretical and practical aspects of classroom based as well as large-scale systemic assessments.
Some important features of the programme are:
- Participants will be facilitated to build a foundational understanding of assessment as a domain of study, to acquaint them with the importance of educational assessments across all stages of school education.
- Participants will be provided adequate support in designing valid, reliable and fair assessment tools such as — competency based test papers, projects, portfolios, rubrics, checklists, group assessment and self-assessment within the context of their professional expertise.
- The programme will also equip participants with necessary skills to utilise assessment data to further improve classroom pedagogy and student learning.
- With large scale assessments gaining momentum as an important component within the domain of educational assessments, participants will be equipped to design, analyse as well as interpret the quality of assessments through classical test theory and item response theory.
Programme Structure
The 24 credits, 12 months PG Diploma Programme is offered in a blended mode, with online and on-campus interaction. It comprises of four Certificate Programmes (12 weeks duration, 6 credits each) covering key aspects of educational assessment.
Completing all 4 certificates is mandatory for awarding the PG Diploma. This can be completed within a maximum period of 2 years.
Out of the 4 certificates, the first one on Perspectives of Assessment is mandatory to complete as a prerequisite for all subsequent certificates. This includes both the weekly webinars and 5‑day contact classes at the University campus. For the remaining 3 certificates, participants can take it in any order between 2 calendar years of starting the program.
While participants are encouraged to attend contact classes for all 4 certificates, attending at least 2 of them is compulsory for awarding the PG Diploma (certificate 1+ any one of the remaining 3 certificates). For 2 out of 4 certificates, those unable to attend the contact classes, will have a choice to work on extended projects in offline mode from their locations.
Course 1: Understanding assessments: concepts, purposes and approaches
The course will help participants understand the inter-relationship between learners, learning and assessment by building an overview of the various, concepts, theories, purposes and approaches to assessments.
Course 2: Policies, issues and principles of assessment
The course will enable participants to delve deeper into the education policies in India and the assessment reforms that have occurred over time and to evolve principles of validity, reliability and fairness in planning and designing assessments.
Duration: 12 weeks
Course 1: Unpacking the meaning of formative assessment
The course will introduce participants to research and theories in the area of formative assessment along with case studies from the Indian and global context to understand key-stage strategies of conducting ongoing formative assessments in classrooms.
Course 2: Designing tools and processes of formative assessments
The course will help participants apply their theoretical understanding in designing and creating various tools and techniques for formative assessment across different stages – such as rubrics, portfolios, observation checklists, projects and anecdotal records.
Duration: 12 weeks
Course 1: Planning for summative assessment
The course will acquaint participants with the key principles and best practices at the global level for designing standardized assessment instruments that include conceptualizing assessment frameworks, blueprints and scoring schemes.
Course 2: Designing summative assessment instruments
The course will help apply participants’ learnings to design valid, reliable and fair assessment instruments for various summative purposes of assessments such as terminal exams, board exams, selection tests and large-scale assessments.
Duration: 12 weeks
Course 1: Understanding large-scale assessments
The course will equip participants to read and interpret large scale assessment data such as NAS, ASER and PISA along with building an understanding of planning, designing and conducting such assessments at scale.
Course 2: Interpreting assessment data
The course will provide participants hands-on experience of conducting item analysis using classical test theory and item response theory for ensuring quality and efficacy of assessment instruments.
Duration: 12 weeks
| Certificate Programme | Programme Cycle | In-person classes |
|---|---|---|
| Perspectives of Assessment | 3 March 2025- 24 May 2025 | 12 May 2025 — 16 May 2025 |
| Designing Formative Assessments | 9 June 2025- 30 August 2025 | 18 August 2025 — 22 August 2025 |
| Designing Competency-Based Summative Assessments | 8 September 2025- 29 November 2025 | 17 November 2025 — 21 November 2025 |
| Planning and Using Large-Scale Assessments | 8 December 2025 – 28 February 2026 | 16 Februrary 2026 — 20 February 2026 |
*Above dates are indicative and may change. Dates will be re-confirmed one month in advance of each Certificate.
Programme Pedagogy
The programme will be offered in the blended mode:
- Online — This will be conducted through lectures, group work, workshops, case study analysis, presentations, readings, discussion forums on Learning Management Systems, audio/video materials, one-on-one office hours and regular assessment.
- Face-to-face interaction — Each certificate programme will have one-week on-campus residential component, providing opportunities for sharing of learning through intensive group work; field practicum visits and interaction with experts and practitioners from the field.
Explore
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Teaching and learning using authentic assessment
Shilpi Banerjee and Ronita Sharma, in Teacher, discuss key principles in designing and using authentic assessments.
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Going beyond the board
The Karnataka government’s move to change the Pre-University (PU) exam pattern for the academic year 2023 – 24 signifies a shift towards a more comprehensive assessment of student abilities, writes Shilpi Banerjee, in Deccan Herald.
Resources & Activities
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Learning Framework
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 released by the Government of India, has given a clear mandate for competency-based education (CBE) to enhance acquisition of critical 21st century skills by the learners. The first determinant for implementing CBE is a curriculum which is aligned to defined learning outcomes and that clearly states the competencies to be achieved.
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Teacher Eligibility Test
Understanding how states determine and assess teacher eligibility.
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Our work with Tripura Board of Secondary Education
Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) collaborated with Azim Premji University in an endeavour to strengthen its state-level Board examinations.
