An Investigation of Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA) in Higher Education: ACase Study of GFP Instructors at the University of Buraimi

The current quantitative research aims to investigate the University of Buraimi GeneralFoundation Program (GFP) instructors' knowledge and practices of applying Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA). It aims to investigate the University of Buraimi GFPinstructors' knowledge of LOA, their practices of applying LOA principles, and the principleof LOA that is more applied by them than the rest of LOA principles. This research issignificant as there is a dearth of studies of LOA principles and practices in literature. Oneelectronic questionnaire was used to collect data. ۲۳ teachers participated in the study for theacademic year ۲۰۲۲/۲۰۲۳. The convenience sampling procedure was used to choose theparticipants. SPSS (version ۲۳) was used to analyze data. Results show that GFP instructorshave knowledge in identifying the skills to be assessed when they design tasks andrecognizing the role of talk-in-interaction in structuring and mediating learning more thanthe rest of the investigated aspects. Results further show that the University of Buraimi GFPinstructors' practices of designing real-world tasks that are aligned with the course's learningoutcomes, students' involvement in the assessment process by explaining rubrics criteria,and learners' involvement in feedback and feedforward by offering feedback that is linkedto the purpose of the assignment and specific criteria are higher than the other aspects of theLOA principles. Furthermore, results show that the principle of learners' involvement inassessment processes is more applied by GFP instructors than learners' involvement infeedback and feedforward and the learning-oriented assessment tasks inclusion principlesrespectively. The results' implications and the research avenues were discussed.

Keywords:

Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA) , LOA Tasks , Learner's EvaluativeCapacity , Learners' Involvement in Feedback and Feedforward , General FoundationProgram (GFP)