Chapter 3: Building Assessment Literacy and Collaboration Skills Through Group Assessment in Midwifery Education

In 2020/21, BSc Midwifery at Keele University launched a new group assessment for second-year student midwives, which had two elements, each worth 50% of the unit weighting. The first element allocated students to small groups, requiring them to produce a 500-word patient-facing website, detailing a neonatal condition of their choice where students received a shared grade. In the second part, students could submit an individual reflection, written, audio or audio-visual and receive an individual grade. Shared and individual grades would then be combined to determine students’ summative grades. Here, the experience of co-creation, accountability and scaffolded feedback would build feedback and assessment literacy. This innovative assessment normalised discussions about assessment, explored accountable inter-team working and developed digital literacies – in essence, an authentic assessment mirroring the work they may do in their midwifery careers. Data revealed improved attainment, increased student confidence, assessment literacy and self-awareness. Data revealed improved student attainment and confidence through collaborative and individual tasks, mirroring real-world midwifery practices and fostering assessment literacy. The findings support the adoption of multimodal and collaborative assessment formats in healthcare education.