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The Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) legislation states that (emphasis added):

1.4.3 Methods of assessment are consistent with the learning outcomes being assessed, are capable of confirming that all specified learning outcomes are achieved and that grades awarded reflect the level of student attainment.

1.4.4 On completion of a course of study, students have demonstrated the learning outcomes specified for the course of study.

This emphasises that assuring learning outcomes through assessment needs to happen at the course (or program) level, not necessarily at the unit of study level.

Program level assessment encourages us to think beyond the unit, towards the assessment of program learning outcomes (PLOs). This speaks to assessments that are designed to build progressively and holistically through the degree to support and validate attainment of these PLOs for each individual. This requires planning and design to extend beyond individual units of study. The assessment design and associated feedback encourages students to consolidate learning and connect concepts from different parts of their program, both within units at the same level of study and across the years. With learning validated at important progression points within the program, students are supported to develop and advance from transition to graduation.

There are many advantages of program level assessment, including:

Reducing repeated assessments and over-assessment across units
Reducing marking workload
Reducing special consideration applications by planning assessment deadlines across units
Focusing limited resources on securing key assessments at important points of a program

The importance of program-level design in the two-lane approach to assessment

The two-lane approach to assessment reflects the reality of teaching, learning, assessment and preparing students for their careers in an age where technologies such as generative AI are pervasive and ubiquitous. Open (Lane 2), which focusses on assessment for and as learning, is where we develop students' disciplinary knowledge, skills, and dispositions whilst scaffolding and teaching them how to productively and responsibly engage with generative AI. Like other skills, this is best approached at a program-level to ensure a developmental approach and avoid repetition.

However, it is in Secure (Lane 1) assessments that the necessity and advantages of the problem-level approach are most stark. Where it is important to reliably understand and measure what a student is capable of without using AI or using it in controlled ways, assessment must be secured – this means in-person and with the appropriate supervision needed to restrict the use of prohibited supports. Given the difficulty and undesirability of securing all assessments, it is better to identify where across the program to place these Secure (Lane 1) assessments.