Work placement folders or portfolios are often used as instruments to supervise and assess work placements. A considerable disadvantage of these, however, is that they take a lot of time to check afterwards. Try to find a balance between an assignment that can be checked in a limited amount of time and maintaining high-quality supervision and assessment. 

 

Tips to check work placement documentation efficiently: 

Avoid Unnecessarily Long Assignments 

Limit the size of documents that students should produce wherever possible. Only gather information if that is necessary for the final assessment. If assignments are not crucial, limit them or leave them out altogether. Clearly state which information you expect to receive from students and give guidelines with regards to their required length. 

Structured Student Documents

Teach students how to go about writing placement reports in a structured manner, and teach them how to communicate information clearly. You could, for example, give students a structure for their placement reports. You could also ask students to draw up a table of contents (on one piece of paper, for example), which you can then check and approve before students continue working on their reports. 

Focus on Quality Beforehand 

During preparation and supervision, pay attention to the required quality of the placement reports or other general placement documents. Also point out to students that intermediate products - even if they are unfinished - need to me carefully composed. If this is not the case, return the work for revision, even without having read it in detail. 

Easily Accessible Placements Reports

Always consider what the easiest assessment option is: electronic placements reports or placement reports on paper. Electronic placement reports are easier to automate than reports on paper. Moreover, electronic reports can be manipulated more easily using specific software (e.g. search function, track changes for corrections, etc.) and they can also be shared easily.  

Provide Decent Assessment Tools  

Assessment is easier and faster if the work placement supervisors (or the person assessing the work placement) know clearly what to focus on. Provide clear criteria for all the components in the assessment process.