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An Introduction to the Assessment of People at Work

Discover the history of assessing people at work and get an overview of assessment throughout the employee life cycle.

2,807 enrolled on this course

  • Duration

    2 weeks

  • Weekly study

    3 hours
Overview
Requirements
Educators
This course is part of the program Assessing People in the Workplace, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in MSc Business and Organisational Psychology. Find out more.

Understand how, when and why we need to assess people at work

Why do we assess people at work? How do we do it?

On this course you will look into the history of assessing people at work. You will gain an overview of the methods and techniques used, as well as consider the employee life cycle to identify when we may assess people and why.

You will examine the legislation which should be adhered to, as well as review the role of ethics in the recruitment, selection and development process. You will also discuss different types of reliability and validity assessed during test development.

What topics will you cover?

  • The history of assessing people at work – how, when and why?
  • The role of legislation and ethics.
  • A brief overview of the employee cycle in relation to assessment.
  • A brief overview of pre-selection and selection methods.
  • Different types of reliability and validity.
  • The difference between recruitment, selection and development.
  • A brief overview of assessment for development.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explore the history of assessing people at work, as well as how we assess them, when and why.
  • Identify the legislation which should be adhered to when assessing people at work.
  • Explain the role of ethics in the recruitment, selection, and development process.
  • Describe the difference between recruitment, selection and development in relation to assessment at work.
  • Discuss the advantages of assessing people at work.
  • Identify the different types of reliability and validity assessed during test development and validation along with their meaning.

Who is the course for?

This course is for anyone looking to gain a better understanding of assessment in the workplace. It is part of the MSc Business and Organisational Psychology, which is accredited by the Association for Business Psychology.

Please note that the individuals detailed in the ‘Who will you learn with?’ section below, are current staff members and may be subject to change.

Who will you learn with?

Andrew Clements

Lecturer in occupational and business psychology at Coventry University.
Andrew (PhD, CPsychol.) conducts research on motivation and career behaviours, and wellbeing at work.

Who developed the course?

Coventry University

Coventry secured 5 QS Stars for Teaching and Online Learning in the QS World University Ranking 2020 and has received No. 1 in the world for Massive Open Online Courses in MoocLab’s World University Ranking 2021.

  • Established

    1992

  • Location

    Coventry

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

Advance your career with a degree

What's different about this course?

Since 2017 you have been able to take a degree on FutureLearn. This free course is a bit like a starter course for a degree — it should give you a flavour of the degree subject but can also be your first step towards a degree qualification.

If you enjoy this course you can apply to join the program it’s part of to start working towards a degree on FutureLearn.

Don’t worry, you can still take the course without doing a full degree!

How do degrees work on FutureLearn?

Do the free course
Join and complete the program
Get academic credit for an online degree from Coventry University

Which program and degree is this course part of?

This course is part of the program Assessing People in the Workplace, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in MSc Business and Organisational Psychology.
Find out more and apply

Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...

You can use the hashtag #AssessmentPeopleWork to talk about this course on social media.