COMPASS® Online Assessment Tool

All Australian and New Zealand universities preparing speech pathologists for professional practice have commenced using the same assessment tool to assess their students’ performances on the practicum component of topics/subjects. This tool, “COMPASS®: Competency Based Assessment in Speech Pathology” yields both qualitative and quantitative information on student performance that is rated by the clinical educators providing clinical placements in their workplace.

Until recently, these ratings have been returned to the university in the form of a paper-based assessment booklet, where they are measured and scored by hand. This score contributes to the final assessment decision made by the university, and then subsequently submitted as the students’ grade for that topic/unit of study/subject. Login to COMPASS® Online.

COMPASS® Online is a web-based application, hosted by Portal Australia, based in Adelaide. It is an online system designed to manage, collect, and store the competency scores for all speech pathology students in Australia and New Zealand undergoing placements (e.g. for the duration of their course). This assessment data will comprise measurements of a rating marked on a scale, and calculation of the resulting score. Related demographic data will also be collected such as student ID and Name.

COMPASS® Online has the benefit of allowing ongoing and real-time management of the clinical education process. It will also reduce time taken to measure and score student assessments and provides the opportunity for increased student participation in the learning process and development of competency. COMPASS® Online at a broader level potentially enhances the ability for cooperative research across the profession and provides a platform for future recalibration and revaluation of COMPASS®.

Core Functionality

Real-time management of student assessments by:

  • Notifying overdue assessments
  • Identifying at risk and variable students
  • Matching student and clinical educator pairs
  • Manage incomplete/discontinued assessments
  • Locating contact information for clinical educator and student.

Tracking performance of:

  • An individual student
  • A cohort of students
  • The rating behaviour of Clinical Educators.

Standardises the minimum amount of data collected for an assessment to facilitate future research and benchmarking.

Provides a rich data source to assist in identifying patterns of strengths and weaknesses in curricula, opportunities for change, and areas that require research to improve teaching practice.

Allows students to self-rate prior to rating with clinical educator and compare their ratings.

Assessment resources inbuilt into system.

Online help functionality available.

Training and ongoing support from Speech Pathology Australia post rollout.

Access to COMPASS® Online

COMPASS® Online is only accessible to universities who have signed a formal Licence Agreement with Speech Pathology Australia. For further details of the online tool and licence agreement contact Speech Pathology Australia.

Login to COMPASS® Online