ASSESSMENT
IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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Introduction
Please note that this web site is still in preliminary
form. We would very much welcome recommendations for additional listings. If there are
resources you'd like to see listed, please email
details. Many educators are now actively looking at assessment as a means not only to grade students, but also (and perhaps primarily) as a tool to assist in the learning process. One of the hottest topics at the moment is the notion of constructive alignment, where course objectives, content, and assessment are aligned; so that the learner's view of the subject (with its emphasis on assessment) is brought in to correspondence with the instructor's view (with its emphasis on objectives and content). There is also a growing interest in non-standard forms of assessment, and, most particularly, involving students in self, peer or group assessment. There are many reasons for this, amongst the most prominent being that - students often already self-assess and peer-assess quite naturally and that self, peer, and group assessment - may assist the learning experiences - may help students to critically evaluate both their work and others - may help students develop skills relating to life-long learning - may help students gain much more feedback than would otherwise be possible - may reduce the load on the tutors
Of course, there can be disadvantages and problems too, such as that - students may lack the skills necessary for peer or self assessment, and teaching them will therefore have to be included in the curriculum - peer assessment in particular may be time consuming to administer - students may mark everyone the same in order to avoid conflicts - friendships may affect judgment etc.
Self assessment involves students making judgements about their own work. Assessment decisions can be made by students on their own essays, reports, projects, presentations, performances, dissertations, and even exam scripts. Self-assessment can be extremely valuable in helping students to critique their own work, and form judgements about its strengths and weaknesses. For obvious reasons, self-assessment is more usually used as part of a formative assessment process, rather than a summative one, where it requires certification by others.
Peer assessment is different from self-assessment in that students make assessment decisions on other students’ work. This can include almost any aspect of student performance, including essays, reports, presentations, etc. Student peer-assessment can be anonymous or otherwise, with assessors randomly chosen so that friendship factors are less likely to distort the results. Peer-assessment helps students to gain feedback from each other, and thus improve the quality of their work. It can also be summative, and taken into account as a component of the overall assessment.
Group assessment refers to assessment of students within a group, either by other students within the group, or by students outside of the group, or by tutors. It can include assessment of the group as a whole, and of individual students contributions to the group. Group assessment may therefore involve at least some elements of peer-assessment and self-assessment.
With regard to more conventional forms of assessment, perhaps the two hottest topics at the moment are, first, the use and validity of multiple-choice tests, about which there is widespread disagreement; are they still appropriate in an era which places a growing emphasis on authentic learning? And, second, the growing incidences of plagiarism, which seems to be both systemic and widespread. What are the problems, and are there any solutions?
This site aims to provide resources and links useful to researchers and practitioners interested in all of these areas.
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