It is the notion that what is important are learning outcomes, no matter how they were achieved and the specification of assessment tasks which indicate outcomes independent of the preparation for them. And it is the use of more naturalistic in situ , multifaceted, forms of assessment which provides the new challenge.
In higher education it does not necessarily mean a shift to more external forms of assessment—indeed it might not mean this at all—but it will mean that the cosy and unquestioned relationship between a course and the assessment ‘which forms part of it’ will be open to critical scrutiny from an outcomes-oriented perspective. The positive aspect is that assessment will be related to outcomes in a discipline or field of practice which can be publicly justified—to colleagues, to students and to external bodies. The potentially negative aspect is teaching for the test, but this should not be as bad as it once was if the test is authentic and well-constructed.
Towards an holistic view of assessment
Whatever the claimed motives of assessment in the first two conceptions above, the de facto priority was forms of assessment which compared individuals with each other rather than engaged in assessment with respect to criteria or notions of competence. The issue of the links between competence, learning and assessment have now come to prominence. Good assessment now is that which both closely reflects desired learning outcomes and in which the process of assessment has a directly beneficial influence on the learning process.
This is a major challenge for all staff. They will need to become far less the test-setter thinking of items to test knowledge acquisition or the marker processing large numbers of examination scripts. They will need to become researchers of students’ perceptions, designers of multifaceted assessment strategies, managers of assessment processes and consultants assisting students in the interpretation of rich information about their learning. There will have to be less assessment for staff to process if they are to have time to make these qualitative changes. But, this will need to be done so that there will not be fewer opportunities for students to practise and gain feedback. Here is another important role for self and peer-assessment.
We are now seeing moves to a holistic conception: no longer can we think of assessment merely as the sum of its parts, all of which can be considered separately or make a distinction between the work as a whole and particular aspects of it (eg. Hager, Gonczi & Athanasou 1994). We need to look at the impact of the total package of learning and assessment and not simply at fragments of assessment. This means that we must inevitably look at the profile of assessment as students see it, from the point of view of the course, the total experience of the whole. The move to modularised courses which operate as a smorgasbord makes this task much more difficult, but it is a challenge which must be faced.
The discussion so far has been posited on traditional power relationships between student and teacher/assessor, but in an holistic conception this assumption must also be challenged. The very act of a person or authority making unilateral and final judgements over another has major consequences for learning. If students are to become autonomous and interdependent learners as argued in statements of aims of higher education (for example, see Boud, 1988), then the relationship between student and assessor must be critically examined and the limiting influences of such an exercise of power explored. The new agenda for assessment research needs to place this as a high priority if we are not to be distracted, as has so often occurred in the past, by technicalities.
The language of assessment
The final issue to be considered relates to the whole of assessment and it is particularly important because it concerns an aspect of our practice in all aspects of education which is all pervasive but invisible most of the time. Earlier, I drew attention to the importance of student perceptions of assessment and the interaction of students with learning and assessment, but there is an additional aspect. It is a key factor in a lot of the hurt that we have all experienced in our careers as assessees. It is the effect of the language we use in talking about and making assessments.
Not surprisingly, in an act which involves judgement, we use judgemental language. Ironically, it is this which creates much of the difficulty. We judge too much and too powerfully, not
It is the notion that what is important are learning outcomes, no matter how they were achieved and the specification of assessment tasks which indicate outcomes independent of the preparation for them. And it is the use of more naturalistic in situ , multifaceted, forms of assessment which provides the new challenge.In higher education it does not necessarily mean a shift to more external forms of assessment—indeed it might not mean this at all—but it will mean that the cosy and unquestioned relationship between a course and the assessment ‘which forms part of it’ will be open to critical scrutiny from an outcomes-oriented perspective. The positive aspect is that assessment will be related to outcomes in a discipline or field of practice which can be publicly justified—to colleagues, to students and to external bodies. The potentially negative aspect is teaching for the test, but this should not be as bad as it once was if the test is authentic and well-constructed.Towards an holistic view of assessmentWhatever the claimed motives of assessment in the first two conceptions above, the de facto priority was forms of assessment which compared individuals with each other rather than engaged in assessment with respect to criteria or notions of competence. The issue of the links between competence, learning and assessment have now come to prominence. Good assessment now is that which both closely reflects desired learning outcomes and in which the process of assessment has a directly beneficial influence on the learning process.This is a major challenge for all staff. They will need to become far less the test-setter thinking of items to test knowledge acquisition or the marker processing large numbers of examination scripts. They will need to become researchers of students’ perceptions, designers of multifaceted assessment strategies, managers of assessment processes and consultants assisting students in the interpretation of rich information about their learning. There will have to be less assessment for staff to process if they are to have time to make these qualitative changes. But, this will need to be done so that there will not be fewer opportunities for students to practise and gain feedback. Here is another important role for self and peer-assessment.We are now seeing moves to a holistic conception: no longer can we think of assessment merely as the sum of its parts, all of which can be considered separately or make a distinction between the work as a whole and particular aspects of it (eg. Hager, Gonczi & Athanasou 1994). We need to look at the impact of the total package of learning and assessment and not simply at fragments of assessment. This means that we must inevitably look at the profile of assessment as students see it, from the point of view of the course, the total experience of the whole. The move to modularised courses which operate as a smorgasbord makes this task much more difficult, but it is a challenge which must be faced.The discussion so far has been posited on traditional power relationships between student and teacher/assessor, but in an holistic conception this assumption must also be challenged. The very act of a person or authority making unilateral and final judgements over another has major consequences for learning. If students are to become autonomous and interdependent learners as argued in statements of aims of higher education (for example, see Boud, 1988), then the relationship between student and assessor must be critically examined and the limiting influences of such an exercise of power explored. The new agenda for assessment research needs to place this as a high priority if we are not to be distracted, as has so often occurred in the past, by technicalities.The language of assessmentThe final issue to be considered relates to the whole of assessment and it is particularly important because it concerns an aspect of our practice in all aspects of education which is all pervasive but invisible most of the time. Earlier, I drew attention to the importance of student perceptions of assessment and the interaction of students with learning and assessment, but there is an additional aspect. It is a key factor in a lot of the hurt that we have all experienced in our careers as assessees. It is the effect of the language we use in talking about and making assessments.Not surprisingly, in an act which involves judgement, we use judgemental language. Ironically, it is this which creates much of the difficulty. We judge too much and too powerfully, not
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