Achieving change in assessment practices in higher education is difficult. One of the reasons for this is resistance among those responsible for teaching and assessing. This paper seeks to explore this resistance through an analysis of staff dialogue during a major attempt to change the assessment practices at one institution. An institution-wide…

One of the implicit aims of higher education is to enable students to become better judges of their own work. This paper examines whether students who voluntarily engage in self-assessment improve in their capacity to make those judgements. The study utilises data from a web-based marking system that provides students with the opportunity to…

Assessment in higher education is commonly held to contribute to feedback to students on their learning and the certification of their achievement. This paper argues that this short-term focus must be balanced against a longer-term emphasis for learning-oriented assessment to foster future learning after graduation. The paper proposes that…

Examines assessment issues in connection with peer learning at the college level and suggests ways in which the benefits of this approach can be maintained while still meeting a course's formal assessment requirements. Discusses the use of group assessment, peer feedback, self-assessment, assessment of participation, and negotiated assessment. (DB)

Use of student self-evaluation in grading is recommended, and several ways in which self-evaluation may be incorporated into the grading process are described, including grades justified and moderated by faculty and/or peers, criteria generated by peers, weighting, combining self-evaluation with demonstration of competence, and learning and grade…