Assessment in education is a recent phenomenon. Although there were counterparts in former epochs, the term assessment only began to be spoken about in education after the Second World War; and, since that time, views, strategies and concerns over assessment have proliferated according to an uncomfortable dynamic. We fear that, increasingly,…

This paper puts forward the case that one of the factors constraining principled learning-oriented assessment practices is lack of trust. It examines a number of assessment dimensions in which trust or distrust plays a role. These issues are illustrated via a discussion of two different iterations of the same module taught in a teacher education…

There is already a growing literature on assessment and an emergent scholarship that people in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) community need both to promote and to build on if assessment is to be a scholarly activity. Awareness alone, however, is unlikely to be enough. The poor practice highlighted in this article is not simply…

In a series of publications, the author and his colleagues have obtained scores from students in higher education on different questionnaires, and they have described the relationships among these scores using the statistic known as Wilks' [lambda]. Burt (2005) has criticized that the use of this measure is inappropriate, arguing (1) that the…

The current preference for alternative assessment has been partly stimulated by recent evidence on learning which points to the importance of students' active engagement in the learning process. While alternative assessment may well fulfill the aims of formative assessment, its value in the summative assessment required in higher education is more…

Calls for a richer perspective in assessing prior experiential learning. Asserts that using Levi Strauss' totemism instead of metaphor (looking for similarity between experience and courses) may restore power, ownership, and centrality of the experience to the candidate for assessment, while allowing evaluators to engage in a novel but authentic…

Discusses shortcomings in both cognitive- and competency-based assessment approaches to art learning. Asserts that they fail on a number of fronts to reflect the full extent of art and how it operates. Questions the degree of accuracy that these assessment approaches can achieve when considering art education. (EV)

This article addresses the controversial question of whether student learning journals should be assessed. It draws on a collaborative action research project into the uses of learning journals at the University of Sussex in which assessment was continually debated. The characteristics of learning journals in terms of pedagogic purpose, outcome…

A case is made in this paper for using checklists and contextbound evaluations of online learning materials in higher education. Contextbound evaluations complement traditional forms of evaluation of educational courseware, such as checklists. Contextbound approaches are useful for indicating the pedagogical quality of online learning materials…

Raises concerns about the assessment procedures implicit in the new British standards for the award of qualified teacher status. Suggests that these procedures straddle a hybrid position in terms of the basic assessment model and that little regard has been given to the rationale behind the standards, their implementation, or the effects on…

Critiques the over-emphasis on multiple choice testing in some large first-year college classes, as well as the poor design and construction of many tests, and calls for a broader and more diverse range of assessment measures. Argues that multiple choice tests to not allow students to develop communicative competence in the academic disciplines.…

Discussion of the practice in the United Kingdom of permitting disabled students to take an alternative form of assessment focuses on implications vis-a-vis assessment principles. It concludes that alternative assessments are compensatory in nature, violate the principles of assessment, and undermine the validity of assessment in higher education.…

Discusses the need for an international approach to quality assessment and assurance in higher education that goes beyond national efforts, and proposes a European Centre for Substantial Equivalence in academic standards. Argues that a European or international-quality hallmark will play an important role in student, faculty, and employee…

Discusses current issues in quality assessment in higher education in the United Kingdom especially the development of discipline based generic threshold standards to ensure that graduates have the requisite levels of skills. Considers the necessary characteristics of such standards and suggests that standards should be part of quality assessment.…

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)