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Assessment is probably the most important thing we can do to help our students learn. We may not ... more Assessment is probably the most important thing we can do to help our students learn. We may not like it, but students can and do ignore our teaching; however, if they want to get a qualification, they have to participate in the assessment processes we design and implement. For that reason I believe it is worth thinking through, individually and collectively, what we currently do and exploring how we can do our best to ensure that our assessment practices help rather than hinder learning. In this paper I will explore these issues, play with a negative exercise about what we can do to hinder learning and conclude with some pointers towards integrating learning and assessment. Internationally, assessment is changing as the nature of teaching and learning in post-compulsory education changes. The student population in many countries is becoming diverse, with increasing numbers of part-time students, mature students and students coming from non-traditional backgrounds, particularly in the UK, where there is a political imperative to widen participation to students from socioeconomic groups who previously had little or no access to higher education. A diverse population of learners necessitates a change in practice in post-compulsory education, with less focus on didactic tutor-led approaches and more concentration on the learning outcomes that students can hope to achieve (Miller et al., 1998; Rust, 2002). Fit-for-purpose assessment I have long argued that assessment needs to be 'fit-for-purpose'; that is, it should enable evaluation of the extent to which learners have learned and the extent to which they can demonstrate that learning (Brown & Smith, 1997). We need to consider not just what we are assessing and how we are doing it (particularly which methods and approaches), but also why — our rationale for assessing on
Assessment is probably the most important thing we can do to help our students learn. We may not ... more Assessment is probably the most important thing we can do to help our students learn. We may not like it, but students can and do ignore our teaching; however, if they want to get a qualification, they have to participate in the assessment processes we design and implement. For that reason I believe it is worth thinking through, individually and collectively, what we currently do and exploring how we can do our best to ensure that our assessment practices help rather than hinder learning. In this paper I will explore these issues, play with a negative exercise about what we can do to hinder learning and conclude with some pointers towards integrating learning and assessment. Internationally, assessment is changing as the nature of teaching and learning in post-compulsory education changes. The student population in many countries is becoming diverse, with increasing numbers of part-time students, mature students and students coming from non-traditional backgrounds, particularly in the UK, where there is a political imperative to widen participation to students from socioeconomic groups who previously had little or no access to higher education. A diverse population of learners necessitates a change in practice in post-compulsory education, with less focus on didactic tutor-led approaches and more concentration on the learning outcomes that students can hope to achieve (Miller et al., 1998; Rust, 2002). Fit-for-purpose assessment I have long argued that assessment needs to be 'fit-for-purpose'; that is, it should enable evaluation of the extent to which learners have learned and the extent to which they can demonstrate that learning (Brown & Smith, 1997). We need to consider not just what we are assessing and how we are doing it (particularly which methods and approaches), but also why — our rationale for assessing on