Assessment and Feedback
Assessment and Feedback
Assessment drives the choices students make about their learning. It is widely recognised that assessment and feedback contain the strongest potential to change how, and what, students do to succeed in their learning (Ramsden, 2003). This Effective Teaching Guide on Assessment provides practical suggestions on assessment and feedback.
Assessment of Learning and Assessment for Learning
David Boud, a recognised researcher and scholar of assessment in higher education, suggests that assessment has many purposes, but particularly to help students to improve their learning and certify students’ learning. These two purposes lead to different ways of thinking about what, how, and when to assess students:
|Assessment OF Learning |Assessment FOR Learning |
|Focused on learning that has already happened; |Focused on learning for the future; |
|Making a judgement about final performance; |Goal is to provide useful information to students about how to learn |
|Designed to discriminate between students’ achievement and performance; |more effectively; |
|Focused on grades, precision and measurement; |Helps students to identify what they do and don’t know – focus is on |
|Concerned that tasks are reliable and valid; |improvement; and, |
|Testing usually takes place under ‘standardised’ conditions; and, |Develops students’ judgements about the quality of their work – and how |
|Grade contributes to final certification. |to improve. |
According to Boud and Associate’s Seven Propositions for
Assessment drives the choices students make about their learning. It is widely recognised that assessment and feedback contain the strongest potential to change how, and what, students do to succeed in their learning (Ramsden, 2003). This Effective Teaching Guide on Assessment provides practical suggestions on assessment and feedback.
Assessment of Learning and Assessment for Learning
David Boud, a recognised researcher and scholar of assessment in higher education, suggests that assessment has many purposes, but particularly to help students to improve their learning and certify students’ learning. These two purposes lead to different ways of thinking about what, how, and when to assess students:
|Assessment OF Learning |Assessment FOR Learning |
|Focused on learning that has already happened; |Focused on learning for the future; |
|Making a judgement about final performance; |Goal is to provide useful information to students about how to learn |
|Designed to discriminate between students’ achievement and performance; |more effectively; |
|Focused on grades, precision and measurement; |Helps students to identify what they do and don’t know – focus is on |
|Concerned that tasks are reliable and valid; |improvement; and, |
|Testing usually takes place under ‘standardised’ conditions; and, |Develops students’ judgements about the quality of their work – and how |
|Grade contributes to final certification. |to improve. |
According to Boud and Associate’s Seven Propositions for
References: Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2004). Conditions Under Which Assessment Supports Student Learning. Learning and Teaching, Issue 1, pp: 3-31. Hattie, J. & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112. Hounsell, D. (2004). Reinventing Feedback in the Contemporary Scottish University. Scottish Quality Enhancement Workshop on Assessment, University of Glasgow [available online at: www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/documents/events/20040604/Hounsellpaper.pdf]. O’Donovan, B., Price, M., & Rust, C. (2004). Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and criteria. Teaching in Higher Education, 9(3), 325-335. Orrell, J. (2006). Assessment beyond intuition. Central Queensland University [available online at: http://www.learning.cq.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=8896, accessed Feb 2011]. Price, M., O’Donovan, B., & Rust, C. (2004).Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and criteria. Teaching in Higher Education, 9(3), 325-335. Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to teach in higher education. (2nd edition). Routledge, NY & London. Rust, C., Price, M., & O’Donovan, B. (2003). Improving Students’ Learning by Developing their Understanding of Assessment Criteria and Processes. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 28(2), 147-164. Taylor, J. (2008). Assessment in First Year University: A model to manage transition. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 5(1).