Assessment Matters In Higher Education: Choosing and Using Diverse Approaches (Society for Research into Higher Education)

Assessment really does matter in higher education. Internationally, academics - and those who support them - are seeking better ways to assess students, recognizing that diverse methods are available which may solve many of the problems associated with the evaluation of learning. Assessment Matters in Higher Education provides both theoretical perspectives and pragmatic advice on how to conduct effective assessment. It draws clearly on both relevant research and on its contributors' practical first hand experience (warts and all!). It asks, for example: * how can assessment methods best become an integral part of learning? * what strategies can be used to make assessment fairer, more consistent and more efficient? * how effective are innovative approaches to assessment, and in what contexts do they prosper? * to what extent can students become involved in their own assessment? * how can we best assess learning in professional practice contexts? This is an important resource for all academics and academic managers involved in assessing their students. This book presents 16 papers on assessment in higher education grouped into four sections on: first, systems approaches to assessment; second, the effectiveness of innovative assessment; third, assessing practice; and fourth, autonomous assessment. The included papers are: (1) "Institutional Strategies for Assessment" (Sally Brown); (2) "Innovations in Student Assessment: A System-wide Perspective" (Angela Glasner); (3) "Assessment and Evaluation: A Systems Approach for Their Utilization" (T. Dary Erwin); (4) "Using Assessment Strategically to Change the Way Students Learn" (Graham Gibbs); (5) "Why Assess Innovatively?" (Phil Race); (6) "The Experience of Innovative Assessment: Student Perspectives" (Liz McDowell and Kay Sambell); (7) "Biases in Marking Students' Written Work: Quality?" (Neil D. Fleming); (8) "Assessing Practice" (Sally Brown); (9) "Assessment of Key Skills" (Garth Rhodes and Freda Tallantyre); (10) "Using Portfolios for Assessment in Teacher Preparation and the Health Sciences" (Gill Young); (11) "Group-based Assessment: An Evaluation of the Use of Assessed Tasks as a Method of Fostering Higher Quality Learning" (Mike Heathfield); (12) "Dimensions of Oral Assessment and Student Approaches to Learning" (Gordon Joughin); (13) "Towards Autonomous Assessment: Using Self-Assessment and Peer Assessment" (Angela Brew); (14) "Self-Assessment and Peer Assessment" (Shirley Jordan); (15) "Peer Assessment of Undergraduate Seminar Presentations: Motivations, Reflection and Future Directions" (Andy Lapham and Ray Webster); and (16) "Using Peer Assessment and Self-Assessment for the First Time" (Paul Roach). (Individual papers contain references.) (DB)