Challenges in reforming higher education assessment: a perspective from afar
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7203/relieve.26.1.17088Keywords:
Assessment, Assessment reform, Higher Education, Evaluative Judgement
Abstract
Can we be sure that assessment in higher education meets the need of developing and assuring high quality learning outcomes? Current assessment is typically a collection of conventional practices that have never been seriously questioned. Ten years ago, as part of a national project, representatives from Australian universities came together to identify an agenda for change in assessment. The resulting document—Assessment 2020: Seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education—focused on how assessment needed to change to support long term learning. That is, not how students can pass the next exam, but learning that is useful beyond the point of graduation.
From a learning-centred view this paper examine progress on assessment reform in universities internationally from the perspective of one of the players. It starts by considering Assessment 2020 to see where action is still needed. It reviews some of the major shifts in assessment in higher education and considers their implications. These include the move from comparing students (norm-referencing) to judging outcomes against standards (standards-based); and importantly, the conceptual shift from the single purpose of assessment as certifying students to multiple purposes including aiding learning and building the capacity of students to make their own judgements.
Author Biography
David Boud, Alfred Deakin Professor and Director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University (Melbourne). Emeritus Professor at the University of Technology in Sydney. Professor of Work and Learning at Middlesex University (London).
References
Ajjawi, R., Bearman, M., & Boud, D. (2019). Performing standards: A critical perspective on the contemporary use of standards in assessment, Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2019.1678579
Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., & Marshall, D. (2020). Repositioning assessment-as-portrayal: what can we learn from celebrity and persona studies? In Bearman, M., Dawson, P., Ajjawi, R., Tai, J. & Boud, D. (Eds.) Re-imagining university assessment in a digital world. Springer.
Bearman, M., Dawson, P., Boud, D., Bennett, S., Hall, M., & Molloy, E. (2016) Support for assessment practice: developing the Assessment Design Decisions Framework. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(5), 545-556. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2016.1160217
Bearman, M., Dawson, P., Bennett, S., Hall, M., Molloy, E. Boud, D., & Joughin, G. (2017). How university teachers design assessments: a cross disciplinary study. Higher Education, 74 (1), 49-64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0027-7
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7-74. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969595980050102
Boud, D. (2000). Sustainable assessment: rethinking assessment for the learning society. Studies in Continuing Education, 22(2), 151-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/713695728
Boud, D. (2007). Reframing assessment as if learning was important. In Boud, D. & Falchikov, N. (Eds.) Rethinking Assessment for Higher Education: Learning for the Longer Term. Routledge, 14-25. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203964309
Boud, D. (2014). Shifting views of assessment: from secret teacher’s business to sustaining learning. In Kreber, C., Anderson, C., Entwistle, N. and McArthur, J. (Eds) Advances and Innovations in University Assessment and Feedback (pp. 13-31). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748694549.003.0002
Boud, D. (2017). Standards-based assessment for an era of increasing transparency. In Carless, D., Bridges, S., Chan, C. and Glofcheski, R. (Eds). Scaling up assessment for learning in higher education (pp. 19-31). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3045-1_2
Boud, D., & Associates (2010). Assessment 2020: Seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education. Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
Boud D., Ajjawi R., Dawson P., & Tai J. (Eds.). (2018). Developing Evaluative Judgement in Higher Education: Assessment for Knowing and Producing Quality Work. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315109251
Boud, D., & Molloy, E. (2013). Rethinking models of feedback for learning: the challenge of design. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(6), 698-712. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2012.691462
Boud, D., & Soler, R. (2016). Sustainable assessment revisited. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 41(3), 400-413. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1018133
Carless, D. (2015). Excellence in university assessment: Learning from award winning practice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315740621
Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: enabling uptake of feedback. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1315-1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354
Clarke, J. L., & Boud, D. (2018). Refocusing portfolio assessment: curating for feedback and portrayal. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 55(4), 479-486. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2016.1250664
Deneen, C., & Boud, D. (2014). Patterns of resistance in managing assessment change. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 39(5), 577-591. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2013.859654
Henderson, M., Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., & Molloy, E. (Eds.) (2019). The Impact of Feedback in Higher Education: Improving assessment outcomes for learners. Palgrave Macmillan https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25112-3
Ibarra-Sáiz, M. S., Rodríguez-Gómez, G., & Boud, D. (2020). Developing student competence through peer assessment: the role of feedback, self-regulation and evaluative judgement. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00469-2
Jorre St Jorre, T., Boud, D., & Johnson, E. (2019) Assessment for distinctiveness: recognising diversity of accomplishments, Studies in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1689385
Joughin, G., Boud, D., & Dawson, P. (2019). Threats to student evaluative judgement and their management, Higher Education Research and Development, 38(3), 537-549. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1544227
Kift, S., Nelson, K., & Clarke, J. (2010). Transition pedagogy: A third generation approach to FYE - A case study of policy and practice for the higher education sector. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 1(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.5204/intjfyhe.v1i1.13
Malecka, B., Boud, D., & Carless, D. (2020). Eliciting, processing and enacting feedback: Mechanisms for embedding student feedback literacy within the curriculum. Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1754784
Panadero, E., Fraile, J., Fernández Ruiz, J., Castilla-Estévez, D., & Ruiz, M. A. (2019). Spanish university assessment practices: examination tradition with diversity by faculty. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44 (3), 379-397. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1512553
Pereira, D., Niklasson, L., & Flores, M. A. (2017). Students’ perceptions of assessment: a comparative analysis between Portugal and Sweden. Higher Education, 73(1), 153–173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0005-0
Rodríguez-Gómez, G., Quesada-Serra, V., & Ibarra-Sáiz, M. S. (2016). Learning-oriented e-assessment: the effects of a training and guidance programme on lecturers’ perceptions. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 41(1), 35–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2014.979132
Quesada-Serra, V., Rodríguez-Gómez, G., & Ibarra-Sáiz, M. S. (2016). What are we missing? Spanish lecturers’ perceptions of their assessment practices. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 53(1), 48-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2014.930353
Tai, J., Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., Dawson, P., & Panadero, E. (2018). Developing evaluative judgement: enabling students to make decisions about the quality of work. Higher Education, 76, 467–481. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0220-3
Van der Vleuten, C. P. M., Schuwirth, L. W. T., Driessen, E. W., Dijkstra, J., Tigelaar, D., Baartman, L. K. J., & van Tartwijk, J. (2012). A model for programmatic assessment fit for purpose. Medical Teacher, 34, 205-214. https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2012.652239
Villarroel, V., Boud, D., Bloxham, S., Bruna, D., & Bruna, C. (2020). Using principles of authentic assessment to redesign written examinations and tests. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 34, 535-557. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2018.1564882
Winstone, N., & Carless, D. (2019). Designing Effective Feedback Processes in Higher Education: A Learning-Focused Approach. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351115940
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The authors grant non-exclusive rights of exploitation of works published to RELIEVE and consent to be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial Use 4.0 International License (CC-BY-NC 4.0), which allows third parties to use the published material whenever the authorship of the work and the source of publication is mentioned, and it is used for non-commercial purposes.
The authors can reach other additional and independent contractual agreements, for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (for example, by including it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), as long as it is clearly stated that the Original source of publication is this magazine.
Authors are encouraged to disseminate their work after it has been published, through the internet (for example, in institutional archives online or on its website) which can generate interesting exchanges and increase work appointments.
The fact of sending your paper to RELIEVE implies that you accept these conditions.
Language
Information