Synopses & Reviews
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.
About the Author
Sally Brown is Head of the Quality Enhancement Unit at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. She is an experienced educational developer and consultant on matters of teaching, learning and, especially, assessment - and publishes widely in these fields. She is vice chair of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA).
Angela Glasner is the Regional Consultant for the East Midlands and the West Midlands at the Higher Education Funding Council for England; and she was formerly Associate Director in the Quality Assessment Division. Her earlier academic career spanned a number of years in universities in England and Australia, culminating as Head of the School of Social Sciences at Oxford Brookes University.
Table of Contents
Preface
Contributors
Part one: Systems approaches to assessment
Institutional strategies for assessment
Innovations in student assessment
a system-wide perspective
Assessment and evaluation
a systems approach for their utilization
Using assessment strategically to change the way students learn
Part two: Exploring the effectiveness of innovative assessment
Why assess innovatively?
The experience of innovative assessment
student perspectives
Biases in marking students' written work
quality?
Part three: Assessing practice
Assessing practice
Assessment of key skills
Using portfolios for assessment in teacher preparation and health sciences
Group-based assessment
an evaluation of the use of assessed tasks as a method of fostering higher quality learning
Dimensions of oral assessment and student approaches to learning
Part four: Towards autonomous assessment
Towards autonomous assessment
using self and peer assessment
Self and peer assessment
Peer assessment of undergraduate seminar presentations
motivations, reflection and future directions
Using peer and self assessment for the first time
Conclusion
Index.