New challenges in assessment
المؤلف:
Mary Rice & Coral Campbell & Judith Mousley
المصدر:
Enhancing Teaching and Learning through Assessment
الجزء والصفحة:
P420-C35
2025-08-14
281
New challenges in assessment
Changed circumstances have given rise to new issues requiring new responses to the enduring questions mentioned earlier. James, McKinnis & Devlin (2002) outlined 5 assessment issues in higher education that need to be brought to the fore in today's climate. These related to online assessment, large classes, plagiarism, group work, and the needs of students unfamiliar with assessment practices in Australian higher education. More recently, in a conference keynote address, Parker (2004) reiterated these challenges and suggested the need to move from an 'instruction paradigm' where the emphasis is on 'provision of instruction' to a 'learning paradigm' which emphasizes student learning. In another keynote address, Parry (2004) outlined ten challenges ahead that institutions need to address to be effective in a knowledge-based society. These related to flexibility, more timely, technology-mediated assessment, group work and authenticity. She went on to propose a model emphasizing the need to embed more assessment in communities of practice that link discipline knowledge with the world of work, and to suggest that some of the challenges can only be met by harnessing the potential offered by new Internet technologies.
Focusing on the issue of online assessment, research literature clearly articulates the potential that the online environment offers for learning. (See, for example, Anderson & Elloumi, 2004; James, McKinnis & Devlin 2002; Morgan & O'Reilly 1999; Reeves 2000). These authors suggest that online assessment tasks can be more varied and interesting and can include quizzes, debates, role-plays, simulations, portfolios and tests of various kinds. Formative assessment approaches, which allow students to learn from rather than for assessment, are seen to be easier to deliver and manage. The issue of 'who' assesses can be reconsidered because the online environment offers potential for students' work to be assessed not only by the teacher but also by peers, themselves, the computer, or external reviewers when appropriate. These authors point out that a broader range of skills can be assessed efficiently when operating online because delivery mechanisms can be timely and can provide feedback more quickly through features such as selective release.
However, in spite of the need for change and the potential offered by new online technologies, the nature of academic culture has been an inhibitor to change. James (2004) suggested that possible reasons for this include the general conservatism of both staff and students, the strong culture of testing, the risk of negative results in student evaluations of teaching, workload constraints, and conceptions of the role of assessment. He further suggested that academics can have successful careers without necessarily having to change their assessment practices. In light of this, our research aimed to document cases that illustrate change in assessment practice and identify factors that appear to be necessary in order for change to occur.
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