ASSESSMENT PRACTICES AND STUDENT LEARNING

A number of studies (as reported in Ramsden, 1988; Entwistle & Tait, 1990) have shown that student approaches to learning are significantly affected by assessment methods. Anxiety, arising from the perception of an assessment situation as threatening, excessive workloads and assessment methods which highlight factual information and memorisation tend to contribute to the adoption of surface approaches to learning. It seems that a predominance of compulsory examinations and assignment questions leads to the adoption of strategies such as verbatim note-taking and the rehearsal of expected answers as a means of dealing with the unpredictability of what will be required with the 'amount' of knowledge to be examined.

Ramsden (1992, p. 212) suggests that for assessment practices to have a beneficial impact on student learning they need to have three main functions: 1) to be ' a means of helping students learn', 2) to be a way of 'reporting on student progress', and 3) to provide information on which to base decisions about teaching. This view of assessment suggests three questions that need to be asked when designing a new assessment activity:

1. In what way will this activity contribute to student learning?
2. In what way will the outcomes of this activity indicate student progress?
3. In what way will the outcomes of this activity provide information that can be used in order to inform teaching?

• Entwistle, N. & Tait, H. (1990) 'Approaches to learning, evaluations of teaching, and preferences for contrasting academic environments', Higher Education 19:169-174.
• Ramsden, P. (1988) 'Context and strategy: situational influences on learning' in Schmeck, D. R. (ed) Learning Strategies and Learning Styles, New York & London: Plenum Press.
• Ramsden, P. (1992) Learning to Teach in Higher Education, London & New York: Routledge.