Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning - Issues of Teaching and Learning, 7(5)

Assessment – ritualistic nonsense or a real attempt to encourage learning and measure understanding?

The student: The cramming; the late night slog to get the essay written; the hype of the exam room; the speed writing 'under exam conditions'; the good paper, the bad paper; "why can't we have an assignment rather than an exam?"; the mnemonics to queue memory, the forgetting when it is all over; the grade, oh well.

The teacher: Setting the exam; "that should sort them out"; hints to students; the risk of ambiguity; errors on the paper; the late night slog to get all that marking done; the grades; the examiners' meetings; the threat of appeals; "where were they during my lectures?"

Is this what it's all about?

What's Inside ITL

Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves making our expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards; and using the resulting information to document, explain, and improve performance. When it is embedded effectively within larger institutional systems, assessment can help us focus our collective attention, examine our assumptions, and create a shared academic culture dedicated to assuring and improving the quality of higher education
(Thomas A. Angelo, AAHE Bulletin, November 1995, p.7)

The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) invites reader response to its publication ITL. Responses advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised will be published in the Web version of that issue.