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For over 30 years, the notion of authentic assessment in higher education has been adopted in academic practice, but it has managed to escape substantial critique. Although there have been multiple definitions and operationalisations of authentic assessment, current practice tends to foreground mimicking of work tasks. Authenticity cannot be completely unmoored from the reality of workplaces, the demands of the discipline, and the overall intended learning outcomes, however, a restricted view of how these aspects are represented in assessment can limit the sector's ability to prepare graduates who can engage with and shape the changing world. This paper elaborates the multiple challenges that some conceptualisations of authentic assessment contribute to assessment planning, recognising that assessment design always requires compromise. Three theoretical perspectives on authenticity are introduced to open new possibilities for authenticity in assessment. These are (1) psychological authenticity; (2) ontological fidelity; and (3) practice theory perspectives. The final section discusses how learning design might offer a means to operationalise theory. The paper concludes by suggesting that authenticity in assessment continues to hold value for the sector beyond its current uses through stronger theoretical conceptualisation and operationalisation of authenticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the rapid growth of English Medium Instruction (EMI) programmes around the globe, the language goals in such programmes have not been clearly defined, making it difficult to evaluate their success. Accordingly, our paper reports on a study that attempted to identify the language goals, operationalised as the vocabulary expected of learners, by investigating the under-explored area of EMI assessment. We sampled a corpus of 16 sets of examination papers in two subject areas, namely, Biology and Geography, spanning eight years in Hong Kong. The examination papers, analysed for their vocabulary profiles, indicated that students were expected to learn beyond the K3 level (the most frequent 3,000 words in English) and master mid-frequency words (K4−K8) as well as academic words. Our findings suggest that the less frequent words were not often shared by the two subjects. Analysing academic words also enabled us to showcase how some words were common across the two subjects while others were more subject-specific. Pedagogical implications are discussed, highlighting the need for teachers and students to attend to target language goals in EMI, and to consider the subject-specific nature of vocabulary items in EMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key responsibility of higher education providers is the accurate certification of the knowledge and skills attained by their students. However, despite an intense focus on developing relevant quality assurance regulations, academic standards in higher education have remained resistant to explication and consistent application. In this paper, we initially deconstruct and evaluate academic standards and dominant practitioner perspectives on their nature and use, including techno-rational, sociocultural and sociomaterial approaches. The limited prior research on the effectiveness of calibration and social moderation processes is reviewed, highlighting the significant challenges in sharing tacitly held understandings of assessment criteria (attributes of quality) and standards (levels of achievement). Further complications are considered that arise from the varying expertise and power relationships of assessors and the complexities inherent in the development and use of codified artefacts for capturing and sharing standards. We opine that because of the difficulties in clearly representing and agreeing standards, it is unsurprising that there is little evidence of marking consistency to be found in the literature even in contexts where carefully crafted artefacts, such as rubrics, are in use. We conclude that effectiveness would be enhanced through sharing understandings more widely and refocusing the use of assessment codifications towards how they may catalyse effective social moderation and calibration dialogues. Dialogues that foreground individuals’ positions of consensus and dissensus at significant points of interpretation in the assessment process are identified within the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a general tension between the individualised nature of current assessment practices in higher education and a collaborative approach to learning. This results in many dilemmas for educators as they try to balance academic integrity concerns and student preferences with social or collaborative assessment practices, including peer assessment, group assignments and direct assessment of teamwork or collaboration. This paper argues that focussing on singular assessment tasks or experiences tends to lead to marginal effects. Rather, we suggest that the collaborative must be normalised within course structures: experiences of groupwork, peer learning and other forms of working with others should be commonplace and expected. We look to curricula to provide students with assessable tasks from many rich collaborative experiences, avoid issues of perceived and actual inequity and allow for risk and possible failure. We suggest that grading as presently enacted inhibits collaborative processes and that trust needs to be recognised as central and core to collaborative approaches. The challenges of assessing social and collaborative learning require holistic course wide attention that communicates to both students and colleagues that learning necessarily goes beyond the individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment is an essential part of aphasia management. There are many tools available for aphasia assessment, but relatively scant attention has been paid to how speech pathologists carry out their assessment sessions, or how these sessions are experienced by people with aphasia and their families. The evidence that is available suggests that people with aphasia do not always understand the purposes of the assessments they undertake or receive much useful feedback on their performance. Connections between adult learning and aphasia therapy are being made more explicit, such as through the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia, but the potential for a relationship between adult learning and aphasia assessment has not yet been fully recognised. This paper aims to stimulate thinking to improve current aphasia assessment practices. It uses an adult learning lens and explores theoretical approaches underpinning assessment in adult education contexts. In this commentary paper, we summarise the current, dominant practices around aphasia assessment and then briefly review evidence-based recommended practice for assessment in higher and professional education. We explore useful parallels between the two fields and discuss how we might reassess assessment in aphasia rehabilitation. Aphasia assessments have greater potential to be therapeutic than we currently assume. Ideas from adult education are useful to challenge clinicians to reconsider aspects of their practice. Assessments can be a powerful motivator for learning and engagement in therapy. Through a greater focus on formative and sustainable assessment, and changed feedback practices, there are opportunities to capitalise more fully on the potential for learning during these sessions. Attention to the rich development of ideas about assessment in education is a useful way to challenge our assumptions and perhaps prepare our clients with aphasia for a more productive and sustainable learning journey to support their recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper examines the innovative potential of micro-credentials which, arguably, is compromised if not for a particular attribute of the digital format: evidence. Evidence allows for an artifact of learning (e.g. project, writing sample) to be included in a digital micro-credential. Micro-credentials that include evidence can support individualized learning; elucidate learners' qualifications; and make assessment and credentialing processes more inclusive. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper explores the subject of higher education micro-credentials which are increasingly being offered as formal (albeit smaller and digital), credit-bearing credentials, far removed from the Open Digital Badge movement from which they originated. This paper presents a case for safeguarding the qualities of micro-credentials that allow for innovative practice, before micro-credentials become entirely subsumed into conventional assessment and credentialing practices. Findings: A review of the literature indicates that evidence, when used effectively, can support the innovative potential of micro-credentials. This subject is examined from the perspective of three categories of evidence, which are identified and illustrated through specific examples from the literature. Originality/value: This paper fulfills a need to address the features of micro-credentials that, if used effectively, can challenge traditional assessment and credentialing paradigms. Evidence is rarely discussed in the literature and has not been thoroughly examined from this perspective. Additionally, faculty who develop and implement micro-credentials face numerous challenges when attempting to include evidence in micro-credentials. This paper explores those challenges and offers several recommendations for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A source of contestation in higher education curricula is the multiplicity of demands they serve and purposes they seek to fulfil. In this paper, we see this contestation as actively shaping assessment theory and practice, resulting in paradoxes of valorisation and vilification of everyday assessment practices. We address the plethora of contestations in higher education assessment through the disruption of dichotomies in assessment discourse by re-querying assessment autonomy, logic and the basis of success. To this end, we apply Legitimation Code Theory to construct a new holistic framework for assessment inquiry, contributing to both extant and developing assessment theory by proposing a single sociological framework to analyse assessment practice cross-discipline, institution and geographical boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflection has been increasingly used to enhance student development in higher education, in both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Learner autonomy is essential on reflection, particularly on how learners interpret their learning experiences. The learner has to take initiatives in making meaning of their learning by examining their experiences, and purposefully exploring their learning. Reflection is a key component in active learning as students actively engage in the process of thinking about what they have learnt or experienced. Mezirow highlighted how reflection can mean many things, including awareness of a perception, thought, feeling, intention and action, taking something into consideration or simply imagining alternatives. And there are also multiple approaches to embracing reflection today, such as reflective essays, videos and online blogs, where reflective processes and approaches may differ particularly in relation to technological adoption. In a learning environment, reflective approaches are adopted with the aim for learners to transfer knowledge and experiences to practice. However, there is scarce literature on student perception of the different reflective approaches. The present paper therefore examines student perspectives on four different reflective approaches and how these different approaches are applied within the context of higher education. The four approaches chosen are written, audio, video and face-to-face based on current literature on how reflection is documented or presented in education) and the integration of the concept of multimodality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theoretical understanding is offered to help explore how students attempt to reconcile divergent narratives around the purposes of Higher Education in relation to their own writing. Drawing from the twin notions of centripetal and centrifugal forces, the paper discusses the ways that students both follow and resist convention in their own writing, and their reasons for doing so. In revealing the intricate oscillation between restrictive and expansive writing approaches, the research suggests that students 'tilt' their writing according to a diverse and broad understanding of higher education learning. Derived from semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students at a pre-1992 university, the research challenges the over-emphasis placed on consumeristic agendas of students and provides insights beneficial for practitioners involved in the supporting and assessing of student writing in Higher Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper briefly discusses Peter Senge's Continuous Assessment Learning Organization Model for Quality Improvement, and describes how it is implemented in improving the quality of education by Christian Religious Colleges in Indonesia. The main conclusion of this paper is that Christian Religious Colleges in Indonesia must develop an organizational culture where continuous assessment for quality improvement is part of everyday practice in schools. To achieve this, it is proposed that schools should become learning communities based on Peter Senge's Learning Organization model. While this paper is not based on research, the main implication is that every school should seek creative ways to implement Peter Senge's Continuous Assessment Learning Organization Model for Quality Improvement according to its culture and spirituality. A second implication is a Christian learning organization should be a prayer‐defined organization. Every activity, every decision should be informed by prayer and be done in prayer, seeking the will of God, his approval, and his glory. Prayer should play a key role in any assessment. This conceptual paper is original as it explores the fit of applying Peter Senge's Continuous Assessment Learning Organization Model with seeking the will of God, his approval, and his glory for quality improvement in Christian Religious Colleges in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accountability systems in higher education ensure that academic programs meet learning outcomes and address student cognitive and affective development. The learning outcome assessment is one of the most important elements to enhance and assure the quality of programs. In this paper, we present a "tour" of how an assessment cycle is performed in a national/public university in Qatar. The study draws on "good" practices and how a higher education institution systemizes the process of assessing learning. The approach demonstrates how learning is connected to program objectives and the curriculum through a rational, logical, conceptual, consensual, and interpretable process. Employing specification tables known as curriculum and assessment plan matrices, with tools being assessments and rubrics, learning outcomes measures can be reached. The approach as well as system calls for an institutional structure and organization which place responsibilities on all stakeholders involved in academic programs delivery. The futuristic approach and practice posit a reconceptualization of how students will be assessed, more likely a paradigm shift necessitating a change in practice and trend in which students' success (achievement) can be based on the learning outcomes attained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ChatGPT, a sophisticated online chatbot, sent shockwaves through many sectors once reports filtered through that it could pass exams. In higher education, it has raised many questions about the authenticity of assessment and challenges in detecting plagiarism. Amongst the resulting frenetic hubbub, hints of potential opportunities in how ChatGPT could support learning and the development of critical thinking have also emerged. In this paper, we examine how ChatGPT may affect assessment in engineering education by exploring ChatGPT responses to existing assessment prompts from ten subjects across seven Australian universities. We explore the strengths and weaknesses of current assessment practice and discuss opportunities on how ChatGPT can be used to facilitate learning. As artificial intelligence is rapidly improving, this analysis sets a benchmark for ChatGPT's performance as of early 2023 in responding to engineering education assessment prompts. ChatGPT did pass some subjects and excelled with some assessment types. Findings suggest that changes in current practice are needed, as typically with little modification to the input prompts, ChatGPT could generate passable responses to many of the assessments, and it is only going to get better as future versions are trained on larger data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the way "moderation" is defined and operationalised at UK universities. It is hoped that this investigation provides pointers for modifications in university documentation and practices, as well as indicates possible areas for future research. Design/methodology/approach: This paper begins with a review of relevant scholarly literature, first tracing the history of the concept of moderation (essentially meaning the avoidance of extremes) in western thought and then proceeding to show how moderation is understood and operationalised in UK universities. Relevant documentation from 10 UK universities, all in the public domain, is analysed to show both commonalities and differences in definition and operationalisation of moderation. Findings: This paper shows that universities differ in their understanding of the scope of moderation, with some seeing it as covering the evaluation of draft assessment artifacts. It is also noted that the distinction between moderation and marking is not always expressed in university documentation in ways that distinguish between the two with maximal clarity. Research limitations/implications: Limitations include the relatively small sample of documents examined. Conversely, ancient universities (e.g. Edinburgh), long-established universities (e.g. Manchester) and 1992 and more recent universities (e.g. Manchester Metropolitan University and Suffolk) are contained in the sample, so moderation practices from across the sector are included. Practical implications: The main findings are that some universities see moderation as including drafting, redrafting and approval of assessment artifacts, whereas others do not. In addition, although all universities stress that moderation and marking are separate activities, some documentation discusses both the activities in tandem; thus, undermining the contention that they are discrete. Both these findings have implications for UK university documentation in terms of both document structure and precise wording. Originality/value: The approach taken, in which a sample of publicly available university documents is scrutinised and evaluated, casts a new light on understandings of "moderation", which is a term and concept that may not always be examined critically by lecturers and quality assurance professionals involved in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers are one of the core professionals on the mental health workforce and most work with individuals, families, and communities with mental health and addiction concerns. Schools of social work have a responsibility to adequately prepare students for practice in the field of mental health and addictions, but there are gaps in social work education and training. This paper describes a social work practice in mental health course that has been re-designed to focus on developing student competence in mental health, addictions, and suicide risk assessment. We formed an advisory committee consisting of faculty, MSW and PhD students, as well as community social workers. The re-designed course uses simulation-based learning and a form of blended learning known as a flipped classroom approach. We developed educational online modules that provide opportunities for students to increase knowledge on mental health and addictions and give more time to focus on practice in the classroom. Simulation-based learning provides students with opportunities to practice in the classroom with a simulated client. This paper will describe how simulation can be used to teach and assess mental health and addiction competencies. We will discuss implications for social work education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-quality learning process in higher education properly and constructively aligns essential elements: study programs and course objectives, learning outcomes, content, student workload, teaching and learning activities, assessment methods, and acquisition of student competencies, which is known in the literature as constructive alignment (CA). In essence, CA is bringing into alignment the predetermined competencies, the learning and teaching activities, and the assessment types. Furthermore, CA is an outcomes-based approach to teaching in which the learning outcomes that students are intended to achieve are defined before teaching takes place. Learning success at all levels of study primarily depends on constructive alignment as one of the most significant and influential principles in higher education. Detailed knowledge of this principle and consistent application is the basic obligation of teaching staff in higher education. To develop a “constructively aligned” course unit, a teacher should start from the intended course-specific competencies, after which they should choose the most appropriate learning, instructive, and teaching activities, and assessment methods for these specific competencies. The paper explains in more detail the essence of CA between student workload expressed through ECTS, study programs, course and unit objectives, learning outcomes, theoretical and practical contents, teaching and learning methodology, formative and summative assessment methods, and effective acquisition of student generic and course-specific competencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested the influence of instructional elements within an online Open Educational Resource (OER) focused on information literacy (IL) on outcome measures of IL achievement, learner satisfaction and IL self-efficacy among undergraduate students. An online OER was designed to address the domains of access, evaluation and communication of IL guided by the notion of instructional scaffolding and self-regulated learning. Participants were randomly placed into one of six different OER conditions: (a) full version with all instructional elements, (b) lean version, (c) version without tooltip text, (d) version without embedded practice questions, (e) version without learning objectives and (f) version without summaries. There were no significant differences found across the six conditions on the dependent measures. Participants averaged 58% for IL achievement, performing slightly better in the domain of access versus evaluate and communicate. Limitations include a controlled laboratory setting where participants were not necessarily motivated to complete the study tasks at a high level of achievement. Future research can explore more ecologically valid environments where learners might be more motivated, along with more rigorous intervention and assessment construction. This paper includes implications for educators and researchers to explore the established and innovative instructional elements that are natural affordances of an online OER in IL. This paper presents innovative IL instruction that does not require instructor or learner training and evaluates its effectiveness using a sound, replicable methodological approach to isolate the effects of the individual instructional elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflection has been integrated in many healthcare educations programs to achieve deeper learning and improve professional practice. A variety of evaluation tools are used to assess reflection, but few guides are available to inform educators in their choice of a relevant evaluation tool. The aim of this paper is to identify all existing evaluation tools published along with their strengths and weaknesses. A review strategy retrieved tools available in Medline, PsychInfo, CINALH and Eric databases. The procedures outlined by Munn and colleagues were used to synthetize the information. Additionally, the reflection dimensions assessed in each tool (when sufficient information was available) were analyzed deductively, using thematic analysis according to the Killion and Todnem framework. Subthemes were identified inductively. Forty-five papers were identified, reporting on 34 different tools. The tools were based on a variety of theoretical models. Some had evidence of adequate validity and fidelity. Eleven components of reflection were identified across tools. No tool encompassed all components, but most tools included between three and five components. Context surrounding evaluation should be carefully considered when choosing an evaluation tool for reflection. There is a need for further research to validate the psychometric properties of reflection evaluation tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory analysis of campus community member (i.e. students, faculty, staff) definitions of sustainability, their perceptions of select elements of sustainability culture and the relationship between the two. Design/methodology/approach: Researchers implemented a cross-sectional design where participants from two higher education institutions in the USA completed an online survey. The 352 respondents from James Madison University and 349 respondents from Wofford College included students, faculty and staff members. Descriptive statistics were used to examine patterns in the quantitative data, and an inductive theme approach was used to analyze the qualitative data. Findings: This study provides evidence that sustainability is often viewed from an environmental lens, and personal definitions of sustainability may impact perceptions of campus sustainability culture elements. Generally, the highest rated elements of culture examined (i.e. university actions, signs and symbols and institutional commitments) were all aligned with the environment dimension of sustainability and consistent across sustainability definitions. However, respondents with a more integrative definition of sustainability expected to see elements of culture that aligned with the social dimension of sustainability at a considerably higher rate than the respondents who reported more narrow definitions of sustainability. Research limitations/implications: Lack of generalizability, low response rates and self-selection bias are some of the limitations of the study. Practical implications: Personal definitions of sustainability may impact campus community member perceptions of sustainability culture and progress on their campuses. Practitioners may use this study to inform development of more effective strategies for creating and assessing the culture of sustainability that colleges and universities are pursuing. Originality/value: The empirical analysis of campus community members on two very different campus communities responds to Owens and Legere (2015) who argue for further studies to understand the concept of sustainability at other higher education institutions that are at different stages of pursuing sustainability. This paper links research about sustainability definitions to the emergent research on campus sustainability culture, filling a gap between these two areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alongside unprecedented shifts in health care, and widespread lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an almost immediate shift towards digitally supported remote delivery in higher education. This paper explores the experiences and perceptions of 15 teaching academics from five universities in Victoria, Australia during this time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics after they had been delivering teaching, learning and assessment remotely for a six-month period. The analysis showed that while the remote delivery environment enhanced many aspects of teaching and learning, including agile and adaptable academic skill-sets, there were challenges. The academics' sophisticated teaching skills and experience, that were intuitively relied upon in the face-to-face setting, did not always translate to the online environment. In particular, this was noticed in terms of the relational approach to teaching and learning, including relationships, rapport, and connectedness within classes, and the absence of social formative assessment cues to evaluate learners' understandings. Students were not asking questions in class and required additional support from academics, which subsequently increased already overburdened workloads. After considering the findings of our work and others, we provide recommendations to support high quality teaching and learning in digitally supported remote delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past ten years, we have worked in a collaboration between educators and computer scientists at the University of Illinois to imagine futures for education in the context of what is loosely called "artificial intelligence." Unhappy with the first generation of digital learning environments, our agenda has been to design alternatives and research their implementation. Our starting point has been to ask, what is the nature of machine intelligence, and what are its limits and potentials in education? This paper offers some tentative answers, first conceptually, and then practically in an overview of the results of a number of experimental implementations documented in greater detail elsewhere. Our key finding is that artificial intelligence—in the context of the practices of electronic computing developing over the past three quarters of a century—will never in any sense "take over" the role of teacher, because how it works and what it does are so profoundly different from human intelligence. However, within the limits that we describe in this paper, it offers the potential to transform education in ways that—counterintuitively perhaps—make education more human, not less. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The action-oriented approach (AoA) is a powerful basis to inform teaching, learning, and assessment in the classroom that identifies learners as social agents and focuses on language learning through language use. This paper answers the call for developments that help teachers teach and learners learn in an AoA-informed way. We argue that cognitive discourse functions (CDFs) align with AoA, helping to develop learner thinking by focusing on the learners' use of language. We complement our conceptual discussion referring to the process of developing a self- and peer-assessment tool informed by AoA and CDFs and the initial application of this tool in an advanced academic writing course in a Japanese university with B1 and B2 level students. We discuss how this tool can guide learners' understanding of their writing process and fosters learners' responsibility for deciding how they mobilize their linguistic resources to express particular language functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the validity of an assessment programme, it is essential to align it with the intended learning outcomes (LO). We present a model for ensuring assessment validity which supports this constructive alignment and uses learning analytics (LA). The model is based on LA that include a comparison between ideal LO weights (expressing the prioritization of LOs), actual assessment weights (maximum assessment points per LO), and student assessment results (actually obtained assessment points per LO), as well as clustering and trace data analysis. These analytics are part of a continuous improvement cycle, including strategic planning and learning design (LD) supported by LO prioritization, and monitoring and evaluation supported by LA. To illustrate and test the model, we conducted a study on the example of a graduate‐level higher education course in applied mathematics, by analysing student assessment results and activity in a learning management system. The study showed that the analyses provided valuable insights with practical implications for the development of sound LD, tailored educational interventions, databases of assessment tasks, recommendation systems, and self‐regulated learning. Future research should investigate the possibilities for automation of such LA, to enable full exploitation of their potential and use in everyday teaching and learning. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic To develop sound, student‐centred learning design (LD), it is essential to ensure that assessment is constructively aligned with the intended learning outcomes (LO).This constructive alignment is crucial for ensuring the validity of an assessment program.Learning analytics (LA) can provide insights that help develop valid assessment programs.What this paper adds As not all LOs are equally important, assessment programs should reflect the prioritization of LOs, which can be determined by using various multi‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM) methods.This article presents and illustrates, based on an empirical case, a model of continuous improvement of LD, which uses LA to compare how LOs are reflected in (actual) students' results, in an (actual) assessment program, and in the (ideal) prioritization of LOs based on MCDM.The study presents how clustering of students based on their assessment results can be used in LA to provide insights for educational interventions better targeted to students' needs.Implications for practice and/or policy The proposed LA can provide important insights for the development (or improvement) of LD in line with the intended course LOs, but also study program LOs (if course and study program LOs are properly aligned).The LA can also contribute to the development of databases of assessment tasks aligned with course LOs, with ensured validity, supporting sharing and reusing, as well as to the development of tailored educational interventions (eg, based on clustering).The proposed LA can also contribute to the development of recommendation systems, with recommendations for the improvement of LD for teachers or learning suggestions for students, as well as students' meta‐cognition and self‐regulated learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulation‐based learning provides students with unique opportunities to develop key procedural and teamwork skills in close‐to‐authentic physical learning and training environments. Yet, assessing students' performance in such situations can be challenging and mentally exhausting for teachers. Multimodal learning analytics can support the assessment of simulation‐based learning by making salient aspects of students' activities visible for evaluation. Although descriptive analytics have been used to study students' motor behaviours in simulation‐based learning, their validity and utility for assessing performance remain unclear. This study aims at addressing this knowledge gap by investigating how indoor positioning analytics can be used to generate meaningful insights about students' tasks and collaboration performance in simulation‐based learning. We collected and analysed the positioning data of 304 healthcare students, organised in 76 teams, through correlation, predictive and epistemic network analyses. The primary findings were (1) large correlations between students' spatial‐procedural behaviours and their group performances; (2) predictive learning analytics that achieved an acceptable level (0.74 AUC) in distinguishing between low‐performing and high‐performing teams regarding collaboration performance; and (3) epistemic networks that can be used for assessing the behavioural differences across multiple teams. We also present the teachers' qualitative evaluation of the utility of these analytics and implications for supporting formative assessment in simulation‐based learning. Practitioner notesWhat is currently known about this topic Assessing students' performance in simulation‐based learning is often challenging and mentally exhausting.The combination of learning analytics and sensing technologies has the potential to uncover meaningful behavioural insights in physical learning spaces.Observational studies have suggested the potential value of analytics extracted from positioning data as indicators of highly‐effective behaviour in simulation‐based learning.What this paper adds Indoor positioning analytics for supporting teachers' formative assessment and timely feedback on students' group/team‐level performance in simulation‐based learning.Empirical evidence supported the potential use of epistemic networks for assessing the behavioural differences between low‐performing and high‐performing teams.Teachers' positively validated the utility of indoor positioning analytics in supporting reflective practices and formative assessment in simulation‐based learning.Implications for practitioners Indoor positioning tracking and spatial analysis can be used to investigate students' teamwork and task performance in simulation‐based learning.Predictive learning analytics should be developed based on features that have direct relevance to teachers' learning design.Epistemic networks analysis and comparison plots can be useful in identifying and assessing behavioural differences across multiple teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital competence is among the basic key competences for digital learning and employability. For this reason, its acquisition and development should be on the agenda of higher education institutions (HEIs) who wish to prepare their students to thrive in an ever faster evolving digital labour market. However, the existence of a valid instrument that can help HEIs measuring and further integrating digital competence into pedagogical and organisational practices with sufficient precision is yet to be accomplished. This article provides a valid and reliable instrument to measure higher education students' digital competence on the basis of the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, also known as DigComp. The instrument was applied to a sample of 411 students from a mid‐large public HEI and the results attest its validity and reliability. In addition, the study explores proficiency differences among students from different fields of education and training, and gender. Results demystify the idea that ICT students are more digitally competent than those in other fields of study, but suggest males score higher than females, which feeds into the ongoing debate of gender differences in relation to digital technologies and the readiness of females for the digital labour market. The results lead to clear implications for research and practice. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicDigital competence is critical for higher education (HE) students to benefit from digital learning, strive in a digital society and increase employability prospects.There is a lack of valid instruments to measure higher education (HE) students' digital competence and facilitate the identification of digital competence gaps.Few studies focus on the relationship between HE students' digital competence, gender and fields of education and training (FET).What this paper addsA valid and reliable instrument based on a common European framework for digital competence.HE students lack the necessary digital competences to effectively cope with digital environments.Digital proficiency is particularly low regarding "Safety", "Problem solving" and "Digital content creation" competence areas.ICT students show less proficiency than those from other FET.Male students score higher than females.Implications for practice and/or policyThe instrument can be adopted by different stakeholders to assess students/future job seekers' digital competence.HE institutions could benefit from such an instrument as a diagnosis to design specific teaching and learning strategies and target students' proficiency and particular needs.Tackling specific FET and competence areas can better support the development of students' digital competence and facilitate their employability prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries have been the integral & vital part of the Higher Education system which extends support in teaching-learning & fulfillment of objectives and mission of the educational institutions they are part of. Library is considered as the "heart of the institutions" and this statement was used by Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, eminent scholar & academician in its report of UEC (University Education Commission) (1948-1949). The present paper discusses about NAAC's quality indicators for library. NAAC (National Assessment & Accreditation Council) is playing very important role in the development of libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines a creative Wikipedia-based project developed by the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries and the KU Biology Department. Inspired by the tenets of open pedagogy, the purpose of this project is to use Wikipedia as a way for students to learn about the scholarly peer review process while also producing material that can be shared and used by the world outside the classroom. The paper is divided into three sections, with the first summarizing pertinent related literature related to the paper's topic. From here, the paper describes the proposed assignment, detailing a process wherein students write new articles for the encyclopedia which are then anonymously peer reviewed by other students in the class; when articles are deemed acceptable, they are published via Wikipedia. The parallels between this project and academic peer review are emphasized throughout. The paper closes by discussing the importance of this project, arguing that it fills a known scholarly need, actively produces knowledge, furthers the aims of the open access movement, and furthers scientific outreach initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a faculty-wide investigation into the experiences of students requiring academic accommodations due to disability. Underpinned by the social model of disability and acceptance that universal design benefits the entire community, this study was conducted at a leading Australian university. A mixed methods approach was used to examine each of the three standard accommodations available: assignment extension, special consideration, and academic adjustment plans. Students living with disability were able to self-identify and to share their experiences relating to these procedures. As a result, data from 493 student survey responses and 9 subsequent follow-on interviews were analysed. At the same time, 10 disability support staff were asked about barriers and enablers faced by students. It was found that most students requiring assistance due to disability, identified as having a 'hidden' disability (learning, cognition or psychiatric conditions). It was also found that accommodations most often related to assessment. While students were most satisfied with academic adjustment plans developed with the support staff, self-perceived notions of stigma associated with disability negatively impacted upon interactions with peers and teaching staff. This study contributes to an emerging body of literature which considers the potential impact universal design might have on the student experience. It is argued that findings are particularly relevant as educators re-imagine university learning and teaching for a post-COVID world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through this point-of-departure paper we aim to prompt discussion and action around redesigning university learning to help students tackle climate-related challenges in a personally and societally meaningful way. We use the lens of assessment to draw attention to how discipline areas without an explicit environmental or climate science focus can play a fundamental part in prompting climate action. We draw on the very limited number of studies to date of assessment related to climate learning and on an illustrative example of teaching and assessing leadership practices for confronting climate change to make recommendations with relevance for all curricula. We reflect on assessment tools, approaches, strategies, and good practice that not only gauge the level of learning at individual and whole cohort level but also prompt meaningful learning to take place through the way they are designed, with potential impact outside the campus walls and beyond the end of formal university study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of faculty in gathering, analyzing and using student learning data is growing and changing, but still underrepresented in the higher education research literature. While faculty are often expected and required to participate in assessment work, some faculty go beyond assessment work as service to take leadership roles. Using data collected and analyzed through a multi-phase exploratory sequential mixed methods research design, we combine data from administrator surveys, faculty interviews and analysis of faculty CVs to describe the role of faculty who take leadership roles in assessment work on their campuses: faculty assessment leaders. In this paper, we examine how faculty assessment leaders came to the role, if and how they were trained or prepared for the role, and how they describe their work. We recommend that institutions who seek to promote faculty engagement in assessment take a strategic approach to developing faculty assessment leaders, providing them with training and recognizing and rewarding their leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the back of recent assessment choice projects this study seeks to reimagine higher education assessment as a means of shifting the 'locus of control' from the teacher to the student. Central to this shift is the belief that a flexible assessment approach will promote self-regulation in learners, increased self-efficacy and, subsequently academic engagement and performance. This paper details the design, setup and configuration of assessment choice for students studying an online business subject. Details are provided outlining the assessment choices made by students and the impact on student satisfaction and the student success rates. Overall students demonstrated receptiveness towards the provision of assessment choice. This was evidenced by positive feedback from students, as well as improved subject satisfaction. While further research is required, the findings presented here provide a case for greater assessment flexibility and the broader adoption of an assessment choice approach in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon a wider piece of research, this paper focuses on students' views of assessment in higher education. It reports on data collected from a total of 5,549 students in five Portuguese public universities. The study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of two scales, one measuring the purposes and effects associated by students with assessment; and the other determining the most commonly used assessment methods. Both scales demonstrated adequate validity based on internal structure and acceptable reliability. Findings indicate that students reported more purposes and effects associated with a summative dimension of assessment than with a formative dimension. The most commonly used methods were written tests/exams and collective methods. Statistically significant differences were found in assessment methods, purposes and effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over recent decades, literature on assessment in higher education has intensified generating a wealth of frameworks to inform practice. Generic frameworks for assessment practice are sometimes perceived as missing subject-specific considerations. This literature review proposes to (a) map the current landscape of assessment in engineering education and to (b) help drive the field forwards by identifying elements of assessment that require discipline-specific consideration as a foundation to formulate good practice. Sources were identified using a broad set of keywords related to assessment in engineering education. Inclusion criteria considered papers about university-level education and were published, in English, between 2012 and 2018. The review establishes that much literature has focused on design, accreditation and marking with much less literature on key concerns in practice such as workplace assessment, student engagement and programme level design. Based on the results, recommendations are made for research areas where greater focus is needed to advance further engineering specific insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this paper, the challenging and thorny issue of assessing graduate attributes (GAs) is addressed. An interdisciplinary team at The University of Alberta ----developed a formative model of assessment centered on students and instructor interaction with course content. Design/methodology/approach: The paper starts by laying the theoretical groundwork on which this novel GA assessment tool is based, that is, competency-based education, assessment theory and GA assessment. It follows with a description of the online assessment tool for GAs that was developed in the course of this project. Findings: The online assessment tool for GAs targets three types of stakeholders: (1) students, who self-assess in terms of GAs, (2) instructors, who use the tool to define the extent to which each GA should be inculcated in their course and (3) administrators, who receive aggregate reports based on the data gathered by the system for high-level analysis and decision-making. Collected data by students and professors advance formative assessment of these transversal skills and assist administration in ensuring the GAs are addressed in academic programs. Graduate attributes assessment program (GAAP) is also a space for students to build a personal portfolio that would be beneficial to highlight their skills for potential employers. Research limitations/implications: This research has strong implications for the universities, since it can help institutions, academics and students achieve better results in their practices. This is done by demonstrating strong links between theory and practice. Although this tool has only been used within the university setting by students, instructors and administrators (for self-, course and teaching and program improvement), it could increase its social and practical impact by involving potential employers and increase our understanding of student employability. Moreover, because the tool collects data on a continuous basis, it lends itself to many possible applications in educational data mining, Practical implications: The GAAP can be used and adapted to various educational contexts. The plugin can be added to any Learning Management System (LMS), and students can have access to their data and results throughout their education. Social implications: The GAAP allows institutions to provide a longitudinal formative assessment of students' graduate attributes acquisition. It provides solid and valid evidence of students' progress in a way that would advance society and citizenship. Originality/value: To date, the GAAP is the first online interactive platform that has been developed to longitudinally assess the acquisition of GAs during a complete academic cycle/cohort. It provides a unique space where students and instructors interact with assessment scales and with concrete data for a complete university experience profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary higher education systems, the processes of assessment and feedback are often seen as coexisting activities. As a result, they have become entangled in both policy and practice, resulting in a conceptual and practical blurring of their unique purposes. In this paper, we present a critical examination of the issues created by the entanglement of assessment and feedback, arguing that it is important to ensure that the legitimate purposes of both feedback and assessment are not compromised by inappropriate conflation of the two. We situate our argument in the shifting conceptual landscape of feedback, where there is increasing emphasis on students being active players in feedback processes working with and applying information from others to future learning tasks, rather than regarding feedback as a mechanism of transmission of information by teachers. We surface and critically discuss six problems created by the entanglement of assessment and feedback: students' focus on grades; comments justifying grades rather than support learning; feedback too late to be useful; feedback subordinated to all other processes in course design; overemphasis on documentation of feedback; and the downgrading of feedback created by requirements for anonymous marking. We then propose a series of strategies for preserving the learning function of feedback, through models that give primacy to feedback within learning cycles. We conclude by offering suggestions for research and practice that seek to engage with the challenges created by the entanglement of assessment and feedback, and that maintain the unique purposes of assessment and feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic provoked an urgency for many educators to integrate digital information and communication technologies in their educational practices. We explored how faculty members tackled the task of adapting their assessment practices during the pandemic to identify what is required to sustain and favour future quality development and implementation of e‐assessment in higher education. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, we conducted semi‐structured interviews with thirty‐one individuals six months into the COVID‐19 pandemic. We identified four major themes in participants' discourse about the integration of e‐assessment during the COVID‐19 pandemic: (a) the considerations they had for the potential consequences on students and how they considered this while deciding how to move forward, (b) the preoccupations for the potential for cheating, (c) the importance of pedagogical alignment, and (d) the affordances available to them. While the COVID‐19 pandemic highlighted the fact that higher education institutions were not prepared for a pivot to‐ or greater integration of‐ e‐assessment, it also provided the tipping‐point to do so. In other words, it offered an unprecedented opportunity to critically appraise and change assessment practices, this opportunity was also a very challenging balancing act of considering the social consequences of assessment, and the alignment within set affordances. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicThe advantages of e‐assessment include the opportunity for rapid‐, even immediate‐, feedback.The integration of digital information and communication technologies to assessment practices is a source of stress and anxiety for some students.The move towards e‐assessment increases faculty members' workload.What this paper addsHow cheating, anxiety and workload were considered in the context of a forced and rushed change to e‐assessment because of the COVID‐19 pandemic.The COVID‐19 pandemic offered an opportunity to faculty members to take a critical look at their assessment practices and increase their alignment with learning outcomes.Faculty members considered the consequences of their decisions on students when making changes to their assessment.Implications for practice and/or policyMoving to e‐assessment is an opportunity to align the assessment practice with students' future professional practice, or in other words it is an opportunity to increase the authenticity of the assessment.A better integration of information and communication technology to assessment practices will require to provide educators with skills, time, evidence‐informed recommendations, and institutional support among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a feature of university courses, both in professional areas, where it is commonplace, but also across many different disciplines. Assessment of WIL can be complex as it involves parties and settings external to the university, and it can be problematic because of difficulties in aligning learning activities during placements with what is or can be assessed by the university. This paper explores the relationship between students' placement experiences and accompanying assessments in contexts where activities are tightly coupled with the curriculum, and in those where it is not. It draws on a qualitative analysis of student interviews and drawings by the interviewees of their WIL experiences, supplemented with analysis of unit guides. Our findings highlight that students' perceptions of authenticity of assessment were undermined by misalignments between the student, university and industry. Assessment authenticity was perceived by students as based on alignment between their current and future selves in the assessment process, involvement of industry supervisors and relevance of placement activities to assessment activities. The paper discusses the complexity of coordination of educational activities with external partners, especially when one party drives assessment. It then suggests a reframing of WIL assessment to promote alignment and authenticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of assessment rubrics in the higher education sector is now widespread in a number of disciplines. Typically, these rubrics are constructed by teachers who also tend to be the main users of the rubrics throughout the grading process. In recent years, questions have been raised about this teacher-directed approach and some educators have begun to explore an alternate approach to rubric construction; that is, engaging students in collaboration with their teachers to co-construct assessment rubrics. This paper outlines the processes employed in a project that investigated the co-construction of rubrics within six different contexts. The project aimed to engage students in collaboration with their teachers to co-construct rubrics which are co-owned by teacher and student. A mixed methods approach was utilized to explore the effectiveness of the strategy. Questionnaires, interviews and focus groups were utilized to gather data from both the teacher-participants and student-participants regarding their experiences of being involved in the study. Findings are presented from the perspectives of both students and teachers, relating their views of rubrics and the activity of rubric co-construction. The paper concludes with recommendations for practical approaches to rubric co-construction and future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much is made of students generally rating assessment lower than other aspects of their educational experience. It is frequently cited in research literature as evidence for a general crisis in assessment, and it strongly influences institutional enhancement efforts and media coverage of student feedback. Focusing on the UK's National Student Survey, this paper draws on a range of published empirical research to argue against the idea that relatively low scores for assessment-related survey questions indicate a general problem with assessment. Students tend to rate the quality of assessment lower when they are unhappy with the assessment outcome, and students tend to be unhappy with assessment outcomes. We therefore shouldn't be surprised at the relatively low scores for assessment-related questions. This does not mean that there isn't a general problem with assessment in higher education, just that low scores for assessment questions in student surveys aren't good evidence for it. Researchers should cite better evidence of problems with assessment quality; institutions should think more carefully before focusing enhancement efforts on assessment; and we should all generally be much more cautious about interpreting the results of quantitative student surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating the impact of Academic Literacies teaching (Lea and Street [1998. "Student Writing in Higher Education: An Academic Literacies Approach." Studies in Higher Education 23 (2): 157–72. doi:10.1080/03075079812331380364]) is difficult, as it involves gauging whether writers (1) gain better understanding of what influences written social interactions, and (2) improve their ability to manipulate language to address readers. Self-report can assess the first; the second can only be evaluated by examining texts and their effect on readers. Texts are commonly assessed with rubrics-based tools focussing on textual features, but their insensitivity to communicative context and readers' perception makes these inappropriate for an Academic Literacies framework (Canton [2018. "'It's Hard to Define Good Writing, but I Recognise it When I See it': Can Consensus-Based Assessment Evaluate the Teaching of Writing?" Journal of Academic Writing 8 (1): 13–27. doi:10.18552/joaw.v8i1.450]). Consensual assessment used by Amabile ([1996. Creativity in Context. Boulder, CL: Westview Press]) for creativity, offers a potential solution (Canton [2018. "'It's Hard to Define Good Writing, but I Recognise it When I See it': Can Consensus-Based Assessment Evaluate the Teaching of Writing?" Journal of Academic Writing 8 (1): 13–27. doi:10.18552/joaw.v8i1.450]). This paper presents a new instrument based on consensual assessment and empirically tests it. Intra-class Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) found moderate (Koo and Li [2016. "A Guideline of Selecting and Reporting Intraclass Correlation Coefficients for Reliability Research." Journal of Chiropractic Medicine 15 (2): 155–63. doi:10.1016/j.jcm.2016.02.012]) to good (Cicchetti [1994. "Guidelines, Criteria, and Rules of Thumb for Evaluating Normed and Standardized Assessment Instruments in Psychology." Psychological Assessment 6 (4): 284–90. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/50d7/f68422d0c0424674f6b235ac23be8300da38.pdf]) agreement among raters, which offers proof of concept for capturing the readers' perception of the complex interactions in writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries face periodic accreditation review, usually on a 10-year cycle in the United States. Being successful at accreditation is a milestone achievement and it takes careful and strategic planning for action items leading up to the review visit. This paper reviews the key activities undertaken by an academic library in a small sized college as it prepared for accreditation visit by Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Focus areas of activities include librarians’ collaboration with teaching faculty, information literacy and student learning outcomes, and library program review. A few recommendations are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Curriculum mapping is a procedure for documenting and visualizing student learning at the programmatic level. The process allows libraries the opportunity to record where information literacy skills are taught across the curriculum in order to locate gaps and redundancies within a library instruction program. It also allows for alignment of the library's learning outcomes with the learning outcomes important to the institution. This paper presents a review of the history of curriculum mapping, followed by a case study of how Loyola Marymount University (LMU) used the process to support information literacy in a new core curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment plays an important role in first-year students' transition to university, influencing how they learn. Poorly designed assessment can be demotivating and may even cause students to withdraw from university. An early low-stakes assessment task is recommended in first year, to provide information to students and staff on student progress, provide students with a positive experience and help them prepare for future assessments. This paper reports on first-year students' experiences of two different early assessment tasks for two disciplines, one using an online quiz and the other a 'research challenge' that served as a precursor to writing an essay. The paper also presents lecturers' reflections on what they learned, what they would change and the implications for others planning early assessment tasks for first years. Finally, ideas for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the planning and implementation of Open Badges in library and information science education at Tallinn University in order to foster and personalise student learning. The first part of the paper gives an overview of the concept and nature of Open Badges through a review of literature, the second describes the use of Open Badges in the Study Area of Information Sciences of the School of Digital Technologies at Tallinn University. The course used four types of open badges in the assessment process: basic knowledge badges, advanced knowledge badges, skill based badges and level based badges. Open Badges were directly linked to the learning outcomes and formal grading system of the course. Based on recent experience, it can be said that Open Badges are valuable tools in the assessment process which will give a more holistic picture of educational achievement of the learner. Multiple learning pathways within the course provided learners opportunities to choose their personal learning path according to their personal learning goals, learning style, interests and other preferences. Open Badges also allowed to recognize 'soft skills' or literacies. Open Badges could be also a useful tool to assess students' information literacies in different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we build on recent work on the role of the 'utopian pedagogue' to explore how utopian thinking can be developed within contemporary higher education institutions. In defending a utopian orientation on the part of HE lecturers, we develop the notion of 'minimal utopianism'; a notion which, we suggest, expresses the difficult position of critical educators concerned to offer their students the tools with which to imagine and explore alternatives to current social and political reality, while acknowledging the contingent ethical constraints of the system within which they and their students are working. While agreeing with utopian theorists such as Darren Webb who have defended the need for 'blueprint utopias' in education in the face of the reduction of the idea of utopia to a purely process-oriented pedagogy, our focus here is on the prior educational task of providing the conceptual and communicative tools for utopian thinking to emerge. The collaborative nature of this paper is reflected in the interdisciplinary sources on which we draw in developing our ideas, including moral philosophy, literary theory, political philosophy, anarchist theory and utopian studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of higher education is a multifaceted and multidimensional concept. Therefore this paper focuses on assessment of preferences by business university students. The aim of this paper is to identify preferable course of study and benefits of business higher education in case private business university. The paper shows how students perceive and evaluate study support by modern information and communication technologies and identifies most important areas of their preferences during studies. The results are based on a quantitative survey by questionnaire data collection from all students of surveyed Business University. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyisis, analysis of differences and factor analysis was conducted to find responses from students regarding their perception of the educational process. The analysis found groups of variables with significant appearance of students’ main preferences. The results show orientation of students on benefits of university education mostly in career development (p = 0.000). Prefered curiculum of graduates most importantly contains independent work, significant position at job market and self management. In the area of study support students mostly prefer flexibility and availability of study texts and materials online using mobile applications (Cramer’s V = 0.314, p = 0.013). Other significant group of students focus on expert teachers and knowledge and online / mobile consultaions. The results may help to set up students’ support in order to address current students’ needs and expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exams are increasingly being used as learning tools in the form of collaborative assessments as opposed to their traditional use as a summative assessment tool for verifying individual student learning. Despite the growing popularity of collaborative assessments, few studies test the differential effects of collaborative assessments (versus traditional assessments) on student learning. This paper analyzes 16 empirical studies from various disciplines and investigates the extent to which collaborative assessments improve student learning. The paper further provides recommendations and improved practices for instructors interested in using collaborative assessment in their classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a three-year action research project action investigating the relationship between assessment as a social structure and the agency of students within a preparatory course for postgraduate international students at a UK Russell Group University. Action research into academic writing assessment within this highly constrained context was informed by critical realism, which allows for impacts of assessment on students to be conceptualised as 'absence', in this case of agency and for change to be understood as the 'absenting of absences.' An initial reconnaissance stage precipitated the implementation of an intervention called processfolio. The first intervention cycle involved one class of 14 students; the second cycle widened the scope to three classes. A range of data sets was employed at each cycle, including interviews, and the students' processfolios. Students demonstrated varying stages of critical consciousness of assessment as a constraining social structure and, through the processfolio, some found space to resist and make agentic choices. Through the iterative process of action research, it became clear that the real purpose of the processfolio was to use assessment itself as a tool to absent the negative impacts of these assessment practices, thereby subverting and disrupting assessment as a social structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the use of audio feedback with 182 final year undergraduate students in a post-92 university studying on a Business Management undergraduate degree. It looks at the problems associated with traditional forms of feedback and feedforward and explores the reasons why students fail to engage with the comments made by lecturers regarding their performance in assessment. Feedback and feedforward are widely recognised to be vitally important for students looking to improve their grades, but the authors found that only 60% accessed their feedback when it was given in the standard, written, form with reasons ranging from students having an instrumental approach to assessment, through to a perception that the comments made were generic and lacking in meaning. This research has demonstrated that an alternative approach to feedback and feedforward, using audio rather than written communication, can increase both the number of students accessing feedback, but also students' engagement with what has been said. By using an audio-based method to hear both the comments and the final grade, students felt more thought had been put into the marking process and that comments were personalised to them, making them more likely to engage with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teamwork is one of the most important competences for most professionals, and it is therefore imperative that it be included in university education programmes, yet its evaluation continues to pose challenges. This paper reports on part of a study into the self and peer evaluation of teamwork, research which was carried out in order to analyse teamwork dynamics among students on degree courses in different disciplines, and how these relate to the outcome of teamwork and the grades obtained by each team member. The views of 351 students studying five subjects on five different degree courses were analysed, with participants divided into 95 groups. The results show that effective teamwork is related to higher grades and higher quality products. The weighting of the grade awarded to teamwork in the final subject grade conditions students' assessment of how well the team has functioned, as does the grade each student receives from their teammates. Those teams that view their team as functioning best distribute equal grades among their teammates. The results also show that those students who assess themselves positively do the same for their peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]