Assessment innovation and student experience: a new assessment challenge and call for a multi-perspective approach to assessment research

Journal article


Bevitt, Sheena 2014. Assessment innovation and student experience: a new assessment challenge and call for a multi-perspective approach to assessment research. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2014.890170
AuthorsBevitt, Sheena
Abstract

The impact of innovative assessment on student experience in higher education is a neglected research topic. This represents an important gap in the literature given debate around the marketization of higher education, international focus on student satisfaction measurement tools and political calls to put students at the heart of higher education in the UK. This paper reports on qualitative findings from a research project examining the impact of assessment preferences and familiarity on student attainment and experience. It argues that innovation is defined by the student, shaped by diverse assessment experiences and preferences and therefore its impact is difficult to predict. It proposes that future innovations must explore assessment choice mechanisms which allow students to shape their own assessments. Cultural change and staff development will be required to achieve this. To be accepted, assessment for student experience must be viewed as a complementary layer within a complex multi perspective model of assessment which also embraces assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment for life long learning. Further research is required to build a meta theory of assessment to enhance the synergies between these alternative approaches and to minimise tensions between them.

The impact of innovative assessment on student experience in higher education is a neglected research topic. This represents an important gap in the literature given debate around the marketization of higher education, international focus on student satisfaction measurement tools and political calls to put students at the heart of higher education in the UK. This paper reports on qualitative findings from a research project examining the impact of assessment preferences and familiarity on student attainment and experience. It argues that innovation is defined by the student, shaped by diverse assessment experiences and preferences and therefore its impact is difficult to predict. It proposes that future innovations must explore assessment choice mechanisms which allow students to shape their own assessments. Cultural change and staff development will be required to achieve this. To be accepted, assessment for student experience must be viewed as a complementary layer within a complex multi perspective model of assessment which also embraces assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment for life long learning. Further research is required to build a meta theory of assessment to enhance the synergies between these alternative approaches and to minimise tensions between them.

KeywordsAssessment; Innovation; Student experience; Learning; Choice; Emotion
Year2014
JournalAssessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
ISSN0260-2938
1469-297X
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2014.890170
Web address (URL)http://hdl.handle.net/10545/581439
hdl:10545/581439
Publication dates26 Feb 2014
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Deposited30 Oct 2015, 13:25
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ContributorsUniversity of Derby
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