Table Of ContentAssessment, Learning and Judgement
in Higher Education
Gordon Joughin
Editor
Assessment, Learning
and Judgement in Higher
Education
1 3
Editor
GordonJoughin
UniversityofWollongong
CentreforEducational
Development&Interactive
Resources(CEDIR)
WollongongNSW2522
Australia
[email protected]
ISBN:978-1-4020-8904-6 e-ISBN:978-1-4020-8905-3
DOI:10.1007/978-1-4020-8905-3
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2008933305
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In memory of Peter Knight
Preface
There has been a remarkable growth of interest in the assessment of student
learninganditsrelationtotheprocessoflearninginhighereducationoverthe
pasttenyears.Thisinteresthasbeenexpressedinvariousways–throughlarge
scaleresearchprojects,internationalconferences,thedevelopmentofprinciples
of assessment that supports learning, a growing awareness of the role of
feedback as an integral part of the learning process, and the publication of
exemplary assessment practices. At the same time, more limited attention has
been given to the underlying nature of assessment, to the concerns that arise
when assessment is construed as a measurement process, and to the role of
judgementinevaluatingthequalityofstudents’work.
Itisnowtimelytotakestockofsomeofthecriticalconceptsthatunderpin
our understanding of the multifarious relationships between assessment and
learning, and to explicate the nature of assessment as judgement. Despite the
recentgrowthininterestnotedabove,assessmentinhighereducationremains
under-conceptualized. This book seeks to make a significant contribution to
conceptualizingkeyaspectsofassessment,learningandjudgement.
The book arose from the Learning-oriented Assessment Project (LOAP)
funded by theHongKong University Grants Committee, led by ateam from
The Hong Kong Institute of Education and involving all ten of the higher
education institutions in Hong Kong between 2003 and 2006. LOAP initially
focused on assessment practices, with the goal of documenting and
disseminating practices that served explicitly to promote student learning.
Thisgoalwasachievedthroughconferences,symposia,andthepublicationof
two collections of learning-oriented assessment practices in English1 (Carless,
Joughin,Liu,&Associates,2006)andChinese2(Leung&Berry,2007).Along
with this goal, the project sought to reconceptualize the relationship between
assessmentandlearning,buildingonresearchconductedintheUK,theUSA,
Europe, Asia and Australia, and drawing on leading assessment theorists in
1Carless,D.,Joughin,G.,Liu,N-F.,&Associates.(2006).Howassessmentsupportslearning:
Learning-orientedassessmentinaction.HongKong:HongKongUniversityPress.
2Leung,P.&Berry,R.(Eds).(2007).Learning-orientedassessment:Usefulpractices.Hong
Kong:HongKongUniversityPress.(PublishedinChinese)
vii
viii Preface
highereducation.TheinitialoutcomeofthiswasaSpecialIssueofthejournal,
Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, one of the leading scholarly
publications in this field (Vol 31, Issue 4: ‘‘Learning-oriented assessment:
Principlesandpractice’’).
Inthefinalphaseoftheproject,eightexpertsonassessmentandlearningin
highereducationvisitedHongKongtodeliveraseriesofinvitedlecturesatThe
HongKongInstituteofEducation.Theseexperts,TimRiordanfromtheUSA,
DavidBoudandRoyceSadlerfromAustralia,FilipDochyfromBelgium,and
JudeCarroll,KathrynEcclestone,RanaldMacdonaldandPeterKnightfrom
theUK,alsoagreedtocontributeachaptertothisbook,followingthethemes
established in their lectures. Georgine Loacker subsequently joined Tim
Riordan as a co-author of his chapter, while Linda Suskie agreed to provide
an additional contribution from the USA. This phase of the project saw its
scopeexpandtoincludeinnovativethinkingaboutthenatureofjudgementin
assessment,athemeparticularlyaddressedinthecontributionsofBoud,Sadler
andKnight.
ThesuddenuntimelydeathofPeterKnightinApril2007wasagreatshock
to his many colleagues and friends around the world and a great loss to all
concernedwiththeimprovementofassessmentinhighereducation.Peterhad
beenaprolificandstimulatingwriterandagenerouscolleague.Hiscolleague
and sometime collaborator, Mantz Yorke, generously agreed to provide the
chapterwhichPeterwouldhavewritten.Mantz’schapterappropriatelydraws
strongly on Peter’s work and effectively conveys much of the spirit of Peter’s
thinking,whileprovidingMantz’sownuniqueperspective.
My former colleagues at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, David
CarlessandPaulMorris,thethenPresidentoftheInstitute,whilenotdirectly
involved in the development of this book, provided the fertile ground for its
development through their initial leadership of LOAP. I am also indebted to
JulieJoughinwhopatientlycompletedtheoriginalpreparationandformatting
ofthemanuscript.
Wollongong GordonJoughin
February2008
Contents
1 Introduction:RefocusingAssessment..............................1.
GordonJoughin
2 Assessment,LearningandJudgementinHigherEducation:ACritical
Review ................................................. 13
GordonJoughin
3 HowCanPracticeReshapeAssessment?..........................2.9.
DavidBoud
4 TransformingHolisticAssessmentandGradingintoaVehicle
forComplexLearning ..................................... 45
D.RoyceSadler
5 FaultySignals?InadequaciesofGradingSystemsandaPossible
Response ............................................... 65
MantzYorke
6 TheEdumetricQualityofNewModesofAssessment:
SomeIssuesandProspects.................................. 85
FilipDochy
7 PlagiarismasaThreattoLearning:AnEducationalResponse ........1.1.5.
JudeCarroll
8 UsingAssessmentResultstoInformTeachingPracticeandPromote
LastingLearning ......................................... 133
LindaSuskie
9 InstrumentalorSustainableLearning?TheImpactofLearning
CulturesonFormativeAssessmentinVocationalEducation ........ 153
KathrynEcclestone
ix
x Contents
10 CollaborativeandSystemicAssessmentofStudentLearning:
FromPrinciplestoPractice ................................ 175
TimRiordanandGeorgineLoacker
11 ChangingAssessmentinHigherEducation:AModelinSupport
ofInstitution-WideImprovement............................ 193
RanaldMacdonaldandGordonJoughin
12 Assessment,LearningandJudgement:EmergingDirections ....... 215
GordonJoughin
AuthorIndex............................................... 223
SubjectIndex............................................... 229
Contributors
About The Editor
Gordon Joughin is Coordinator of Academic Development in the Centre for
Educational Development and Interactive Resources at the University of
Wollongong, Australia. He has worked in several Australian universities as
wellastheHongKongInstituteofEducationwherehedirectedthefinalphase
of the Hong Kong wide Learning Oriented Assessment Project. His research
and recent writing has focused on the relationship between learning and
assessment,withaspecialemphasisonoralassessment.Hismostrecentbook
(with David Careless, Ngar-Fun Lui and Associates) is How Assessment
Supports Learning: Learning-oriented Assessment in Action (Hong Kong
University Press). He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Higher
Education Research and Development Society of Australasia and a former
PresidentoftheAssociation’sHongKongBranch.
About The Authors
DavidBoudisDeanoftheUniversityGraduateSchoolandProfessorofAdult
EducationattheUniversityofTechnology,Sydney.HehasbeenPresidentof
theHigherEducationResearchandDevelopmentSocietyofAustralasiaandis
aCarrickSeniorFellow.Hehaswrittenextensivelyonteaching,learningand
assessment in higher and professional education, and more recently on
workplace learning. In the area of assessment he has been a pioneer in
developing learning-centred approaches to assessment and has particularly
focused on self-assessment (Enhancing Learning through Self Assessment,
Kogan Page, 1995) and building assessment skills for long-term learning
(Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education: Learning for the Longer Term,
Routledge,2007).Hisworkcanbeaccessedatwww.davidboud.com.
Jude Carroll is the author of A Handbook for Deterring Plagiarism in
Higher Education (Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development,
2007, 2nd edition) and works at Oxford Brookes University in the UK.
xi
xii Contributors
She is Deputy Director of the Assessment Standards Knowledge Exchange
(ASKe),aCentreforExcellenceinLearningandTeachingfocusedonensuring
studentsunderstandassessmentstandards.Sheresearches,writesanddelivers
workshopsaboutstudentplagiarismandaboutteachinginternationalstudents
inwaysthatimprovelearningforallstudents.
FilipDochyisProfessorofResearchonTeachingandTrainingandCorporate
Training, based jointly in the Centre for Educational Research on Lifelong
Learning and Participation and the Centre for Research on Teaching and
Training, at the University of Leuven, Belgium. He is a past president of
EARLI,theEuropeanAssociationforResearchonLearningandInstruction,
andtheEditorofEducationalResearchReview,theofficialjournalofEARLI.
Hiscurrentresearchfocusesontraining,teamlearning,teachereducationand
higher education, assessment, and corporate learning, and he has published
extensivelyonthesethemes.
Kathryn Ecclestone is Professor in Education at the Westminster Institute of
EducationatOxfordBrookesUniversity.Shehasworkedinpost-compulsory
educationforthepast20yearsasapractitionerinyouthemploymentschemes
andfurthereducationandasaresearcherspecialisingintheprinciples,politics
andpracticesofassessmentanditslinkstolearning,motivationandautonomy.
Shehasaparticularinterestinsocio-culturalapproachestounderstandingthe
interplay between policy, practice and attitudes to learning and assessment.
KathrynisamemberoftheAssessmentReformGroupandtheAccesstoHigher
EducationAssessmentworkinggroupfortheQualityAssuranceAgency.Sheis
ontheEditorialBoardofStudiesintheEducationofAdultsandisbooksreview
editor for the Journal of Further and Higher Education. She has published a
numberofbooksandarticlesonassessmentinpost-compulsoryeducation.
GeorgineLoackerisSeniorAssessmentScholaratAlvernoCollege,Milwaukee,
USA. While heading the English Department, she participated in the
development of the ability-based education and student assessment process
begun there in 1973 and now internationally recognized. She continues to
contribute to assessment theory through her writing and research on
assessment of the individual student. She has conducted workshops and
seminarsonteachingforandassessingstudentlearningoutcomesthroughout
theUnitedStatesandatinstitutions intheUK,Canada,SouthAfrica, Costa
Rica and in Australia and New Zealand as a Visiting Fellow of the Higher
EducationResearchandDevelopmentSocietyofAustralasia.
Ranald Macdonald is Professor of Academic Development and Head of
Strategic Development in the Learning and Teaching Institute at Sheffield
Hallam University. He has been responsible for leading on policy and
practice aspects of assessment, plagiarism, learning and teaching. A previous
Co-chairoftheUK’sStaffandEducationalDevelopmentAssociation,Ranald
iscurrentlyChairofitsResearchCommitteeandaSEDAFellowshipholder.
He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2005 and was a Visiting
