Challenges in reforming higher education assessment: a perspective from afar

Abstract

Can we be sure that assessment in higher education meets the need of developing and assuring high quality learning outcomes? Current assessment is typically a collection of conventional practices that have never been seriously questioned. Ten years ago, as part of a national project, representatives from Australian universities came together to identify an agenda for change in assessment. The resulting document—Assessment 2020: Seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education—focused on how assessment needed to change to support long term learning. That is, not how students can pass the next exam, but learning that is useful beyond the point of graduation.

From a learning-centred view this paper examine progress on assessment reform in universities internationally from the perspective of one of the players. It starts by considering Assessment 2020 to see where action is still needed. It reviews some of the major shifts in assessment in higher education and considers their implications. These include the move from comparing students (norm-referencing) to judging outcomes against standards (standards-based); and importantly, the conceptual shift from the single purpose of assessment as certifying students to multiple purposes including aiding learning and building the capacity of students to make their own judgements.