Assessing Learning in Higher Education addresses what
is probably the most time-consuming part of the work of staff in higher
education, and something to the complexity of which many of the recent
developments in higher education have added. Getting assessment ‘right’– that
is, designing and implementing appropriate models and methods, can determine
the future lives and careers of students. But, as Professor Phil Race comments
in his excellent and thought-provoking foreword, students entering higher
education often have little idea about how exactly assessment will work, and
often find that the process is very different from anything they have
previously encountered.



Assessing Learning in Higher Education contains
innovative approaches to assessment drawn from many different cultures and
disciplines. The chapter authors argue the need for changing assessment and
feedback processes so that they embrace online collaboration and discussion
between students as well as between ‘students’ and ‘faculty’.



The chapters
demonstrate that at some points there is a need to be able to measure
individual achievement, and to do this in ways that are valid, transparent,
authentic – and above all fair. Assessment and feedback processes need to
ensure that students are well prepared for this individual assessment, but also
to take account of collaboration and interaction. The respective chapters of Assessing Learning in Higher Education all
of which are complete in themselves, but with very useful links to ideas in
other chapters, provide numerous illustrations of how this can be
achieved.