Balancing Dilemmas in Assessment and Learning in Contemporary Education

This book focuses on dilemmas inherent in the practice of assessment in the contemporary context. New forms of assessment are being introduced in all sectors of education and training, and the culture of assessment is shifting. The authors in this volume discuss the practice of assessment, reporting empirical research on modes of assessment within a variety of educational contexts, while also addressing conceptual and theoretical aspects of assessment. Though most publications on assessment do not go beyond one sector or phase of education and only consider assessment in one national context, this volume is cross-sectoral and international in scope. This groundbreaking book illustrates the conceptual and practical dilemmas of assessment and raises issues that are relevant and applicable across a variety of modes of assessment and across various contexts where assessment takes place.

Anton Havnes is an educational developer and Associate Professor at Centre for Educational Research and Development at Oslo University College. His main areas of research are learning in higher education and the workplace, as well as assessment in higher education. Liz McDowell is an educational researcher, developer and teacher at Northumbria University, UK, a National Teaching Fellow and Director of a national Centre for Excellence in Assessment for Learning. Her research interests are in assessment and student experiences of learning. She has thirty publications on these topics over the past ten years.

I: Introduction; 1: Introduction; 2: The challenges of assessment in a new learning culture; II: Connecting education and society through assessment; 3: Some consequences of writing assessment; 4: Assessment of writing in Norway; 5: Assessing craft and design; 6: Defining authentic assessment; 7: The role of assessment in preparing for lifelong learning; 8: Assessment; III: The dilemmas of assessment practice in educational institutions; 9: A theory-based discussion of assessment criteria; 10: Real or imagined?; 11: Teacher or assessor?; 12: Changing assessment practices in Norwegian higher education; 13: Performance assessment in nursing education; 14: The challenge of assessing portfolios; 15: A workplace perspective on school assessment 1; IV: Assessment, learners, and teachers; 16: Assessment for learners; 17: Academics' and academic developers' views of student self-assessment; 18: Students' experiences of feedback on academic assignments in higher education; 19: Assessment beyond belief; V: Epilogue; 20: Balancing dilemmas