Developing Effective Assessment in Higher Education: A Practical Guide

• What are the main issues when considering the design and management of effective assessment strategies for academic programmes?
• How should lecturers design and use assessment in university so that it helps students to learn, as well as judging their achievement?
• How can students be prepared for assessment, including peer, self and group assessment?

• Assessment design
• Preparing students for assessment
• Marking and moderation
• Providing feedback
• Quality assurance

The practical guidance in the book is substantiated with reference to relevant research and policy. In particular, it considers how the different purposes of assessment create conflicting demands for staff; often characterised by the tension between attempting to support student learning whilst meeting imperatives for quality assurance and demonstrable maintenance of standards. Issues are debated using concrete examples and workable solutions are illustrated. Consideration is also given to the management of assessment as well as to how new technologies might be used to develop assessment methods and enhance student learning.

Developing Effective Assessment in Higher Education is key reading for both new and experienced lecturers, programme leaders and academic developers, and will enhance their efforts to use assessment to improve students’ learning as well as to grade them fairly, reliably and efficiently.