Assessing Learning in Higher Education addresses whatis probably the most time-consuming part of the work of staff in highereducation, and something to the complexity of which many of the recentdevelopments in higher education have added. Getting assessment ‘right’– thatis, designing and implementing appropriate models and methods, can determinethe future lives and careers of students. But, as Professor Phil Race commentsin his excellent and thought-provoking foreword, students entering highereducation often have little idea about how exactly assessment will work, andoften find that the process is very different from anything they havepreviously encountered. Assessing Learning in Higher Education containsinnovative approaches to assessment drawn from many different cultures anddisciplines. The chapter authors argue the need for changing assessment andfeedback processes so that they embrace online collaboration and discussionbetween students as well as between ‘students’ and ‘faculty’.The chaptersdemonstrate that at some points there is a need to be able to measureindividual achievement, and to do this in ways that are valid, transparent,authentic – and above all fair. Assessment and feedback processes need toensure that students are well prepared for this individual assessment, but alsoto take account of collaboration and interaction. The respective chapters of Assessing Learning in Higher Education allof which are complete in themselves, but with very useful links to ideas inother chapters, provide numerous illustrations of how this can beachieved.
