David Boud

Sustainable Assessment: Rethinking assessment for the learning society

Assessment practices in higher education institutions tend not to equip students well for the processes of effective learning in a learning society. The purposes of assessment should be extended to include the preparation of students for sustainable assessment. Sustainable assessment encompasses the abilities required to undertake those activities that necessarily accompany learning throughout life in formal and informal settings. Characteristics of effective formative assessment identified by recent research are used to illustrate features of sustainable assessment. Assessment acts need both to meet the specific and immediate goals of a course as well as establishing a basis for students to undertake their own assessment activities in the future. To draw attention to the importance of this, the idea that assessment always has to do double duty is introduced.

Enhancing Learning Through Self-assessment

Part 1 Self-assessment, learning and assessment: what is learner self-assessment? self-assessment and ideas about learning self-assessment and ideas about assessment what is the scope of self-assessment? Part 2 Examples of practice: self and peer marki

Peer Learning and Assessment

ABSTRACT Various forms of peer, collaborative or cooperative learning, particularly small group activities, are increasingly used within university courses to assist students meet a variety of learning outcomes. These include working collaboratively with others, taking responsibility for their own learning and deepening their understanding of specific course content. The potential benefits of peer learning have long been recognised and are especially relevant today. However, many existing assessment practices act to undermine the goals of peer learning and lead students to reject learning cooperatively. If assessment gives students the message that only individual achievement is valued, and that collaborative effort is akin to cheating, then the potential of peer learning will not be realised. Inappropriate assessment practices may also lead to unhelpful forms of competition within and between groups that prevent groups functioning effectively. This paper examines some of the main assessment issues in con...

Aligning assessment with long-term learning

Assessment in higher education is commonly held to contribute to feedback to students on their learning and the certification of their achievement. This paper argues that this short‐term focus must be balanced against a longer‐term emphasis for learning‐oriented assessment to foster future learning after graduation. The paper proposes that students need to become assessors within the context of participation in practice, that is, the kinds of highly contextualised learning faced in life and work. It discusses the kinds of practices that are needed to refocus assessment within higher education courses to this end.

Promoting reflection in professional courses: The challenge of context

ABSTRACT Reflection and the promotion of reflective practice have become popular features of the design of educational programmes. This has often led to learning being more effectively facilitated. However, alongisde these positive initiatives have grown more disturbing developments under the general heading of reflection. They have involved both misconceptions of the nature of reflection which have led to instrumental or rule-following approaches to reflective activities, and the application of reflective strategies in ways which have sought inappropriate levels of disclosure from participants or involved otherwise unethical practices. The article examines the question: what constitutes the effective use of reflective activities? It argues that reflection needs to be flexibly deployed, that it is highly context-specific and that the social and cultural context in which reflection takes place has a powerful influence over what kinds of reflection it is possible to foster and the ways in which this might b...

Student Self-Assessment in Higher Education: A Meta-Analysis

Quantitative self-assessment studies that compared self- and teacher marks were subjected to a meta-analysis. Predictions stemming from the results of an earlier critical review of the literature (Boud & Falchikov, 1989) were tested, and salient variables were identified. Factors that seem to be important with regard to the closeness of correspondence between self- and teacher marks were found to include the following: the quality of design of the study (with better designed studies having closer correspondence between student and teacher than poorly designed ones); the level of the course of which the assessment was a part (with students in advanced courses appearing to be more accurate assessors than those in introductory courses); and the broad area of study (with studies within the area of science appearing to produce more accurate self-assessment generally than did those from other areas of study). Results of the analysis are discussed and differences signaled by the results of the three common metrics examined. The distinction between relative and absolute judgment of performance is drawn. It is recommended that researchers give attention to both good design and to adequate reporting of self-assessment studies.

Learning from others at work: communities of practice and informal learning

This paper addresses the question of who is involved in learning in workplaces and the ways in which members of workgroups learn as part of their normal work. It draws on qualitative data from a study of multiple worksites with differentiated work within a large organisation. It examines the value of the notion of communities of practice in conceptualising such workplace learning and suggests that other forms of conceptualisation are also needed.

Quantitative studies of student self-assessment in higher education: a critical analysis of findings

Student self-assessment occurs when learners make judgements about aspects of their own performance. This paper focuses on one aspect of quantitative self-assessments: the comparison of student-generated marks with those generated by teachers. Studies including such comparisons in the context of higher education courses are reviewed and the following questions are addressed: (i) do students tend to over- or under-rate themselves vis-á-vis teachers?, (ii) do students of different abilities have the same tendencies?, (iii) do students in different kinds or levels of course tend to under- or over-rate themselves?, (iv) do students improve their ability to rate themselves over time or with practice?, (v) are the same tendencies evident when self-marks are used for formal assessment purposes?, and (vi) are there gender differences in self-rating? The paper also discusses methodological issues in studies of this type and makes recommendations concerning the analysis and presentation of information.

Understanding Learning at Work.

1. Understandings of workplace learning David Boud & John Garrick Section One: Context 2. The changing contexts of work Catherine Casey 3. Learning to work and working to learn Ronald Barnett Section Two: Perspectives 4. New dimensions in the dynamics of learning and knowledge Judy Matthews & Phillip Candy 5. Finding a good theory of workplace learning Paul Hager 6. Past the guru and up the garden path: The new organic management learning David Beckett 7. Gender workers and gendered workplaces: Implications for learning Belinda Probert Section Three: Issues in Practice 8. Culture and difference in workplace learning Nicky Solomon 9. Technologising equity: The politics and practices of work-related learning Elaine Butler 10. Guided learning at work Stephen Billet 11. Is learning transferable Mark Tennant 12. Competency-based learning: a dubious past-an assured future? Andrew Gonczi Section Four: Futures 13. Envisioning new organisations for learning Victoria J. Marsick & Karen E. Watkins 14. Future learning, future work and the new production of knowledge John Garrick Index

Peer Learning in Higher Education: Learning from & with Each Other.

While peer learning is often used informally by students - and for many can form an essential part of their HE experience - this book discusses methods of developing more effective learning through the systematic implementation of peer learning approaches.