E-Assessment for Learning in Higher Education: Is it a wolf in sheep's clothing?

Jennifer Charteris,Mitchell Parkes,Frances Quinn,Peter Fletcher,Vicente Chua Reyes

doi:10.47408/jldhe.v0i9.278

Abstract

As an extensive body of research demonstrates, Assessment for Learning (AfL) practices can have a significant impact on student achievement in the schooling sector and over the last decade these practices have gained currency in higher education settings. Digital technologies are increasingly being embedded into university programmes, therefore it is important that the issue of quality learning as socio-political engagement in online higher education settings be carefully examined. In this article the authors, a group of pre-service teacher educators who work with students undertaking initial teacher training, explore key discourses that underpin the application of AfL in higher education digital contexts - eAfL (e-Assessment for Learning). In particular, we critique discourses of 'learnification', 'responsibilisation' and 'performativity' in relation to eAfL. We pose possibilities to be considered for the development of robust practices that promote agency and engage with students' funds of knowledge, as the socially and culturally located knowledge, skills and dispositions that learners bring to higher education contexts.Charteris et al. e-Assessment for Learning (eAfL) in higher education: is it a wolf in sheep's clothing?

Highlights

Much has been written about Assessment for Learning (AfL) in the schooling sector, and there is a growing body of literature on AfL in higher education (Bloxham and Boyd, 2007; Sambell et al, 2012; Boud and Malloy, 2013)
We argue that e-Assessment for Learning (eAfL) can support epistemological plurality and diversity but, like a potential wolf in sheep’s clothing, it can be a key tool for massification; a process that prioritises quantity over quality and contributes to the ongoing commodification of higher education
The AfL practices we describe in this paper are predominantly mediated electronically, we are continually educating our pre-service teachers by way of the eAfL discourses and practices that we adopt

Summary

Introduction

Much has been written about Assessment for Learning (AfL) in the schooling sector, and there is a growing body of literature on AfL in higher education (Bloxham and Boyd, 2007; Sambell et al, 2012; Boud and Malloy, 2013). We view that Biesta’s (2013) emphasis on action and responsibility, or agency, is embedded in an interpretation of assessment for learning that encompasses the ‘spirit of assessment for learning’ (Marshall and Drummond, 2006, p.137) and engages with learners’ funds of knowledge. This is a fluid and responsive approach to assessment practices where educators engage learners as active, agentic participants rather than take up a set of formulaic practices to provide mechanistic feedback. We critique the discourses of learnification, performativity and power surrounding eAfL in higher education

Assessment for Learning and formative assessment

Performativity and power

Conclusion

Author details