ABSTRACT
Assessment matters for more reasons than most people recognize. Most see it as a means of producing a mark for a piece of work or for a learner. In fact, it has a great deal to do with enhancing learning itself. In addition, assessment matters in the context of this book because it is particularly an issue of concern in this area of reflective and experiential learning. Indeed, it has been suggested that until the assessment issues of reflective and experiential learning are solved, these cannot be easily used as forms of learning in higher education. However, the main message of this chapter is that there is no more to assessing these less usual forms of learning than to assessing any other common task, such as the writing of an essay or an examination script. This is not because there is necessarily similarity between assessment methods such as essays and journals (O'Rourke, 1998). The similarity is at the level of the application to both of a set of principles of assessment. This chapter, therefore, is an account of the basic principles of assessment as they can be applied to reflective and experiential learning.
