ABSTRACT
This book has demonstrated that student engagement and development can be enhanced through assessment. Throughout the book contributors have shared their, often warts and all, stories about various theoretical and practical ways in which this may be realized. There is no doubt that assessment sharpens the minds of students more than any other activity we ask them to do and as such it represents a powerful tool by which to engage and retain them. However, we should also remember that assessment is a critical factor in the exclusion and attrition of students and therefore the cost of getting it wrong is significant. What lessons can we draw from the book in terms of the optimum conditions required to ensure that assessment contributes to the enduring watermark of first-rate higher education provision for all?
