ABSTRACT
In introducing these articles we are struck by two features. The first is that they comprise a rich set of resources for stimulating further thinking about tertiary education. The second, which follows from the first, is that they raise for us possibilities for further development of this field. We draw attention, in particular, to four such issues as follows:
Studies in tertiary education should make more use of findings and theories about formative assessment which have emerged from studies of this topic in school education.
There is a preponderance of concern about formative feedback on written work: the potential contexts for development of formative approaches could well be expanded to consider also oral dialogue, both in lecture theatres and in seminars or tutorials.
Innovations should be discussed with a more explicit focus on how strategies for pedagogy can create the conditions for effective learning, in particular in the light of the aim of helping students to become independent in taking responsibility for their own learning.
In the context of these discussions of links between assessment and learning, summative assessment deserves more discussion and innovation, directed at securing harmony with the formative in promoting learning. This might call for radical re-thinking about teaching and learning at the tertiary level.
In the snapshots of the seven articles which we present below, we draw attention to aspects in each which illustrate these four issues, leading to further discussion of them in the subsequent section.