ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses various common assessment formats and draws out their respective strengths and weaknesses. It discusses various principles of productive assessment task design and also proposes some key features of learning-oriented assessment tasks. Assessment tasks are part of a wider network of influences, including: the nature of the curriculum and the discipline; teacher's beliefs and aims; the educational and institutional context; It is also a part of relationships between classroom participants; student's attitudes and motivations towards the module being studied; and the extent to which students are focused on grades and/or mastery of relevant content or skills. Examinations remain a common feature of assessment in higher education, particularly, in the hard sciences and in Law. Oral presentations have been increasingly common forms of assessment over the last twenty years. Oral modes of presentation can enable a better picture of the extent of student understanding and have the advantage of allowing students to reveal their thinking processes.