Nowadays, higher education systems are being called to reconsider the aims of assessment if we want that students develop skills and competencies for their future personal and professional life. Pursuing such aims involves the active participation of students in the assessment process.

The dissemination of outcome-based education (Deneen et al., 2013; Singh, Ramya, 2011; Harden, Crosby, Davis, 1999) shows the need to review several aspects such as educational policies, structure of higher education systems, and instructional design.

Hence the need to define a different assessment model for the teaching-learning process. This raises a variety of questions: How students define assessment? Do students recognize and understand elements that can lead to an improvement in their performance?

Although assessment holds an essential position in the higher education field and even though recent production reflects swings in the practice and in the context in which it works, educational research still seems inchoative. Current studies, especially on an international level, are moving towards the revision of traditional modalities of testing, the individuation of alternative forms of assessment and above all, the analysis of representations and perceptions that teachers and students have about assessment (Brown, Harris, 2012; Brown et al., 2009; Peterson, Irving, 2007).

If we consider conceptions as a «general mental structures, encompassing beliefs, meanings, concepts, propositions, rules, mental images, preferences, and the like» (Thompson, 1992: p. 130) we can understand how important is to investigate these conceptions in the educational system (Richardson, 1996; Thompson, 1992; Clark, Peterson, 1986).

Students’ conceptions and representations about assessment relate to how students approach learning and studying. «Teacher and student beliefs or conceptualizations of educational processes (e.g., teaching, learning, and assessment) have been shown to significantly predict practices and outcomes across a range of learning domains» (Brown, Harris, 2012: p. 46).

Starting from a review of previous research on students’ conceptions and representations, this paper focuses on students’ representations about assessment in Italian higher education context. An online survey has been administrated to students in two Italian universities (Bari and Verona). Students responded to an Italian adaptation of Students’ Conceptions of Assessment Inventory (VI) (Brown, Harris, 2012). 

Brown, G.T.L., Harris, L. (2012). Student conceptions of assessment by level of schooling: Further evidence for ecological rationality in belief systems, Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 12, 46-59. Brown G.T.L., Hirschfeld G.H.F. (2008). Students’ Conceptions of Assessment: Links to Outcomes. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 15(1), 3-17. Brown, G.T.L., Irving, S.E., Peterson, E.R., Hirschfeld, G.H.F. (2009). Use of interactive-informal assessment practices: New Zealand secondary students’ conceptions of assessment, Learning and Instruction, 19, 97-111. Clark, C., Peterson, P. (1986). Teachers’ thought processes. In M. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching. (3rd ed., pp. 255-296). New York: MacMillan. Deneen, C., Brown, G.T.L., Bond, T.G., Shroff, R. (2013). Understanding outcome-based education changes in teacher education: evaluation of a new instrument with preliminary findings, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 41(4), 441-456. Entwistle N., McCune V., Hounsell D. (2002). Approaches to Studying and Perceptions of University Teaching-Learning Environments: Concepts, Measures and Findings, ETL Project (ESRC), Occasional Report 1 September. Harden, R.M., Crosby, J.R., Davis, M.H. (1999). An introduction to outcome-based education, Med Teacher, 21(1), 7-14. Peterson, E.R., Irving, S.E. (2007). Conceptions of assessment and feedback. Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Education, NZCER Teaching and Learning Research Initiative. Ramsden, P. (2006). Learning to Teach in Higher Education. London: Routledge. Richardson, V. (1996). The role of attitudes and beliefs in learning to teach. In J. Sikula, T.J. Buttery, E. Guyton (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education (2nd ed., pp. 102-119). New York: Macmillan. Singh, M., Ramya, K.R. (2011). Outcome Based Education, International Journal of Nursing Education, 3(2), 87-91. Thompson, A.G. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and conceptions: A synthesis of the research. In D. A. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 127-146). New York: MacMillan. Weekers, A.M., G.T.L. Brown, Veldkamp, B.P. (2009). Analyzing the Dimensionality of the Students’ Conceptions of Assessment (SCoA) Inventory. In G.T.L. Brown, D.M. McInerney, A.D. Liem (Eds.), Student perspectives on assessment: What students can tell us about assessment for learning (pp. 133-157). USA: Information Age Publishing Inc.