Since the turn of the century, considerable achievements in implementing ICT in educational setting have been made, although large implementation gaps within and between countries remain (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, 2011). At the same time, novel uses of ICT in technology enhanced learning have been explored, including new forms of assessment.

When we talk about assessment, we usually distinguish between formative and summative assessment. While formative assessment serves as a feedback for learners which should help them improve their learning, summative assessment is usually used to evaluate knowledge and competences that were acquired over a certain period of time. As teaching and learning is relying more and more on digital technologies, so are assessment procedures (Redecker, 2013). Redecker, Punie & Ferrari (2012) in their analysis of e-assessment for 21^st century learning and skills, distinguish four generations of e-assessment procedures:

(1)   Automated administration and/or scoring of conventional tests (1990 – 2000),

(2)   Adaptive Testing (2000 – 2008),

(3)   Continuous integrated assessment (2008-2015),

(4)   Personalised feedback and tutoring (2015-).

According to the authors, these four generations of e-assessment procedures follow a path from efficient testing to personalised learning.

Maureens Andrade’s contribution “E-assessment for online English language learners: What constitutes effective practice?” clearly focuses on personalised feedback and tutoring. In her contribution, she argues that assessment should help students develop their language skills by providing personalised feedback. She examined e-assessment practices in an online English language course designed to help learners develop academic writing skills. The study evaluated the alignment of assessments to learning outcomes, the extent to which multiple measures of learners’ skills were obtained, and learner, peer, and instructor roles in assessment. She concludes that instructor and learner engagement in assessment processes, the provision of multiple forms of feedback, and active peer review are critical to effective e-assessment practice.

Philippe Gabriel’s presentation “The contribution of ICT to assessment in education:  A review of current experiments in French secondary schools” explores data on educational experiments in French schools that were provided by the French Ministry of Education. The study is based based on the analysis of more than 600 reports on educational experiments and was carried out with the following three objectives in mind: to identify categories of e-assessment with respect to educational objectives and practices, to determine the significant resources mobilised and the main difficulties encountered and to gather evaluation evidence, to assess the experiments’ rationale and activities carried out.

The presentation “Collaborative assessment of scientific knowledge through eRubrics” by Daniel Cebrián-Robles and Angel Blanco-López from Málaga University focus on an instrument for e-assessment that they developed with their colleagues from Málaga university. In recent years, the team has developed eRubrics for assessment of competences that can be carried out online (Cebrián-de la Serna, Serrano-Angulo & Ruiz-Torres, 2014). Assessment by eRubrics has a high potential to foster self-regulated learning because it clearly defines learning objectives and provides personalised feed-back to the learners. Collaborative learning seems to have some advantages over other learning methods, particularly when this kind of learning is facilitated by educational technologies which support the development of online communities. On the other hand, assessment of collaborative learning becomes more complex. The authors have created an instrument which allows for the assessment of collaborative learning: CoRubric. This instrument will be presented as well as results that were obtained with this instrument on some 300 preservice educational students whose growth in scientific knowledge was being assessed.

Cebrián-de la Serna, M., Serrano-Angulo, J., & Ruiz-Torres, M. (2014). eRubrics in cooperative assessment of learning at university. Las eRúbricas en la evaluación cooperativa del aprendizaje en la universidad. Comunicar, 22(43), 153-161. Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (2011). Key Data on Learning and Innovation through ICT at School in Europe 2011. Brussels: EACEA. Redecker, C., Punie, Y., & Ferrari, A. (2012). eAssessment for 21st century learning and skills. Pp. 292-305 in A. Ravenscroft, S. Lindsteadt, C. D. Kloos, & D. Hernandez-Leo (Eds.). 21st Century Learning for 21st Century Skills. Proceedings EC-TEL, Saarbrücken. Heidelberg: Springer. Redecker, C. (2013). The Use of ICT for the Assessment of Key Competences. Seville: JCR-ITPS. http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC76971.pdf