Conceptual framework

The choices made by those setting assessment in terms of assessed knowledge and means used to this end have an impact on the ability of those assessed to respond and demonstrate their knowledge. Recent studies (Hyatt, 2005; Juwah & al., 2004; Bryan & Clegg; 2006; (Swinthenby, Brown, Glover, Mills, Stevens & Hughes, 2005; Torrance & Prior 2001) have advocated the encouragement of dialogue around learning and assessment as a means to enhance the formative aspect of assessment and have regarded feedback as a potentially dialogical process.

The research demonstrates how improving the students learning experience in a higher education context can be closely connected with the promotion and implementation of an effective assessment strategy that places emphasis on the quality of the formative assessment process. Many so called ‘educational’ activities- including assessment strategies- seem to have lost sight their core educational aims such as enabling the learner to reach their full academic and vocational potential in society. The research is timely in that it comes at a time in European educational development where the EHEA and the Bologna process are shaping our educational futures. With the influence of the Bologna Process and the adoption of the EHEA in European universities there is an increasing danger that the reliance on a purely learning outcomes model for student assessment may dilute the student teacher relationship and thus reduce pedagogical dialogue, which in turn reduce learning to minimum, measurable threshold outcomes. The research aims to counter this threat by creating an assessment framework that actively encourages and requires learner-engagement and secondly increases the learners ability to engaging deep, transformative learning (Biggs 1999, Entwistle, 1988 and Ramsden 1992). The research argues that an over reliance on a learning outcome model without embracing a learner-centered approach through formative assessment frameworks models has a detrimental effect sustainability of learning in a teacher education programme in Dublin City University.

The Research

This paper builds on research described in 2009 and 2010 ECER (Network 9) conference, which focused initially on the introduction and development of an assessment portfolio, and presents the outcomes of a three-year process that has led to the development of a dialogical model of assessment within a teacher education programme in Dublin City University.   The paper describes the final phases of the research and outlines the evaluation and modifications introduced, and on the development of a dialogical assessment framework and its transferability to other faculty modules. The authors propose that the transferability and sustainability of the assessment of the model hinges on three fundamental parameters: 1) a shift of emphasis from assessment product to assessment process; 2) the development of a shared understanding of assessment criteria; 3) the establishment of a mutual relationship between assessors and assesses based on commitment and trust.  

Biggs, J. (1999). Teaching for Quality Learning at University, SHRE and Open University Press Entwistle, N. (1988). Styles of Learning and Teaching, David Fulton Harrington K. and Elander J. (2003) Do essay assessment criteria refer to transferable skills, deep approaches to learning, or complex learning? in Investigations in University Teaching and Learning, Vol. 1 (2) pp. 57-61 Harrington K., Elander J., Norton L., Reddy P., Aiyegbayo O. & Pitt E. (2005) A qualitative analysis of staff- student differences in understanding of assessment criteria paper presented at the 13th Improving Student Learning Symposium, Imperial College, London 5-7 September Higgins R. & Hartley P., Skeleton A., (2002) The Conscientious Consumer: reconsidering the role of assessment feedback in student learning, Studies in Higher Education, Volume 27, No. 1, pp. 53-64 Juwah C., Macfarlane D., Matthew B. Nicol D. and Smith B., (2004) Enhancing student learning through effective formative feedback, The Higher Education Academy Kemmis, S. and McTaggart, R., eds. (1988) The action research planner, third edition. Victoria: Deakin University Norton L. (2004) Using assessment criteria as learning criteria: a case study in psychology, in Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 29 (6), pp. 687- 702 Price M. & Rust C. (1999) The Experience of Introducing a Common Criteria Assessment Grid Across an Academic Department in Quality in Higher Education, Vol. 5 (2), pp. 133-144 Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to Teach in Higher Education, Routledge Rust C., Price M. & O’Donovan B. (2003) Improving Students’ Learning by Developing their Understanding of Assessment Criteria and Processes in Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education Vol. 28 (2) pp. 147-164 Torrance, H. & Pryor J. (2001) Developing Formative Assessment in the Classroom: using action research to explore and modify theory, in British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 27 (5), pp. 615-631