On this page we begin by asking ourselves why we do assessment and why we need assessment.

Not just evidence of the grade

Examination of learning outcomes is a very important part of the learning. It's an opportunity for students to learn what's required of the profession and help students know that they have the skills they will need. A well-designed examination supports deep learning and improve intrinsic motivation.

In this video (1:37min) Nina Brodin, from the Division of Physiotherapy, Karolinska Institutet, shares her thoughts on the importance of examinations for teachers and students.

Assessment for/of/as learning?

In this video Dr. Marie Hubley Alcock, discusses briefly how assessment has evolved, with contemporary assessments providing feedback with the goal of improving student performance against targets and standards which are authentic and prepare students for a future of unknown possibilities:

As Barr and Tagg note, with the focus on assessment for learning, there is a paradigm shift, moving beyond an emphasis on teaching and testing to a focus on improvement in learning. Shifting the emphasis from teaching to learning means that assessment is not just about designing a great testing instrument to assign a grade or authenticate a student, but rather, assessment is a process that allows us to explore and examine the connection between teaching and learning.

(Barr, R.B., & Tagg, J. (1995). A new paradigm for undergraduate education. Change, November/December 1995.)

The assessment process allows instructors to improve student learning by:

incorporating multiple opportunities for formative assessment,
including rich feedback to support revision and improvement,
engaging students in self-assessment,
designing multiple forms of formative and summative assessment, and
fine-tuning course content and activities.
Source: Assessment in Digital Learning by CVC-OEI

Let us now look at the forms assessment can take.