Assessment Matters in Higher Education Choosing and Using Diverse Approaches

Assessment really does matter in higher education. Internationally, academics - and those who support them - are seeking better ways to assess students, recognizing that diverse methods are available which may solve many of the problems associated with the evaluation of learning.

Assessment Matters in Higher Education provides both theoretical perspectives and pragmatic advice on how to conduct effective assessment. It draws clearly on both relevant research and on its contributors' practical first hand experience (warts and all!). It asks, for example:

* how can assessment methods best become an integral part of learning?

* what strategies can be used to make assessment fairer, more consistent and more efficient?

* how effective are innovative approaches to assessment, and in what contexts do they prosper?

* to what extent can students become involved in their own assessment?

* how can we best assess learning in professional practice contexts?

This is an important resource for all academics and academic managers involved in assessing their students.

Sally Brown is Head of the Quality Enhancement Unit at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. She is an experienced educational developer and consultant on matters of teaching, learning and, especially, assessment - and publishes widely in these fields. She is vice chair of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA).

Angela Glasner is the Regional Consultant for the East Midlands and the West Midlands at the Higher Education Funding Council for England; and she was formerly Associate Director in the Quality Assessment Division. Her earlier academic career spanned a number of years in universities in England and Australia, culminating as Head of the School of Social Sciences at Oxford Brookes University.