Studies into the teachers’ views of assessment in HE is a very complex issue. The main reason for this statement is that there are several aspects intertwined, making it problematic to include students in the assessment process, the importance of which research has underlined whether a deeper understanding of a subject is to be attained.
In an attempt to check that students have understood the content of a course, the teachers resort to traditional testing methods. Part of that is logistics. Large classes in undergraduate courses lead to more traditional testing as a means of assessment. A major reason given by the teachers is also that students need to know about the subject area in more depth before being given responsibility for assessment. Being gradually acculturated and assimilated into the research community in the form of an apprenticeship is part of that process. This is supported by the notion of apprenticeship and assimilation of the subject area of many researchers. Bourdieu called it a game, Kuhn talked about paradigms and Goodyear & Zenios termed it ‘epistemic fluency’. All conform in one way or another to the notion that students need to be ‘taught’ in their subject before being trusted with assessing their work. This seems also to be true when it comes to their understanding of the networked learning environments. An interesting aspect is that the one most experienced with running online courses was also the one most inclined to trying out peer and self assessment as part of his online course, but only after mastering the subject.
The logical progression of this process is unilateral teacher-centred assessment. In order to change this to collaborative student assessment practices, the focus has to change from content to learning processes, in which assessment should be seen as a continuous process. (McConnell, 2006)One factor of this content centred approach is the teachers view that students come to their classes with little experience in the subject being taught or that they have experiences that would actually help in the process of learning.
In order to bring about change, teachers need to be made aware of different ways of conceptualising the content and assessment procedures in networked learning environments and where students knowledge is part of the process. A collaborative student-driven assessment process leads to deeper understanding and should be at the forefront of educational practices in higher education.
A concluding remark is that universities and their raison d'être should focus more on into what kind of culture their educational institutions socialize the teachers and their students, and for what kind of knowledge universities should strive. If universities are delivering learning with the intention of streamlining university education into a European standardised exam format, without taking the underlying theories governing the assessment processes into account, then they will carry on with a behaviouristic approach in designing assessment in their education for the foreseeable future. A way to achieve this could be for the teachers not only be the subject experts but also become more experienced in mentoring in a networked learning environment and learn from the more experienced teachers on how to include students into the whole process of the course design including peer assessment. A constructivist approach, achieving deep learning is only possible when students are fully involved in their own learning.
References
Bourdieu, P. (1990) Homo Academicus. Stanford; Ca: Stanford University Press
Goodyear, P. & Zenios, M. (2007) Discussion, collaborative knowledge work and epistemic fluency. British Journal of Educational Studies, 55, pp.351-368.
Kuhn T. S. (1970) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: Chicago University Press
McConnell, D. (2006) E-Learning Groups and Communities. Maidenhead, SRHE/OU Press
