There are divergent definitions of assessment and it is not a very clear concept as the literature shows. For example, Munro refers to assessment as ‘a set of practices by which an educational institution adopts a mission, identifies desired student and institutional goals and objectives, and measures its effectiveness in attaining these outcomes.’10 In this regard, it guides institutions about the direction for student’s
learning and helps them reflect on effectiveness of their programs.11 It also improves student’s learning and the coherence of the curriculum.12 In this sense, assessment is
seen from the viewpoint of the institution as a way to measure the effectiveness of their programmes.
On the other hand, assessment can be defined from the student perspective as a process which encompasses all areas of student learning, he argues that it is a ‘process, integral to learning that involves observation and judgement of each student’s performance on
5 P Black and D William, ‘Assessment and Classroom Learning’, (1998) Assessment In Education,
Principles, Policy and Practice, 7-74.
6 Gregory Munro, Outcomes Assessment for Law Schools (United States: Institute for Law School
Teaching at Gonzaga University School of Law, 2000) 10.
7 Jose Garcia Anon, ‘How Do We Assess in Clinical Legal Education? A “Reflection” About
Reflective Learning’ (2016) 23 IJCLE 48 – 65.
8 Lorraine Stefani, ‘Assessment of Student Learning: Promoting A Scholarly Approach’ (2004-5) 63. 9 Lorraine Stefani, ‘Assessment of Student Learning: Promoting a Scholarly Approach’ (2004-5) 1
Learning and Teaching in Higher Education 53.
10 Gregory S. Munro, Outcomes Assessment for Law Schools 28 (Inst. L. Sch. Teaching 2000)11. 11 Ibid.
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the basis of explicit criteria, with resulting feedback to the student’.13 Feedback is the
core of assessment as it helps to identify gaps between actual and desired performance, noting ways of bridging those gaps, and then having students take action to bridge those gaps.14 This shows the importance of assessment in student learning as a vehicle to achieve institutional goals and objectives. An efficient assessment ensures that students are clearly informed of these processes and staff on their part, have a responsibility to provide regular feedback, which will help students improve their learning.15
Middleton and Taras conceptualise assessment in terms of judgement. Middleton defines assessment as the ‘analytical process by which decisions are made’ and simplifies it as appraising a situation.16 These decisions may mean making judgement about a student’s learning and effectively measuring their performance against set criteria. This appears to construe assessment in terms of measurement, but assessment is not only limited to high stakes summative assessment.17 The disagreement with the concept is echoed Boud and Falchikov who argue that assessment puts a limitation on the learning of students.18 However, judgement in the sense used here does not necessarily mean measurement but, relate to issues such as appraisals, reviews, evaluations and other incidental matters which can be justified according to specific goals.19
Assessment is described by Wright as a circular process, represented as, I. Setting goals or asking questions about student learning and development;
II. Gathering evidence that will show whether these goals are being met;
13 Ibid.
14 Gordon Joughin, ‘Refocusing Assessment’ in Gordon Joughin (ed) Assessment, Learning and
Judgement in Higher Education (Springer, Wollongong: 2009) 2.
15 Kelvin Tan, ‘A Framework for Assessment for Learning: Implications for Feedback Practices
Within and Beyond The Gap’ (2013) Hindawi Journal of Education 1- 6.
16 Laura Middleton, The Art of Assessment (Venture Press 1997). The book is written from the social
welfare context and it does not consider assessing people for academic purpose but we can learn from the book in the sense that assessment analyses people to show whether there is an improvement. 17 Kay Sambell, ‘Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education: Considerable Room for Improvement?’ (2016) 1(1) Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal available at http://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/2819/.
18 David Boud and Nancy Falchikov, ‘Aligning Assessment with Long-Term Learning’ (2006) 31
Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 399 – 413.
19 Maddalena Taras, ‘Assessment- Summative and Formative- Some Theoretical reflections’ (2005)
20
III. Interpreting the evidence to see what can be discovered about student’s strengths and
weaknesses; and then
IV. Using those discoveries to change the learning environment so that student
performance will be improved.20
It can be deduced that assessment should evidence student learning, show areas needing improvement and create the enabling environment for learning. This can be done using a strategy that ensures a wholesome assessment. Huba and Freed echoes the position of many authors defining assessment as,
… the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge because of their educational experiences; the process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning.21
This definition captures assessment as a process and not a product. It views assessment as a progressive journey through a period of study in which a student engages with content using different tasks to understand and improve learning. In this sense, assessment will not only move a student from the unknown to the known, but will also help to improve on what has been learnt. As a process, assessment is a cycle which has learning is at the heart of the process. The process includes obtaining information on individuals and providing useful feedback, which will in turn aid learning.22 Proponents of the method argues that it shows the strengths and weaknesses of a student and helps them improve learning through the process of reflection.23 It also
enables staff to evaluate how well they are doing and areas needing improvement.24 The value of the portfolio for learning which this thesis aims to explore is enormous as the use of the portfolio in an experiential CLE environment enhances this process
20 Barbara Wright, ‘More Art Than Science: The Postsecondary Assessment Movement Today’,
http://www.apsanet.org/imgest/MoreArtThanScience.doc last accessed September 20, 2009 and quoted by Victoria L. VanZandt, ‘Creating Assessment Plans for Introductory Legal Research and Writing Courses’, (2010) HeinOnline 16 Legal Writing: J. Legal Writing Institute 313.
21 Mary E Huba and Jann E Freed, Learner-Centred Assessment on College Campuses: Shifting the
Focus from Teaching to Learning (Allyn and Bacon, Needham Heights: 2000) 8.
22 Howard Gardner, ‘Assessment In Context: The Alternative To Standardized Testing’ in Bruce Torff
(ed) Multiple Intelligences and Assessment (Illinois, IRI/SkyLight Training and Publishing, Inc.: 1997) 169.
23 L Farr Darling, ‘Portfolio as Practice: The Narratives of Emerging Teachers’ (2001) 17 Teaching
and Teacher Education 108.
24 Stephanie Marshall, ‘Managing The Culture: The Key To Effective Change’ (1992) 13(3) School
Organization 255-68 cited in Evangeline Harris Stefanakis, ‘The Power in Portfolios: “A Way for Sitting Beside” Each Learner’ in Bruce Torff (ed) Multiple Intelligences and Assessment
21
and encourages reflection on both teaching and learning. This will be discussed in greater detail in the next chapter.