Innovative Assessment in Higher Education

Throughout higher education assessment is changing, driven by increased class size, changing curricula and the need to support students better. At the same time assessment regulations and external quality assurance demands are constraining assessment options, driven by worries about standards, reliability and plagiarism. Innovative Assessment in Higher Education explores the difficulty of changing assessment in sometimes unhelpful contexts. Topics discussed include:

• problems with traditional assessment methods
• rationales behind different kinds of innovation in assessment
• complex assessment contexts in which teachers attempt to innovate
• innovation in assessment within a range of academic settings
• theoretical and empirical support for innovations within higher education.

More than a ‘how to do it’ manual, this book offers a unique mix of useful pragmatism and scholarship. A vital resource for higher education teachers and their educational advisors, it provides a fundamental analysis of the role and purpose of assessment and how change can be managed without compromising standards.

Cordelia Bryan is a freelance higher education consultant. She has led four successful UK Higher Education projects, is a registered practitioner of the Higher Education Academy, and is an external evaluator for several FDTL 5 projects. She also co-edited Speaking your Mind in Longman’s Speak-Write series and has lectured and published widely on educational development within higher education.

Dr Karen Clegg is Director of the Graduate Training Unit within Professional and Organisational Development at the University of York. She is also a registered practitioner of the HE Academy and an external consultant for Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development. Previously, Karen worked as an Academic Developer for the UK Centre for Legal Education at the University of Warwick.