An Assessment Arms Race and Its Fallout: High-Stakes Grading and the Case for Slow Scholarship

Autor/inn/en	Harland, Tony; McLean, Angela; Wass, Rob; Miller, Ellen; Sim, Kwong Nui
Titel	An Assessment Arms Race and Its Fallout: High-Stakes Grading and the Case for Slow Scholarship
Quelle	In: Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 40 (2015) 4, S.528-541 (14 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0260-2938
DOI	10.1080/02602938.2014.931927
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; High Stakes Tests; Grading; Universities; Undergraduate Students; Student Evaluation; Scholarship; Grades (Scholastic); Student Attitudes; Student Educational Objectives; Testing; Educational Practices; Interviews; New Zealand + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Notengebung; Schulnote; University; Universität; Studentische Bewertung; Scholarships; Stipendium; Notenspiegel; Schülerverhalten; Testdurchführung; Testen; Bildungspraxis; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Neuseeland
Abstract	This research questions the impact of assessment on university teaching and learning in circumstances where all student work is graded. Sixty-two students and lecturers were interviewed to explore their experiences of assessment at an institution that had adopted a modular course structure and largely unregulated numbers of internal assessments. Lecturers rewarded student work with grades and controlled study behaviour with assessment. In some situations it was possible to experience hundreds of graded assessments in an academic year. Students were single-minded when it came to grades and would not work without them. These conditions contributed to competition for student attention and a grading arms race between academics and subjects. In this context, the spaces for achieving certain educational objectives, such as fostering self-motivated learners, were marginalised. Both students and lecturers were unsatisfied with this situation, but neither group could envisage radical change. Students were generally happy to accumulate small marks, while being irritated and stressed by frequent grading. Lecturers were aware of better practices but felt trapped by circumstances. The idea of slow scholarship is introduced to encourage a re-think of such assessment practices, support a positive shift in assessment culture and contribute to the theories of assessment. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01