How Technology Can Enhance Learning through Assessment and Reflection

Gibbs (2006: 23) states that ‘assessment frames learning’ and more importantly that ‘it has more impact on learning than does teaching’. If we accept this assertion to be true, there is an argument for ensuring that assessment is integrated into the learning process to guarantee that it does in fact contribute to student learning. However, the relationship between assessment and learning is often problematic, given that ‘assessment is about several things at once’ (Ramsden 2003: 177), or what Boud (2000: 160) refers to as ‘double duty’. Among other things, assessment is about grading and reporting students’ achievements and about supporting students in their learning. Furthermore, if assessment focuses on grades, attention shifts away from what students need to improve (Sadler 1989) and it tends to have little impact on learning. The challenge for teachers then is to shift the balance towards learning even when grades are involved. This chapter illustrates how assessment for learning has been implemented in two modules taught at a university in Ireland, an undergraduate module where the assessment described does not carry a grade and a graduate module in which self-assessment and reflection are graded as part of a microteaching task completed by the students.