Mindful of the Future: Improving Student Assessment

The assessment process and the ability to reliably evaluate a learners progress is fundamental to education (Biggs, 2003; Trotter, 2006), furthermore the chosen modality asserts an undue influence over the consequent learning behaviour of students (Hamdorf and Hall, 2001). This paper proposes that the effective use of mindfulness as a metacognitive skill in the assessment process in third level education can alleviate critical issues with student engagement, performance and retention. The paper captures the impact of mindfulness on current academic practices through a series of narrative inquiries. The data is taken from a range of discipline bases and highlights a myriad of approaches from an academic perspective. It concludes with guidelines for faculty and students to enable them to deploy the practice of mindfulness within the assessment regime and in support of learning.