The Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) organized a conference in May 1994 around the theme of assessment for better student learning. The chapters in this collection constitute a selection of the 32 conference presentations. All have been rewritten for this book, although Dary Erwin's chapter (chapter 3) was especially written for this book. These 13 essays focus on the assessment of assessment, making assessment and learning complementary, staff and educational development for assessment reform, feedback to and from students, and the United Kingdom's National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) model of assessment. They include: (1) "What Should We Be Assessing?" (Madeleine Atkins); (2) "Assessment and Learning: Contradictory or Complementary?" (David Boud); (3) "Attending to Assessment: A Process for Faculty" (T. Dary Erwin); (4) "What Has Assessment Done for Us--and to Us?" (Phil Race); (5) "Using and Experiencing Assessment" (Sally Brown and others); (6) "Making Assessment a Positive Experience" (Bob Farmer and Diana Eastcott); (7) "Staff and Educational Development for Assessment Reform: A Case Study" (Ivan Moore); (8) "Embedding Alternative Approaches in Assessment" (Hazel Fullerton); (9) "When Tutors Assess: Who Can Help and How?" (Kate Day and Dai Hounsell); (10) "Assessing 'Seminar' Work: Students as Teachers" (Phyllis Creme); (11) "Learning Contracts: Related Assessment Issues" (Irene Harris); (12) "Improving Feedback To and From Students" (Nancy Falchikov); and (13) "The NCVQ Model of Assessment at Higher Levels" (Romla Hadrill). (Contains 109 references.) (MDM)