Although it is increasingly recognised that higher education institutions have to play a critical role in the progression towards a sustainable development, the question of what fields and issues universities should attend to in their attempt to become more sustainable remains subject to debate. In recent years, sustainability assessment tools…

Professional preparatory health programmes generally involve clinical placements with a focus on integration of theory into real life practice. Reflective writing is often included in the assessment requirements for clinical placement courses. However enabling students to engage in deeper levels of reflective writing in action, on action and for…

This article is a description of the process of constructing an assessment of written and oral language for pre-service teachers. This assessment was used prior to their formal admission into the teacher education programme. The rationale for this evaluation is presented along with the actual processes involved. Finally, comparisons are made…

This study aimed to provide evidence to guide decisions on the type and timing of assessments in a graduate medical programme, by identifying whether students from particular degree backgrounds face greater difficulty in satisfying the current assessment requirements. We examined the performance rank of students in three types of assessments and…

Undergraduate units of study are typically differentiated by level as introductory, intermediate or advanced. This paper considers the processes used to create such differentiations together with their implications. Results from a survey of current policy and practice in Australian universities are presented. They reveal a paucity of guidance for…

A study compared evaluations of undergraduate students' oral presentations by groups of peers and faculty teams. Students (n=210), in assessment teams, rated quality of content and presentation using a 22-point guide. Comparison of peer and faculty scores showed no significant difference in averages but did show significant differences in standard…

Performance in a simulation exercise of 96 third-year college students studying the hotel and tourism industries was assessed separately by teacher and peers using an identical checklist. Although results showed some agreement between teacher and peers, when averaged marks were converted into grades, agreement occurred in under half the cases.…

Research evidence concerning the introduction of performance appraisal in United Kingdom universities is presented. The notion of "procedural compliance" is introduced to draw attention to the largely externally imposed appraisal of universities and to the nature of institutional response. Findings of a study of appraisal in four…

A study comparing peer and teacher evaluations of British university biology students' (n=39) performance found such comparison misleading as a guide to the validity of peer assessment. When individual criteria were analyzed, agreement of peers and teacher ranged from 31-62%, with specific areas of the criteria prone to over- and undervaluation.…

Two frameworks for educational assessment distinguished, which is quantitative, adequate for construing some kinds of learning, and qualitative, which is more appropriate for most objectives in higher education. The paper argues that institutions implicitly encourage quantitative assessment, thus encouraging a surface approach to learning although…