The argument made in this essay is that it is necessary to theorize a form of assessment--the academic viva in higher education. It is threatened with extinction because of its high cost compared with written exams, multiple choice and other forms of assessment. However, little empirical research, both in Norway and internationally, has been…

Norway has a long tradition of using external examiners during examinations and grading. However, a recently passed higher education reform requires a different use for external examiners. The Quality Reform of Higher Education calls for more learning-oriented assessment methods, allowing more feedback for students during the course of their…

The validity of the Norwegian university grading standard has been called into serious question. The implicit standards used for assessing exams and the reliability of that understanding among examiners and psychology students were investigated in three studies. Studies 1 and 2 investigated the implicit standards that examiners used when assessing…

This paper explores standardized English curriculum practice in a globalizing world. It uses one particular site of formative/summative assessment to show how colonial and modernist trajectories are carried in these times. The argument is that an ethical evaluative practice would allow for local hybridizations. To represent and theorize from a…