Abstract :
The focus of this paper is on the use of e-technologies to enable higher education
to better assess aspects of learning that have proved difficult to assess
using more conventional means. Higher education describes the knowledge
and abilities it intends its graduates to have acquired before graduation, and it
has a wide range of approaches to assess these. Higher education also seeks
affective outcomes in the form of values, attitudes, behaviours and related
attributes or dispositions, and these have consistently proved more difficult to
assess by examination or assignment. After graduation, however, graduates
are often assessed within the professions via portfolios, interview and peer or
expert review. Assessment may focus on teamwork and networking skills, productivity,
creativity and values fit to the profession. How can e-technologies
help with these forms of assessment? This paper reviews some of the e-based
approaches and explorations that have supported or could support assessment
of affective attributes. At each stage, the paper seeks to establish the common
elements of assessment in the different regimes and how e-assessment contributes,
or may contribute in the future. The paper concludes that many of the
strengths of e-assessment lend themselves to an evaluation paradigm rather
than to conventional assessment for intended learning outcomes.
