Enhancing Learning Through Self-assessment

David Boud

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781135354411
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Self-assessment is increasingly used in higher education as a strategy for both student learning and assessment. This book examines the full range of concerns about self-assessment, placing it in the wider context of innovative teaching and learning practices.

PART I
SELF ASSESSMENT, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT

Chapter 2

What is Learner Self Assessment?

While traditionally self assessment has not been part of courses, it has had an important role in learning. Students are always self assessing. Before they hand in an essay or report, many have formed some notion of how good they think the piece of work is. Language students have routinely tested themselves on lists of vocabulary, medical students have traditionally closed their anatomy books and drawn diagrams to check their understanding, mathematics textbooks have provided examples for students to try out and given answers for students to check their calculations at the back of the book. In open learning materials, in-text questions have encouraged students to think about and check their learning. All of these are examples of ways in which students have traditionally tested their academic discipline knowledge and skills: what they know and what they can do. Although this kind of self assessment is ad hoc and appears peripheral to formal assessment procedures, it is a commonplace part of learning. There are good reasons, as we shall later see, for treating it more consciously and systematically.

All assessment — whether conducted by teachers or by learners — involves two key elements. The first is the development of knowledge and an appreciation of the appropriate standards and criteria for meeting those standards which may be applied to any given work. Unless it is known what counts as good work, it is impossible to tell whether the specific work being considered is adequate. The second is the capacity to make judgements about whether or not the work involved does or does not meet these standards. Unfortunately, emphasis is normally given, by both staff and students, to the latter of these two elements. Engagement with the standards and their criteria is down-played to the detriment of learning.

Of course, not all standards and criteria are such that they can be easily articulated or appreciated without prior learning and experience in a particular domain of knowledge. Even with such experience, they may not be able to be articulated in an accessible form. Similarly, the application of standards is a task which involves considerable critical thinking and the ability to manipulate criteria in ways which allow them to be applied to the work under consideration. Nevertheless, all acts of assessment, whether by teachers, subject matter experts, peers or the individual learner, involve these two stages: establishing criteria and judging work in the light of them. The outcomes of this process might vary depending on who is doing the judging, but the basic process remains common.

In an earlier publication, I proposed the following as the defining characteristic of self assessment:

the involvement of students in identifying standards and/or criteria to apply to their work and making judgements about the extent to which they have met these criteria and standards. (Boud, 1991, p.5)

This focuses on the two key stages discussed previously. The latter stage, which we might call self grading or self testing is, on its own, a limited aspect of self assessment. It may be useful for the development of self assessment skills, but an overemphasis on this aspect can direct attention away from involving students in identifying and engaging with criteria, a stage which is both difficult and, in my view, neglected.

Self assessment means more than students grading their own work; it means involving them in the processes of determining what is good work in any given situation. It requires them to consider what are the characteristics of, say, a good essay or practical report and to apply this to their own work. Students can be credibly involved in determining or discussing criteria in all areas. However, there do exist some aspects of subjects of either a highly technical or conceptually sophisticated nature in which it may not be practicable at introductory levels to involve students in the specification of criteria. However, students can often recognise the applicability of criteria provided by others. To eliminate completely students' consideration of criteria is to remove them from participation in the core processes of learning in any field of knowledge.

The identification of standards and criteria by students can involve many activities. In some courses, particularly in professional fields, there are published statements of what constitutes good practice. An effective self assessment would need to take account of these, although part of the preparation for such an assessment may involve students developing their own views of good practice first. This preparation can demonstrate that good practice guidelines are based on common foundations of what practitioners believe to be desirable and that they are able to come up with many items which closely reflect those of existing professionals.

It is important to identify what the definition does and does not imply as there are many misconceptions about self assessment. Self assessment is used as both a verb and as a noun: a process, as well as an activity with a distinct identity. It is a goal to which to aspire as well as a practice in which to engage. Without reference to the context it is often hard in the literature on self assessment to discern which of these two uses is meant. It is important to make the distinction as self assessment is so obviously a goal of higher education. However, the use of specific self assessment activities to meet this end requires a justification in the context of a particular course. Self assessment as a goal can be pursued through course designs which do not involve self assessment exercises as such. However, as many courses in higher education have been designed in ways which inhibit the development of self assessment skills, a useful first step is the introduction of explicit self assessment activities.

The term ‘self evaluation’, is commonly used in the literature and is widespread in North America. Although some authors have tried to distinguish between self assessment and self evaluation (for example, MacGregor, 1993, uses self evaluation to mean self assessment without any component of grading), other usage does not suggest a systematic difference and the terms can usually be regarded as synonymous.

On what assumptions is the use of self assessment based?

Self assessment is coming to be regarded as an accepted and significant part of courses because it relates to one of the central goals of a university education: enabling students to become effective and responsible learners who can continue their education without the intervention of teachers or courses. Specifically, my own assumptions are that:

•

It is a necessary skill for lifelong learning

It is important for all learners to develop the ability to be realistic judges of their own performance and to effectively monitor their own learning. Learning can only be effectively undertaken when the learner monitors what is known, what remains to be known and what is needed to bridge the gap between the two. In the protected environment of the educational institution it may just be possible for the learner to get by without being able to plan and organise their own learning, but in the world of life and work, this is rarely the case. The ability to self assess is a key foundation to a career as a lifelong learner who can continue their education after formal education has ended (Candy et al., 1994; Justice and Marienau, 1988). Graduates who develop the skills of self assessment are more likely to:

–wish to continue their learning,

–know how to do so,

–monitor their own performance without constant reference to fellow professionals, and

–expect to take full responsibility for their actions and judgements.

•	It needs to be developed in university courses
	Students manifestly do not enter higher education with this skill fully developed, although it is of course desirable that it should be developed at earlier stages of education. It is likely that it is in part subject-specific, ie, not a universal skill, but one that needs to be developed in relation to particular fields and types of knowledge. So it is appropriate to develop a range of self assessment skills through different subjects. The specific requirements for monitoring performance will, though, differ from one course to another.
	Its development therefore represents an important process which needs to occur in undergraduate education. If students are to be able to continue learning effectively after graduation and make a significant contribution in their own professional work, they must begin to develop skills of appraising their own achievements during their student years.
•	It is necessary for effective learning
	The third premise is one which forms a particularly important part of the thinking of those who are committed to such goals as student autonomy, independence in learning or self regulation. It is one which is shared across the spectrum, from researchers of a strongly humanistic to those of a strongly cognitive orientation (eg, from Rogers, 1983, and Heron, 1988, to Corno, 1986, and Zimmerman, 1986). For effective learning of any kind to take place, learners — whoever they may be — must develop the capability of monitoring what they do and modifying their learning strategies appropriately. Such self monitoring is what educational psychologists include as part of their term ‘metacognition’, which is now a central plank in cognitive theories of learning (see, for example, Biggs and Moore 1993).
	Effective learning also involves learners being able to influence their own learning rather than waiting for others to do so, that is, being proactive. Those who are dependent on the continued impetus of teachers or work-place supervisors to develop and assess their knowledge and skills are severely handicapped in their learning.

In summary, it is argued that it is important to develop self assessment skills because they are central to effective learning now and for future learning and an essential feature of professional practice or for anyone who undertakes a responsible role in society.

Enhancing learning

Of all ideas associated with assessment, self assessment provides the fundamental link with learning. Self assessment is concerned with learners valuing their own learning and achievements on the basis of evidence from themselves and from others. The judgements they make may be about what they have done, what they should be doing or why they should be doing it. Self assessment occurs within a particular context, with respect to particular domains of knowledge and with particular goals in mind. The kinds of activities in which students might be involved are diverse. Some would be purely for their own informal use in learning, others might form part of discussions with peers or teachers and yet others might be used on their own or in conjunction with other data as part of the formal system of assessment within an institution.

Self assessment does not imply that students develop their ideas in isolation from the views and judgements of others. We live alongside others in community with them and share common cultures and understandings. Therefore, peers, ‘experts’ and teachers are vital; teachers especially so as their actions and expectations tend to have a significant influence on learners. In terms of learning, assessment by peers, assessment by teachers or assessment by others with expertise are all moderated by one's own assessment. These other assessments have a useful part to play, and may control learners' access to future learning opportunities, but unless they inform and help develop a learner's ability to self assess, they are of little educational value. Ultimately it is only the decisions which learners make about what they will or will not do which actually influence the outcomes of their learning.

Peer assessment and peer feedback are activities which are commonly linked with self assessment and in the right circumstances can considerably enhance self assessment. Unfortunately, there are many examples of peer assessment which have the opposite effect. One is the common practice of using peer marking in the assessment of class presentations. If done in a way which emphasises the generation of marks rather than giving feedback on how the presentation can be improved, this form of peer assessment can undermine group cooperation and distract students from the steps they need to take to develop their presentational skills.

If students simply mark each other on a set of fixed scales and these data are collected and presented to the student being assessed, little more is contributed to the development of self assessment abilities than the familiar assessment by teachers. When such marks are formally recorded and contribute to students' final grading, then the distancing of students from making their own judgements is complete. However, when peer assessment is used to provide rich and detailed comments from other students about their reactions to the presentation, then students may be more able to take this, along with their own perceptions and whatever other information is available, and form a judgement which will influence future learning, rather than having to defend themselves and assess the validity of judgements from others which may not be supported by information and which allow for no opportunity to respond.

Heron (1988) explores different permutations of staff and student decision-making with regard to educational processes and proposes a model of assessment in which staff make some decisions, staff with students decide some and students decide some. He regards this as an appropriately comprehensive approach to assessment in higher education. He considers that,

Once varying mixtures of self, peer and collaborative assessment replace unilateral assessment by staff, a completely new educational climate can be created. Self-determination with respect to setting learning objectives and to program design is not likely to make much headway, in my view, without some measure of self assessment, (p.85)

The role of others in self assessment is discussed specifically in Chapter 16.

Collaboration in assessment can also avoid some of the negative effects of unilateral assessment. Broadfoot (1979), arguing from the context of schooling, suggests that one reason for the lack of motivation of so-called less-able’ students is that they have been alienated by the assessment processes which they have experienced, and that the essentially interactive basis of all learning is not reflected in the almost e...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• Part I Self Assessment, Learning and Assessment
• Part II Examples of Practice
• Part III Self Assessment and Marking
• Part IV Design, Implementation and Evaluation
• V Conclusion
• References
• Index