Using assessment to enhance twenty-first century learning

Abstract

Assessment has traditionally been seen as a way of finding out what students have learned. There has been a relatively recent shift to embedding assessment as an integral aspect of the learning culture of Net Generation learners. In such a shift, pedagogical encounters are characterised by learners engaging with and connecting to other key agentive elements in ways that combine to create a personalised learning network that extends outwards from each student. In this chapter, we focus on four case studies that enhance learning by viewing assessment as part of the ongoing activity emerging from such pedagogical encounters. Each case study acknowledges that an essential part of working with the Net Generation of learners is having a greater sensitivity to how they make sense of learning activities and enacting forms of assessment that are more student centred, reflective and proactive in enabling students to self-manage their learning activity. This has required numerous changes in our roles as teachers, changes in the role of students, changes in the nature of student–teacher interaction and changes in the relationship between the teacher, the student and the course content. One important insight is that if teachers are to be leading learning in their classrooms, it behoves them to become Net Generation learners themselves. We conclude by suggesting that assessment must be deeply embedded as a part of student learning culture and be evoked in ways that work for the Net Generation of learners.