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This concluding chapter addresses four main issues that are central to ongoing progress in reconfiguring assessment productively. Firstly, we look at some of the shifts in assessment in higher education in Hong Kong. Secondly, we return to some of the main challenges in assessment first raised in Chapter 1 and indicate how they might be tackled. Thirdly, we look at assessment at a macro-level and discuss some of the factors which inhibit assessment change and development. We propose a number of strategies which may be used to meet the identified constraints. Fourthly, we summarize some of the main implications for practice arising from our framework of learningoriented assessment and the techniques in Chapter 3. Identifiable shifts Our wider experience in the Learning-oriented Assessment Project (LOAP) and our specific work on this book has enabled us to gauge some of the trends in assessment and to identify some shifts in thinking. Assessment as a learning tool Trends in the Hong Kong educational system across sectors are leading to a greater recognition of the potential of assessment as a learning tool. At the school level, for example, the education reform launched in 2001 promotes more diversified teaching and learning strategies, assessment for learning, learning-to-learn and a reduction in tests and examinations. The associated restructuring and renaming of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority also points to a realization that testing is not the only way to evaluate student performance. The expansion of school-based assessment, although not without challenges, is also part of the development of greater diversity in assessment practices. This provides educators in Hong Kong with extensive opportunities to bring about meaningful and productive change to assessment. 4 The Way Forward 160 How Assessment Supports Learning At the university level, there is evidence of increased attention to the learning potential of assessment. Many initiatives are of an individual nature as illustrated in Chapter 3. The lessons from this book are that there is much good practice being carried out at this level without any additional funding or resource support. Good user-friendly practices should not be resourceintensive . The value in making these practices public through the publication of this book is to enable colleagues to consider how far these approaches are transferable to their particular context, and how much customization the practices would need to work in their own disciplines. Outcomes-based approaches What changes in university approaches to assessment are taking place? A prevailing trend is the development of outcomes-based education and associated assessment. Outcomes-based education is not a panacea but it seems to be a move in a useful direction. Outcomes statements concentrate on the outputs rather than the inputs of teaching. This aligns well with the focus of this book on how the process of learning can support the development of enhanced student performance. A relevant feature of an outcomes-based approach might be more diversified modes of assessment, including performance assessments that allow us to obtain a more holistic view of student progress towards stated learning outcomes. Challenges for outcomes-based approaches include the difficulty of assessing generic outcomes on a programme-wide level (Maki, 2004); identifying worthwhile outcomes that capture the essence of learning without being too narrow; catering for important but unintended emergent learning outcomes (Hussey and Smith, 2003) and avoiding the risk of accountability and bureaucratization overshadowing a focus on what really matters, namely student learning (Tavner, 2005). Despite these concerns learning outcomes do carry the potential to contribute to the kind of constructive alignment through assessment tasks as learning tasks illustrated in Chapter 3. When learning outcomes are worthwhile and clearly stated, and assessment tasks require students to work productively towards these outcomes, then students are being primed for deep learning experiences. Alternative assessment As part of the growing interest in alternative forms of assessment, we also identify evidence of students being increasingly exposed to less traditional modes of assessment. Our belief is that students are largely responding positively to a greater range of assessment methods, provided they can see their learning benefits. International experiences of introducing innovative assessment (e.g. McDowell and Sambell, 1999) suggest that with good preparation and rehearsal opportunities students can benefit considerably from innovative assessment, but there can be teething troubles in the early stages. Vitally important is the need to explain why an assessment method is being used and how students will gain. As with all innovations, users need to see how it will benefit them. Approaches within the...

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