HERDSA 2010 program: Workshop seven
Using 'Assessment 2020': A tool for the collaborative reform of assessment for learning
Gordon Joughin
University of Wollongong, Australia
David Boud
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
In this workshop participants will use a robust conceptual framework to generate practical options for reforming assessment in their various contexts. "Assessment 2020: Seven Propositions for Assessment Reform in Higher Education" was generated in 2009 by a group of 50 highly experienced assessment researchers, academic development practitioners and senior academic managers from Australia and overseas who sought to identify current best thinking about the ways assessment will need to address immediate and future demands. The process was led by David Boud as part of his Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Senior Fellowship. The Assessment 2020 propositions are supported by an extensive literature, most notably the work of some of the contributors to the propositions, including Joughin, Boud, Sadler and Dochy in "Assessment, Learning and Judgement" (Joughin, 2009) and Boud, Hounsell and Dochy in "Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education: Learning for the Longer Term" (Boud & Falchikov, 2007). The workshop aims to help participants identify pervasive or intractable problems in using assessment to support learning; develop participants' appreciation of the Assessment 2020 propositions for assessment reform, specifically in relation to assessment for learning and the problems they are facing; and create a rich collection of ideas for using the propositions as a tool to improve assessment for learning in participants' various contexts. By the end of the workshop participants will be able to use the Assessment 2020 propositions to support their roles in improving assessment and draw on the set of practical suggestions for applying the propositions that will have been generated in the workshop.