Questioning assessment

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi35.1322

Keywords:

assessment, assumptions , discussion, professional learning, online, connecting, students, trust, understanding

Abstract

This brief communication offers a summary of our experience of holding a series of university-wide online discussions which explored and questioned the many assumptions we bring to assessment practices in higher education. It aims to demonstrate the value of such discussions, highlighting key lessons we learned, what they suggest for the future of assessment, and how we can better understand and support our students with the benefit of insights gained. Finally, we offer some practical tips for fellow higher education professionals new to this format, based on what worked well for us.

Author Biographies

Joanne Berry, Swansea University

Jo Berry is a Roman historian who specialises in the material culture of Roman Italy, particularly Pompeii and the other cities in the Bay of Naples. She is the author of The Complete Pompeii (Thames and Hudson, 2007), co-editor (with Andrew Wallace-Hadrill) of The Cultural History of the Home: Antiquity (Bloomsbury, 2020), and co-editor (with Rebecca Benefiel) of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook to Pompeii and Environs (Oxford University Press). Jo is School Education Lead for Swansea University's School of Culture and Communication. 

Rhian Ellis, Swansea University

Rhian Ellis is a Senior Academic Developer at the Swansea Academy of Learning and Teaching. She specialises in supporting teachers at Swansea University in their professional learning and development. Rhian facilitates the sharing of good practice in an events programme that includes the annual university-wide conference, bringing colleagues together to foster pedagogical enhancement. Rhian came to this role as an experienced social sciences lecturer and personal tutor, external examiner, and moderator in the Further Education sector.  

Patricia Xavier, UK New Model Institute of Technology and Engineering

Patricia Xavier is an engineering educator, interested in interdisciplinarity and its complexities. Her current area of research is on the tensions that exist at the interfaces between engineering and other disciplines. She is fascinated by engineering identities and habits, and what it means to become an engineer. Her research includes characterising the intersection between personal and professional value systems, how the process of training appears to prioritise certain habits (e.g., an adherence to tradition and authority), and de-prioritises others (e.g., the role and value of considering emotion and ethics in engineering design).

References

Berry, J., Ellis, R and Xavier, P. (2002) Questioning Assessment Resources. Available at: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/gtwvdyqel6DWHQer?ref=Link (Accessed: 8 October 2025).

Elton, L. (2004) A challenge to established assessment practice’, Higher Education Quarterly, 58(1), pp.43-62. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2004.00259.x

Oppenheim, A.N., Jahoda, M. and James, R.L. (1967) ‘Assumptions underlying the use of university examinations’, Higher Education Quarterly, 21(3), pp.341-351. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.1967.tb00245.x

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Published

27-03-2025

How to Cite

Berry, J., Ellis, R., & Xavier, P. (2025). Questioning assessment . Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (35). https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi35.1322

Issue

No. 35 (2025): Special Edition, Liberating Learning

Section

Mythbusting the modern academy

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