Are universities over-assessing their students?

It is, of course, entirely possible to design and implement a valid and reliable approach to assessment that minimises (though never eliminates) the stresses on students, staff and university systems. Learning outcomes and modularisation are part of the problem. A solution lies in adopting more holistic, developmental approaches to assessment, based around setting high expectations rather than atomised, threshold learning outcomes. There are some institutions and programmes already well on the way down that particular road.

I run the final year project module in Computer Science, and from the outset remind the students that this should be great fun... as well as a major contributor to their final grade and degree classification. Their 'project demo' is as much a celebration as an assessment... and I tell them that their project is probably the thing they will always remember about their time at university - I once mentioned in a regular weeknote to the final year that I still recalled mine even though it's over 40 years since I graduated! Needless to say, one student coming for their supervision quizzed me about it! Some assessments can be fun!

Great news to hear such stories and evidence that assessment can indeed be fun for staff and students. Let's spread the word and ensure more colleagues get the support to assess in these ways: win win for staff and students. And yes, we overlook the role of assessment as celebration of achievement. Great example!

Absolutely agree. It is not just at University. 30 years ago in SA a large number of young women were not finishing year 12. This was a disgrace. The system was changed to continuous assessment which appears to suit their learning style. However, the other side is that now roughly 30% of young men do not complete year 12. They are not suited to the continual jumping of hurdles. This too is a disaster but no-one seems to care. How about a system that recognizes all ways of learning?

Ironic that academics put so much time and effort into assessment when the end result is up to 40% "firsts" and the rest pretty well all "2i"

Interesting article - thank you: some good thinking stuff here. We ran a "Social Tutorial" some years back. Studnet pick a current 'tourism issue' - makes a 5 minute video, come to their tutorial and show / explain the video. The kicker here was that we did this in the eveing and students brought in food / drink (soft only!) and their family and friends were invited. An opportunity for their nearest and dearest to see the students' achievements which never really happens. Totally great fun!!