What university professors say-feel-reflect on online assessment for learning in higher education

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the notion of assessment for learning in contrast to examination. We present some misconceptions related to evaluation and present some principles that substantiate our conceptions and evaluative practices. We question whether such principles help other university professors to think-design assessment for learning in their own daily lives in higher education. Our epistemic-methodological movements are based on the “epistemology of teaching practices” and “research-with the experience” to understand what teachers say-feel-reflect on the principles of online assessment for learning. To achieve this research goal, we offered a remote course for university professors in which the principles of online assessment for learning were implemented, in order to enable all course participants to have a shared experience from which they would present their considerations on the principles taking into account previous assessment experiences and their own assessment practices. From the analysis of the teachers’ narratives, three notions/findings emerged: experiencing a formative assessment process potentiates changes of the assessment practice; effective collaborative assessment and self-assessment has potential, but requires overcoming challenges; and formative assessment does not only depend on the teacher, it also involves some conditioning factors.