Assessment as Learning

In current scholarship, the idea of assessment is often divided into three categories:  assessment of learning, which is designed to measure the degree to which a student has achieved particular learning objectives; assessment for learning, which aims to support and encourage students' ongoing learning throughout a course; and assessment as learning, in which the completion of assessment tasks in itself becomes part of the learning process, imparting new information and insights to students by means of their own reflection on what they are both learning and doing.  All three have in common that they involve the student's active response to an assessment task; however, assessment for learning adds an emphasis on the process of learning, as opposed to merely its ultimate outcomes, and assessment as learning further empowers students by urging them to reflect on their work on an assessment task in an iterative way so that they can continue to learn and improve throughout the assessment process.

H Padmanabha (2021, p. 18) writes that assessment as learning "occurs when students personally monitor what they are learning and [use] the feedback from this monitoring to make adjustments, adaptations and even major changes". Self-awareness and reflection distinguish assessment as learning within the broader category of assessment for learning.  The teacher's role becomes one of knowledge guide, providing opportunities for supported practice, rather than merely imparting  knowledge; the assessment task becomes an instrument not just of capturing expertise, but of, itself, guiding students in becoming aware of their own learning process and how to apply it most effectively. Assessment tasks in this context need to focus on how students accomplish the task as much as on what they actually produce. Assessment techniques such as reflective journals, self-assessment, and partnering with a fellow student to assess one another's work are all ways to encourage assessment as learning.