Learning-oriented assessment: Principles, practice and a project

Learning-oriented assessment represents an attempt to reconcile formative and summative assessment and focus all assessment on the development of productive student learning. Learning-oriented assessment comprises three interlocking dimensions: assessment tasks as learning tasks; student involvement in assessment; and the closing of feedback loops. The Learning-oriented Assessment Project was an institutional attempt to promote and disseminate useful assessment practices: its strengths were in its international profile and publications, whilst its limitations included a lack of sustained impact on assessment at course and programme levels. Barriers such as accountability and distrust are considered and some possible ways forward for learning-oriented assessment are suggested