Students' perceptions on new modes of assessment and their influence on student learning: the portfolio case

The assessment culture has been dispelling the test culture, along with the ‘tabula rasa’- learner. New assessment formats, marked with unique characteristics, have been developed and implemented with the purpose to enhance active, constructive and skilled learners. He selects, perceives, interprets, and integrates new information to form a coherent and meaningful whole with her/ his prior knowledge and former experiences. In this line of thought, the reality per se is not sufficient to fully understand student learning. ‘Reality as experienced by the student’, and as a consequence students’ experiences and perceptions about assessment, have an important additional value in understanding student learning. The present investigation aims at measuring the effect of portfolios (fully equipped with the unique characteristics of new assessment modes) in comparison to traditional written examinations, on student learning by means of their perceptions. The results reveal that students adopt deep learning strategies when working on their portfolio and think of portfolios as worthwhile modes of assessment. However, a significant effect of students’ learning behaviour on their learning results was not found.Departement Pedagogische wetenschappen. Afdeling Didactiek. Centrum voor Opleidingsdidactiek.status: publishe