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Assessment for Twenty-First-Century Learning: The Challenges Ahead

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Learning, Design, and Technology

Abstract

This chapter offers firstly, a resume of some of the pressing needs for change in current educational assessment thinking and practice if learners are effectively to be prepared for their future lives and work in the twenty-first century. It then traces the growing interest in assessment for learning (AfL) as a significant challenge to the assessment status quo. This discussion leads into the argument of the third section which concerns the potential for technology-enhanced assessment to meet the novel needs of today’s learner whilst building on the strengths of AfL. The reasons for the slow realisation of this potential and some of the risks that TEA poses form the fourth section of the chapter which concludes with some observations concerning the likelihood of the transformative potential of technology-enhanced assessment (TEA) being realised in practice.

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Acknowledgment

This chapter draws on a research project conducted by Broadfoot, PM, Oldfield, A; Sutherland, RJ, and Timmis, S; University of Bristol. A full account, Assessment in a Digital Age: A research review, is available at bris.ac.uk

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Correspondence to Patricia Broadfoot .

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Broadfoot, P. (2016). Assessment for Twenty-First-Century Learning: The Challenges Ahead. In: Spector, M., Lockee, B., Childress, M. (eds) Learning, Design, and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17727-4_64-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17727-4_64-1

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