The Excitement of Alternative Final Assessment - Higher Education Perspectives

For many years, the sit-in final examination was treated as the default way to assess university students.

Students entered an examination hall, answered a set of questions within two or three hours, and left. It was controlled, familiar and relatively easy to manage.

But there was always one important question:

Does a final examination truly show what a student can do?

A student may be able to memorise theories and reproduce them during an examination. But can the student apply those theories, solve a real problem, create a product, defend a decision or perform a professional task?

This is where alternative final assessment became attractive.

National higher education quality guidance recognises that a final assessment can take different forms. It may be a final examination, but it may also be a final project, portfolio, exhibition, reflective assessment, seminar, expert review, critique or logbook.

This gives higher education institutions more flexibility to assess learning in ways that are more authentic and relevant.

For example:

• A learning design student can develop an online learning module.
• A business student can analyse a real organisational problem.
• A computing student can build and demonstrate a working system.
• A communication student can produce a digital campaign.
• An education student can develop and defend a teaching portfolio.

The intention is good. Instead of only asking students what they know, we can ask them to demonstrate what they can do.

However, one important distinction must be understood:

Final Assessment does not mean Final Examination has been abolished.

A final examination is still one form of final assessment. Alternative assessment is another.

Source: Guidelines to Good Practices: Assessment of Student Learning. Malaysian Qualifications Agency 2023
https://www2.mqa.gov.my/qad/v2/2024/DOKUMEN%20GGP%20AOSL%209223%20FINAL%20V3.pdf 

The flexibility was introduced to allow institutions to select the most appropriate assessment method for the learning outcomes. It was not introduced to force every course to abandon examinations.

That difference is extremely important.

In the next article, I will discuss what can go wrong when an institution becomes too excited and attempts to convert every final examination into an alternative final assessment.

Go to next article: The Danger of Going All Out - Alternative Final Assessment in Higher Education

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