Student-Centred Assessments and their Impact on Learning - An IS Case Study

In higher education, one can find many different assessment methods ranging from the most traditional examination based assessment to computer-based on-line assessment and many other innovative assessment practices. Yet, achieving a high level of positive impact of assessment on student learning is always a major concern among academic practitioners. Choosing the right set of assessment modes, designing the assessment activities and evaluating their impact on student learning are some of the major challenges. This challenge is more pronounced in the recently emerging Information Systems (IS) programmes as there is an ever-growing wide variety of assessment methods matching with the ever-changing tools and techniques that evolve in the computer hardware and software disciplines. In such a dynamic context, IS courses in higher education are faced with a very short life-cycle and hence do not have the luxury of experimenting different assessment modes from time to time. They need to arrive at the right combination of assessments based on the prevailing situation. It is therefore a question as to which assessment methods are the best to be adopted and what is the impact of such assessments on student learning. This paper proposes a pragmatic four-step student-centred approach to identify and design suitable assessment methods and to examine their impact on student learning. The student-centred approach is illustrated through a study conducted for a particular IS course in a higher education setting. Due to the generic nature of this approach, it could be adopted in courses from other areas as well.