Hurry up to submit abstracts before 9 January for Assessment in Higher Education

The triangle of effective education, using alternative modes of assessment to enhance transformation and change.

You need to submit your abstract before 9 January 2017 to participate in the 6th International Assessment in Higher Education (AHE) Leading assessment for learning in Higher Education conference that will take place in Manchester, UK on 28 and 29 May 2017. 

The conference venue is the four-star Macdonald Manchester Hotel and Spa which have limited discounted room rates for the conference. Early bird Conference registration ends first of May for 345 Pounds, after which you pay 395 Pounds. The registration fee includes coffee and snacks as well as lunch for both days but it excludes the conference dinner that will be held on the first night (47,50 Pounds). It does, however, includes a Master class of your choice on the pre-conference day, which is, according to me, highly recommended for all conferences.

You may ask why attending a conference on assessment is so important? Well, contrary to popular opinion, teaching and learning is not all there is to education. Effective education forms a triangle of teaching and learning on the bottom line of the triangle and assessment the pinnacle that ties teaching and learning together and ensure that the student is able to transform his/her competencies/skills/knowledge/understanding/values/behaviour/worldview/etc if the assessment is done well and outcomes based towards life-long, self-directed learning. Too often, assessment is seen as a subordinate part of teaching or a grading system by educators and a sifting process for students when they decide what to cram for tests and exams.  

Technology opens a world of alternative assessment options which can replace written, timed, and venue-based assessment with creative alternatives that would save money and could change assessment as we know it altogether.  

Conference themes are:

·        Exploring approaches to assessment and feedback in higher education·

·        Enhancing assessment and feedback at programme and institutional level

·        Cultivating assessment literacy

·        Integrating digital tools and technologies for assessment

·        Developing academic integrity and academic literacies through assessment

·        Assessment for Social Justice