Conference Themes

The conference themes are set out below. They are not intended to restrict contributions and we are happy for contributors to interpret them broadly. We particularly welcome papers that challenge current research, policy and practice. When submitting papers, delegates will be asked to nominate their ‘lead’ theme but will also be able to identify up to two other themes to which their work relates.

Learning and contemporary higher education assessment This theme encompasses research and practice exploring the relationship between learning and assessment. It is an opportunity to present work investigating the manifest and nuanced ways in which assessment design can influence learning as well as how assessment can reflect the learning intentions of different teaching practices such as enquiry-based learning.

Student responses to assessment This theme is about research associated with how students experience assessment and feedback; their disposition towards it, what they do in response to it, attitudes and actions.

Assessment literacies This theme combines the of assessment literacy with the more contested notions of academic literacies. It is chance to share research and critique on assessment transparency, the development of students’ appreciation of assessment, criteria and standards, issues related to developing academic writing, and students’ grasp of assessment methods, skills and techniques.

Assessment research: theory, method and critique This theme is a new development for AHE conference. It invites researchers to share work related to the development of theory in the field of assessment as well as discussion of appropriate and innovative methodologies and data collection methods. Above all, it invites critiques of assessment research and ideas for future approaches and lines of enquiry.

Diversity and inclusionThis theme invites contributors to present research and practice on assessment related to tackling aspects of diversity in higher education. It will include investigations into the equality implications of assessment practices and the development of effective inclusion shaped or influenced by assessment.

Institutional change and assessment This theme recognises the disciplinary and local scale of many assessment investigations and innovations. It invites research which tackles assessment matters at the institutional level, particularly those concerning efforts at institutional-level change. Topics may include academic standards, policy development, rebalancing formative and summative assessment, grading systems, and initiatives aimed at transformational change.

Overcoming specific assessment challenges This broad theme invites contributions related to assessment challenges such as subject discipline matters, assessing work-based learning and incorporating assessment technologies. Where contributors focus on a disciplinary issue, they should present their work in a way that is embedded in the subject/ profession but has wider lessons for cognate disciplines.