Quality and Access in higher education.

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Assessment is a systemic process in higher education that uses empirical data on student learning to refine programs and improve student learning.[1] As a continuous process, assessment establishes measurable and clear student learning outcomes for learning,  provisioning a sufficient amount of learning opportunities to achieve these outcomes, implementing a systematic way of gathering, analyzing and interpreting evidence to determine how well student learning matches expectations, and using the collected information to inform improvement in student learning.

Quality in education
Access to education is important, but just as important is actually learning basic knowledge and skills in the classroom. Many children across the world cannot read, despite of having attended school for several years.

High-quality education is a prerequisite for learning and human development. Quality is affected by factors both inside and outside the classroom – everything from the availability of a teacher and teaching aids to the child’s starting point when it comes to mother tongue language or general health, for example.

Overall, securing high-quality education is a considerable challenge, particularly for countries with limited resources, where educational systems are prevented from functioning normally. Assessment in higher education can focus on the individual learner, a course, an academic program, or the institution.

1. Course-level Assessment
2. Program-level Assessment

Course-level Assessment
Assessment embedded at the course level (sometimes referred to as embedded assessment or authentic assessment) typically involves the use of assignments.[3] Students receive feedback on their performance on assignments and faculty gain knowledge of student learning to use for grading.[4] The work assessed within courses best relates to specific program-level student learning outcomes. Angelo and Cross[5] believe assessment in the classroom is an important part of the faculty feedback loop which can provide meaningful information about their effectiveness as teachers while also giving students a measure of their progress as learners.

Student Perception of Feedback[Studies show feedback is valued by students.[6] Feedback that is timely, specific and delivered individually helps to reinforces this perception.[7] This type of feedback, usually referred to as Just In Time, helps to create a feedback loop between student and teacher. Students generally find more utility from formative feedback when they are also presented with strategies of how to use the feedback.[8] These strategies help with perception because they tackle lack of understanding of academic discourse which hinders students' ability to use the feedback effectively.[6]

Quality of Feedback on Assessment[Timing is crucial in the delivery of feedback to students.[9] Kift and Moody claim that the complexity of the assignment should dictate how soon feedback should provided. For simpler tasks, feedback should be provided within 24 hours. However, if the task is more complicated, giving students time for reflection before providing feedback is more beneficial. "Effective feedback should be task related and focus on student performance rather than personal attributes of the student." [10] Studies have shown that the way feedback is delivered can have
either positive or negative effects on the student.[11] Corrective feedback helps to move student learning forward and improves future assessments.