University students’ perceptions of their assessment

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. The topic under study is framed within that of university students’ evaluation of the assessments made of their learning. The goals of the research were to identify the students’ perception of the systems for their assessment as well as to describe their views on and attitudes towards these assessments. Another aspect also investigated was whether, over the past five years, changes in these perceptions, concepts and attitudes have taken place or not. METHOD. What is involved is a descriptive, comparative and correlational research study in which 1,407 students from the University of the Basque Country participated. For data collection a Likertformat questionnaire made up of 55 items was used. A principal components analysis was also undertaken as a procedure for grouping the items into factors and for the calculation of internal consistency, the multivariate analysis of variance, and comparisons between means. RESULTS. The students perceived the evaluated content as being fundamentally theoretical, that the predominant method is hetero-evaluation and that a final assessment is more summative than formative. Students see assessment as verifying the degree to which the aimed-for skills have been achieved, as conditioning the way in which their time is organised, and not really reflecting what they have learned. With the exception of the importance given to the exam, which has diminished, and of the perception of feeling more integrated into the teaching-learning process, the assessment practices undertaken by the teaching staff have varied very little in recent years. DISCUSSION. The perception by university students of their assessment is that it is more aimed at checking and evaluating their learning acquisition rather than the improvement of their learning.This perception and this attitude have not varied significantly since the implementation of the new Degree qualifications.