This qualitative study looks at multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in examinations and their effectiveness in testing higher-order cognition. While there are claims that MCQs can do this, we consider many assertions problematic because of the difficulty in interpreting what higher-order cognition consists of and whether or not assessment tasks…

A key role of universities is the credentialing of student learning by awarding degrees and diplomas. This requires universities to have confidence in the integrity of their assessment processes and in turn, external stakeholders to have the same confidence. This study investigates the following research question: 'Has COVID-19 had an impact on…

Using assessment to inform teaching and to measure learning outcomes is of critical importance in higher education. However, many tertiary educators are not sufficiently knowledgeable or prepared to do this confidently. This paper suggests that tertiary educators could be given tools and encouraged to exert agency in their own assessment literacy…

Designing an assessment that is fit for purpose in the initial teacher education (ITE) setting is complex. The assessment must meet the university and New Zealand Teaching Council regulations, mirror educational best practice, support ITE students to learn curricular and pedagogical content as well as be practicable to teach and assess. This…

Launched in 1975, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education (AEHE) is a prominent international journal that focuses on assessment and evaluation within higher education. This bibliometric analysis of AEHE aims to gain insights into its evolution since its expansion in 2012 and identify its critical contributions to higher education.…

Whilst many studies have explored academic identity construction, very few take a comparative perspective to examine the various ways of constructing academic identities within and across different disciplines. This paper analyses a key policy document used for evaluating academics' performance along with semi-structured interviews with 37…

The ability to reflect and self-assess are essential attributes for graduates to develop during their education. At many tertiary institutions, peer and lecturer-assessment contribute to summative assessment, but self-assessment, whilst recommended for development, does not. In order to make a case for the inclusion of self-assessment as a…

The peer review of journal article manuscripts is a complex and emotionally fraught process. This article draws on how 25 academic authors used metaphor to describe their experiences of manuscript peer review. A critical analysis of these metaphors provided insight into the structures, relationships of power, and their emotional impacts. Over…

This paper explores the experiences and perceptions of parent academics and their colleagues, and argues that in the absence of institutional support and guidance, self and peer assessment of academic identity in relation to performance becomes a measure against which academics assess their own academic careers and the academic careers of others.…

Continuous increase of global reliance on sessional staff in higher education has not been accompanied by the development of strategies to enhance quality learning and teaching or understanding the experiences of these staff. This has resulted in a general discontent among this category of academics. The growing importance of building respectful…

Using findings from a 2-year study, this paper explores undergraduate engineering student perspectives on good university teachers. Findings from open survey questions and semi-structured interviews were analysed using principles of grounded theory, resulting in four themes identified by students as key to good university teaching: communication,…

This article examines the nature of, and need for, evaluation of community-engaged university teaching and research. The research was conducted as part of a larger project aimed at improving institutional understanding of how to best support community-engaged university people. We interviewed 25 community-engaged colleagues, and used a general…

Many teachers in higher education use feedback from students to evaluate their teaching, but only some use these evaluations to improve their teaching. One important factor that makes the difference is the teacher's approach to their evaluations. In this article, we identify some useful approaches for improving teaching. We conducted focus groups…

Professional scepticism forms an integral part of a professional accountant's skill set and is fundamental to their training. Recent revisions to IESs 2, 3, 4 and 8 reflect changes in the market expectation in relation to professional scepticism. In this paper, we answer calls for additional research into professional scepticism by investigating…

While fully understanding the multi-faceted role of universities and other higher education institutions, Professor Edwards advocates for the status and value of teaching, particularly in times of emphasis on research outputs and league tables. He draws on his reflections from more than four decades of experience of teaching at university level…