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Editorial: assessment of learning results

For a long time assessment of student learning results has been regarded by many as a minor issue to be taken care of after the important teaching tasks are over. However, awareness is growing that assessment methods are an integral aspect of the engineering curriculum, allowing both teachers and students to gain insight into the learning results of a course. Depending on the type of assessment method and the timing, assessment can fulfil different functions in an educational programme. Well known is the summative function: a test at the end of a course that is used to determine whether the competence level of the students meets a certain standard. Taken during a course, such tests can help to diagnose weak spots and so guide further study efforts of programming of teaching (the formative function, respectively, the programme function). Hence, we can safely say that assessment of learning outcomes is a major factor with a large impact on the study behaviour. Some teachers consciously use this aspect of assessment in order to give the students a clear indication of what performance level is expected by the end of a course (the didactic function of assessment). Assessment of learning results implies that some sort of measurement takes place. Evidently, the quality of these measurements influences the usefulness of the assessment method. In the practical conditions of higher education, criteria such as reliability and validity of measures are often neglected. The same is true with respect to specific demands on assessment methods in relation to the different assessment functions. In many cases the choice of assessment method is based on tradition rather than on insight into the possible options based on scientific research. Many engineers (and other scientists) appear to reserve such careful considerations for their own research field and refrain from applying them to their teaching tasks. There are, however, several signs that the tide is turning. In both educational sciences in general, as well as within the specific field of engineering education, attention seems to be growing for the topic of assessment. For instance, an increasing stream of publications focuses on competency-based or output-oriented curricula. Those publications raise the general interest in assessment procedures. On this theme, in this issue we have collected a total of 16 papers dealing with different aspects of assessment in engineering education. Without pretending to be able to cover all that is happening in this area, we want to offer an overview of the state of the art regarding assessment in engineering education. In the course of assembling this issue, the editors have communicated intensively with the contributing authors. We have requested many changes and adaptations and in some cases we have facilitated contact between authors in order to adjust contributions on related topics. In some cases we have asked authors to expand their paper to encompass a wider theoretical scope, in other cases we have asked them to focus on the presentation of a specific case of good practice. We feel greatly indebted to the responsiveness of the authors. Thanks to them, this compilation is as extended as it could be. We have tried to group together related papers. These efforts have resulted in the following order in the issue.