A strategic framework : assessing individual student learning in team-based subjects

The assessment of individual students’ learning in team-based subjects can be problematic for academic staff and students alike, unless these stakeholders work toward a shared understanding of the basic elements of the assessment process. This paper describes both the background of an ongoing five-university research project investigating effective assessment of individual student learning in PBL-based subjects as well as the current framing of our findings – a strategic assessment framework. This assessment framework is described as strategic because it is founded on the principle that academic staff must engage students in a progressive knowledge construction process guided by the subject’s learning outcomes while also preparing individual students to demonstrate their learning within a team environment.