An Action Research Study of Student Self-Assessment in Higher Education
The importance of formative classroom assessment as part of learning and teaching has been well-documented and has been found to have positive impacts on student academic success (Black and Wiliam 1998). Along with a shift to more student-centered learning, educators, particularly at the PreK-12 level, have witnessed increased interest in formative classroom assessment, or assessment for learning (see Stiggins 2005; Stiggins et al. 2007; Wiggins 1998). Elwood and Klenowski (2002) characterized assessment for learning as assessment that enables students to understand their own learning and goals through effective feedback. They further stated that "to improve learning and indeed teaching, assessment must be formative in both function and purpose and must put the student at the centre of the assessment process" (p. 244). Stiggins and his colleagues at the Educational Testing Service's Assessment Training Institute (see Stiggins 2005; Stiggins et al. 2007; Stiggins and Chappuis 2005) advocate for student-centered assessment practices; specifically, they argue that quality classroom assessment, including involving students in the assessment process, can result in achievement gains and student excitement about learning.
One form of student-involved assessment, student self-assessment, has been defined broadly as "the involvement of students in making judgements of their learning" (Tan 2008, p. 16). Student self-assessment ranges from students scoring or grading their own work to students evaluating their progress in an instructional program. Tan provided a conceptualization of four types of student self-assessment, which includes involving students in judging their (a) behavior in self-assessment activities, (b) knowledge in self-assessment activities, (c) standards within the program of study, and (d) proficiency within the program of study.
Based on a 3-year study, the Board on Testing and Assessment of the National Research Council included student self-assessment as part of its vision for the future of assessment, noting its potential to support the development of metacognitive skills and to help students internalize the criteria for high quality work (Pellegrino and Chudowsky 2003). More recently, in a report published by the Higher Education Research Institute (DeAngelo et al. 2009), researchers noted an increase in faculty support for enhancing student selfunderstanding, providing evidence that enhancing metacognitive skills has become increasingly important to college and university faculty.
In addition to supporting students in their development of metacognitive skills, researchers (Elwood and Klenowski 2002; Shepard 2000) have noted that self-assessment helps students take more responsibility for their own learning and facilitates collaborative relationships among teachers and students. Other researchers (Black and Wiliam 1998; Tan 2008) have similarly cited self-assessment as a critical aspect of assessment for learning, as well as lifelong learning. According to Tan (2008), Perhaps the most critical need for students to meet their own future learning needs is their capacity to judge what their own learning needs are and how they can go about meeting these needs. Self-assessment ability is, therefore, a critical ingredient for students' lifelong learning (p. 27).
Despite the importance of student self-assessment, its practice in education in general (Black and Wiliam 1998), and in higher education in particular (Taras 2002), is rare. Studies of student self-assessment are similarly lacking. Although researchers have investigated self-assessment as part of larger formative assessment plans (see Wiliam et al. 2004), as Black and Wiliam (1998) noted in their review of the literature on formative classroom assessment, there is a lack of studies that focus specifically on the effectiveness of student self-assessment. Tan (2008), who conducted a study that resulted in a framework of student self-assessment practices in higher education, focused on university instructors' experiences implementing self-assessment; however, in his conclusion, he noted a lack of research on self-assessment from the student perspective. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of student self-assessment in two university courses from the student and instructor perspectives.
Background
I implemented student self-assessment exercises as an instructional strategy in two courses I taught during the 2007-2008 academic year, "Teacher, School and Society" and Technology for School Administrators." The purposes of the self-assessment exercises were (a) to help students reflect on their performance in the course; (b) to help students identify areas of strength, areas for improvement, and what they/I/their classmates could do to help them be successful; (c) to motivate students to do well in the course; and (d) to provide me with information about student perceptions of their progress, including facilitating factors and barriers to their progress.
The Study
To determine the effectiveness of the student self-assessment exercises, I included a "Self- Assessment Exercises" section on an "Instructional Methods Survey" that I administered to students during the last face-to-face class meeting fall and spring semesters. Students who completed the survey had volunteered to do so and had signed consent forms; the study had been approved by the University's Institutional Review Board. The "Self-Assessment Exercises" section of the survey included four rating scale items and two open-ended items. Rating scale options ranged from "1" (Strongly Disagree) to "4" (Strongly Agree); there was no midpoint on the scale. Of the 71 students in the four classes, 58 completed the "Self-Assessment Exercises" section of the "Instructional Methods Survey," an 81.7% response rate. I analyzed rating scale survey data using descriptive statistics and open-ended survey data by categorizing responses according to prominent themes. In addition to survey data, I developed a brief reflection of my experience regarding the student self-assessment exercises. Reflection is a key component of the action research process (Mertler 2009) as action research is inherently about examining one's own practice (McLean 1995).
Results
According to student survey responses, overall, the student self-assessment exercises were an effective instructional method for both the "Teacher, School and Society" undergraduate course and the "Technology for School Administrators" graduate course. The majority of students who completed the survey either agreed (43.9%) or strongly agreed (43.9%) that the self-assessment exercises were an effective instructional method. More specific findings are described in the following sections, organized by themes from the rating scale and openended survey data, including (a) opportunity for reflection, (b) monitoring progress, (c) motivation and other strengths, and (d) suggestions for improvement.
Opportunity for Reflection
The majority of students who completed the survey across the four courses either agreed (49.1%) or strongly agreed (42.1%) that the student self-assessment exercises helped them to reflect on their performance in the course. Responses to the open-ended item that requested students to provide one to three strengths of the exercises further supported this finding. The following are representative student responses (i.e., quotes) related to this theme:
Encouraged reflection in areas of need.
Allowed me to reflect on things I never would have.
Did make you take an honest look at your professional performance.
Made me think about how I was doing.
These assignments helped me to reflect on my learnings from this course.
I think they were a good way to independently think/analyze the course material.
You think about how you are doing while taking them which makes you evaluate yourself.
Chance to reflect on my own philosophies.
Monitoring Progress
In addition to providing an opportunity for reflection, a related theme that was evident from the data was that the student self-assessment exercises helped students monitor their progress over time. This included identifying strengths, learning, growth, and hard work as well as identifying areas for improvement. The majority of students who completed the survey agreed (49.1%) or strongly agreed (40.4%) that the exercises helped them to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement. The following representative student responses demonstrate this aspect of the exercises:
Helped me look at the big picture and quickly assess myself in different areas.
Helped me assess my strengths and weaknesses.
I was surprised to see that I had actually become more knowledgeable in some areas.
Helped me recognize what I needed to focus and work harder on.
Motivation and Other Strengths
Although there were no student comments specific to motivational aspects of the selfassessment exercises, the majority of students who completed the survey either strongly agreed (45.6%) or agreed (40.4%) that the exercises motivated them to do well in the course. Additional themes from student survey responses regarding strengths of the selfassessment exercises included feedback to the instructor and procedures related to the exercises. The two comments regarding feedback to the instructor came from the undergraduate course:
Let us know you are interested in our learning.
It gave you our feelings about the course.
The procedural aspects of the self-assessment exercises that students noted as strengths included consistency and timeliness of the exercises, the change in questions for each exercise, and the four-point rating scale.
Suggestions for Improvement
Students were also asked to provide one to three suggestions for improving the student selfassessment exercises. Although there were fewer responses to this question compared to the number of responses regarding strengths, one theme that emerged from these data was the suggestion to make the exercises more of a focus of the course. Another theme, which came from undergraduate responses, was that the assessments be related more to course grades and "less subjective."
Instructor Perspective
Implementing student self-assessment exercises as part of the "Teacher, School and Society" and "Technology for School Administrators" courseswas beneficial forme, not only because of the ways they contributed to student learning as described in the previous section, but also because they provided me with valuable student feedback at key times during the semester and supplemented the course evaluation data collected from students by the University at the end of the semester. I used the information from these exercises to make changes to the courses while they were in progress and to make changes to the courses for the next semester.
In addition to helping me improve instruction, the self-assessment exercises helped me improve my interactions and relationships with students; they helped me get to know the students better both academically and personally. I was sometimes surprised at how open and thoughtful students were in their responses. I found this aspect of the exercises particularly useful for the graduate course, which was predominantly online.
Conclusion
The student self-assessment exercises that I implemented in the "Teacher, School and Society" and "Technology for School Administrators" courses during the 2007-2008 academic year were conceptually similar to Tan's (2008) description of students judging their proficiency within a program of study, whereby the instructor uses student selfassessments to give students responsibility for monitoring and attaining progress, thereby encouraging students to develop reflection as a professional trait. The results of the action research study support claims that student self-assessment can facilitate the development of students' metacognitive skills, help them take more responsibility for their own learning, and support collaborative relationships between teacher and students (Elwood and Klenowski 2002; Shepard 2000).
In addition to evaluating the self-assessment exercises as an effective instructional method, students in both the undergraduate and graduate courses indicated that completing the exercises provided them the opportunity to reflect on the course and their performance, helped them to monitor their own progress, motivated them to do well in the course, and provided them the opportunity to give feedback to the instructor. The instructor reflection on implementing student self-assessment exercises further supported the benefits cited above. Additionally, the self-assessment exercises provided useful feedback for course improvement and facilitated better interactions and relationships with students.
More action research and other types of studies need to be conducted with diverse groups of post-secondary students across disciplines to get a more complete picture of the effectiveness of implementing self-assessment as an instructional strategy in higher education. In particular, the students who participated in this study were pre-service and in-service educators, who are expected to demonstrate reflection as part of professional practice (see National Board for Professional Teaching Standards 1989); therefore, it is important to conduct studies of self-assessment as an instructional strategy with students from other, non-education, disciplines.
Finally, student self-assessment as an example of assessment for learning needs investigation. Although students in this study agreed that the self-assessment exercises were an effective tool for reflection, meta-cognition, and motivation, the study did not directly investigate the impact of the exercises on student learning. As with any quality classroom assessment, student self-assessment should not only assess student learning, but should also positively impact it. 