Equity and Formative Assessment in Higher Education

This book discusses instruction, learning, and assessment in higher education with an emphasis on several effective formative assessment tools and methods such as digital badges, reflective journals, and peer assessment used in learning environments comprising students of diverse, multicultural backgrounds. Each chapter provides a rich theoretical review, followed by a case study detailing the challenges involved in using those assessment methods in a diverse classroom, as well as practical suggestions for removing potential barriers, especially for minority students. Most of the narrated case studies are accompanied by episodes, thoughts, and feelings expressed by both students and instructors throughout the assessment processes.

This book provides a valuable updated reference source for pedagogical and research purposes for a wide audience. Students, teachers, policymakers, curriculum designers, and teacher educators interested in fostering initiatives in higher education can undoubtably benefit from this book's contents, which are aimed at adapting teaching–learning assessment processes to the unique learning needs of culturally diverse student populations.  

Dorit Alt, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in Education and Instruction in the Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel. She specializes in the field of instruction, learning, and assessment in the 21st century. Her research endeavors center on promoting lifelong learning skills via formal and non-formal learning environments. Among her numerous publications in leading scientific journals are several books such as Lifelong Citizenship: Lifelong Learning as a Lever for Moral and Democratic Values (Brill and Sense Publishers); The Challenges of Academic Incivility: Social-Emotional Competencies and Redesign of Learning Environments as Remedies (Springer). Prof. Alt has also led an ERASMUS+ joint project ASSET (assessment tools for higher education learning environment 2017–2020).

Prof. Raichel, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in Education and Instruction in the Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel. Her main interests cover issues of the Israeli educational system; teacher identity; the figure of the “good educator” and his/her training and transfer of educational ideas from the western world to Hebrew education; social education of immigrants: multicultural teacher training; and vocational education in Israel. Prof. Raichel is an active member of the Israeli Association of Historians of Education and of the Association of Professional Development Schools.