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Assessment Practices and Students Knowledge Profiles in a Problem-based Curriculum

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Abstract

Since the mid-1980s, many new terms have enriched the assessment literature, such as performance assessment, authentic assessment, direct assessment and curriculum-embedded assessment. This boom is a result of changes in instructional as well as in assessment approaches. Criteria for good instruction as well as good assessment practices are suggested, derived from research-based models in the field of cognitive psychology and expert-novice studies. This article first reports on the translation of these criteria into a set of the characteristics of the assessment system of a problem-based curriculum in the field of Economics and Business Administration. Secondly, the article reports a study on improving assessment practices. Is it important to map students' knowledge profiles when attempting to remediate problem-solving performances? The answer to this question depends on the extent to which a student's problem-solving performance is influenced by the quality of his/her knowledge profile. Students' knowledge profile is measured by a Knowledge Test and a Sorting Task. Students' problem-solving skills are assessed by an Overall Test. The results indicate that students with an organised knowledge base perform better in problem-solving situations than students whose conceptual models are loosely structured. The implications of these findings for instruction as well as for assessment are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Development & Research, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Maastricht, PO 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Mien Segers

  2. Faculty of Law, University of Maastricht, PO Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Filip Dochy

  3. Department of Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, Vesaliusstraat 2, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Erik De Corte

Authors
  1. Mien Segers
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  2. Filip Dochy
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  3. Erik De Corte
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Segers, M., Dochy, F. & De Corte, E. Assessment Practices and Students Knowledge Profiles in a Problem-based Curriculum. Learning Environments Research 2, 191–213 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009932125947

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