Assessment of Future Skills Learning: Changing Futures in Higher Education

Abstract

AbstractFuture Skills assessment is currently a hot debated issue. On the one hand it is the only way to move Future Skills into the center of learning in higher education, on the other hand it is difficult to achieve with the usual assessment practices in higher education institutions. In the project presented in this chapter we describe Future Skills modules in form of a concept that accompanies the whole student life-cycle of undergraduates and uses self-assessments and an e-portfolio tool to support students in their Future Skills development. The chapter presents a new vision of assessment based on the need to provide learners with what is called vertical transformation competence (Scharmer, 2018) and to make Future Skills development visible (Ehlers, 2013b, 2020d). Since student self-assessment has proven its potential in higher education, a model is presented that shows how student self-assessments can be integrated into learning and teaching practices at higher education institutions. Those recent concepts highlight the existing attempts to shift assessment culture in higher education from assessment of learning towards a new vision of assessment as learning. It represents a paradigm shift away from what can be measured to what can we learn during and from the assessment to create value for students’ personal growth and professional development.