Continuous assessment in higher education in Denmark

Abstract

Designing fair and efficient ways of assessing student learning is a challenge to most teachers in higher education. It is possible that multiple graded, low-stake activities during the teaching period can either replace or supplement end-of-semester exams to measure student performance. Such a shift to continuous assessment has the potential not only to increase efficiency but, importantly, also enhance student learning. Continuous assessment is used widely internationally and now (since 2016) also allowed at Danish Universities. Here we review the advantages and disadvantages of this assessment format and report on its first use in two science courses at Aarhus University. We include a detailed description of the graded tasks and activities used in the two courses. By comparing student per-formance in continuous assessments with that of a traditional end-of-semester exam we are able to highlight some challenges and provide recommendations for the future use of this assessment format at Danish universities.