Role of Assignment Essays in Tertiary Education

experience while others suffer 'exam nerves' and perform at the lowest level of their capabilities.

(Wonderland University, 2006, p. 4) Additionally, Jones et al. (2004, pp. 36-37) propose that assignment essays can be used to assess student learning mid-course and so provide them with helpful feedback before they are subjected to the exam experience. Exams only provide students with a mark rather than specific feedback on their progress.

Therefore, setting assignment essays for a substantial art of student assessment is a much fairer approach than one-off examination testing. Body paragraph 3 As an assessment tool, assignment essays have some disadvantages for lecturers and students. It has been found that assignment essays consume a great deal of staff time and money to mark and student time to prepare (Sankey & Liger, 2005, p. 192). A consequence of this is that feedback to students is frequently delayed, and this is much less useful to students than rapid feedback (p.

94).It is partly because of these disadvantages of time and expense that other assessments such as multiple- hoice tests and short answer questions have an enduring place in the tertiary learning environment. Conclusion To conclude, it seems that assignment essays continue to have a prominent role in tertiary education as an assessment tool. This is mainly because they are very effective in developing knowledge and writing skills for subject areas.Also, assignment essays can be less stressful than examinations as they allow students to show their understanding of content in less pressured circumstances. On the other hand, the time consuming nature of writing and marking essays points to some isadvantages that also need to be considered.

The weight of evidence,

however, supports the writing of assignment essays for student assessment because this approach has such positive and proven effects for improved student learning.