Why This Inertia in the Development of Better Assessment Methods?

Assessment has not been a major concern over recent decades in Norwegian higher education, either as a topic in educational literature, or as an area of practical development. This paper argues that it is essential to introduce alternatives to the traditional assessment approaches. When the issue of assessment is dealt with as a choice between methods, traditional modes of thinking turn out to be a hindrance. The inertia may, at least to some extent, be regarded as a consequence of the fatigue that arises from an unsuccessful search for alternatives within the logic of examinations. In this article, the suggestion is made that the focus should be on the basis for selecting assessment methods, rather than on the methods themselves.