173 Chapter 14 Using Assessment to enhance Twenty-First Century Learning Alan Ovens, Dawn Garbett and Rena Heap © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2015 C. Koh (ed.), Motivation, Leadership and Curriculum design, DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-230-2_14 A. Ovens () · D. Garbett · R. Heap University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand e-mail: a.ovens@auckland.ac.nz 14.1 Introduction This chapter examines the role assessment can play in motivating and guiding learn- ing for the Net Generation. It has been recognised for some time that assessment is a problematic term that is often used to denote several things at once (Ramsden 2003). For example, assessment can refer to the process of grading and the process of enhancing learning; it can involve appreciating the issues students encounter and teaching them better; it can be about meeting standards and having explicit criteria of expectations and it can simultaneously generate information and influ- ence future decisions (Carless 2007). Roos and Hamilton (2005) suggest that such differing purposes reflect deeper discussions about the nature of teaching and learn- ing. They posit that those who lean more towards summative assessment draw from behaviourist learning theories that are focussed on measuring learning, while those who concentrate on formative assessment draw more from constructivist theories of learning and are more focussed on issues of feedback and development. In a similar way, Joughin (2009) proposes that assessment is typically framed in binary terms between a model built around measurement, where knowledge is objective and value free and assessment becomes a means to determine the extent of learning, and a model built around judgement, where knowledge is seen as provisional, sub- jective and context dependent, and assessment is construed in terms of evaluation, quality and judgement. Assessment has also been closely aligned to efforts to improve school effective- ness. Within the concerted effort to reconfigure schools for modern times, Mutch (2012) suggests that there are three different movements in assessment that can be identified. The first relates to how assessment is used for accountability pur- poses to ensure schools are meeting stakeholder needs. The second concerns the role assessment plays in improving student learning, particularly as it relates to caroline.koh@nie.edu.sg