“What do you think about it”? Formative Assessment and University Students’ Representations

The scientific interest for formative assessment practices is greatly increased in rece nt years because of research that has shown its effective use to improve students’ learning outcomes (Kingston & Nash, 2011; Bennett, 2011; Dunn & Mulvenon, 2009; Black & Wiliam, 2009). Formative assessment can be defined as all activities undertaken by teachers and students to gather information to be used diagnostically in order to modify teaching a nd learning: it works because it has a powerful effect on the t wo most important protagonists in the teaching-learning process (teachers and students). However, things appear different when the focus is posed on Higher Education. The current trend in assessment seems to lose its strength when the focus is placed on the university student’s level of achievement. Current research interests in this area are mainly oriented towa rds identifying form s and m odels for asse ssing teaching-learning processes and t o im plement a controlled system assessment. The most common assessment practice is aimed to gathering students’ opinions about the teaching-learning services in the course of study. Starting from this assumptions, the present paper reports on the first step of a larger multiple case study conducted with the students of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Bari (Italy). It is focused on their representations and conceptions of formative assessment (and the practices of self and peer-assessment).