"Assessments: Students’ Perspectives and Faculty’s Dilemmas": An ethical consideration

Abstract

Dear Editor, Assessments are of great importance and an integral part of the teaching-learning process. In other words, they serve as a measure of the achievement of the intended objective. In this regard, they aim to inform students of areas where more effort needs to be made to enhance their performance. As a result, they contribute to deeper learning.1 Assessment results and analysis assist educators in further planning and implementing curriculum developments.2 A summative assessment also facilitates the selection of ‘suggestively’ suitable candidates for promotion and employment, etc., if applicable.3 Furthermore, assessments also help students indirectly by promoting self-discipline, time management, stress management, and an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. There are, however, some negative aspects associated with assessments for students. Students are more likely to feel stressed and anxious during assessments.4 Typically, assessments are scheduled for the entire class and are time-bound. There may be some students who are not prepared to take exams at that time. Or there may be other factors may contribute to the students’ poor performance. In either case, students may feel ashamed of their poor assessment results. It may be embarrassing for them to accept it when their peers’ scores are higher than theirs. It may be difficult for them to explain it to their parents or guardians, who may view their ward’s exam performance as a measure of righteousness. Frequent assessments multiply students’ problems. Their learning rhythm is disrupted, and the emphasis is shifted to assessment.5 It also creates a vicious cycle of inadequate preparation for exams and poor performance on the exam. Some students indeed think fewer assessments will result in better performance. Some students who cannot cope with stress6 may either resort to delinquent behaviors, such as alcohol consumption, smoking, and anti-social behaviors, to seemingly overcome their humiliation while some of them may develop psychosomatic ailments, low self-esteem, depression, sleep disturbances, gastric peptic ulcer disease, etc. Students may even commit suicide in severe cases.7 In addition to students, assessments test the faculty as well. The faculty always strives to make assessments valid, objective, and unbiased. However, certain aspects of assessments are always difficult to address. There are challenges involved in planning, implementing, and interpreting assessment results at various levels for faculty and administrators. Each class or batch consists of a diverse group of students from varying backgrounds, circumstances, preferences, and abilities.8 Some of them learn fast. Some of them are slow to learn. Some of them may be good at writing or oral communication. It may not be comfortable for some to deal with either of them; though they may still have the required skill and knowledge. However, they have to be judged with the commonly accepted tools of assessments – meeting the same benchmarks following the same timeline. Therefore, some students may be unable to meet these expectations.4 As a system, we fail to provide justice to such students. Likewise, in the diverse group of students that comes together in a batch, there may be students from regions where the local language is different from that of the region where the institute is located. The local language of the place, where the institute is, may be completely