Self‐assessment as a Generic Skill for Enterprising Students: the learning process

Abstract

The ability to use appropriate self‐assessment skills for monitoring and planning for progress is often assumed to be well developed in higher education (HE) students. This paper argues that this cannot be taken for granted and that, as teachers in HE, we must explicitly address the issue of self‐assessment skill acquisition. The development of a personal development diary, supported by the Enterprise in Higher Education (EHE) initiative at the University College of North Wales (UCNW), Bangor, is described. Learning principles consistent both with the literature on skill acquisition and the objective of enabling students in HE to have control over their own learning determined this development and are presented in the paper. Whilst successful in achieving its aims, it is recognised that the diary, as developed, is not widely accessible to students. An alternative or complementary learning procedure, which can be used with large groups for the acquisition of skills, is also reported.