Learning Assessment Quality at Universities: Acquaintanceship and Publicity

The study intended to assess the level of acquaintanceship and publicity of learning assessment quality at four Ethiopian universities. A quantitative approach was employed in the course of the study. Data were collected through questionnaires from instructors, and PhD and MA students in Education and Behavioral Studies (CEBS) and Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at the four universities. The results have shown that instructors and students at the universities had great acquaintance with learning assessment quality, particularly regarding the benefit of assessing students through multiple forms of assessment; the learning activity nature of assessment; the motivating effects of assessment requirements on learners; the centrality of assessment within the overall quality of learning in universities; the role of assessable learning outcomes to guide teaching-learning; the role of the tasks assessed to mold learning and teaching; and the role of assessment to provide comparable scores across administrations, and its power of involving in real learning. The level of publicity of the instrumental roles of learning assessment quality among pertinent university communities, nonetheless, was minimal-creating dichotomies among the different communities in general and among designed curricula, taught contents, and assessed tasks in particular. The universities are, therefore, encouraged to uphold and advance the prevailed acquaintanceship of learning assessment quality, and yet make utmost concerted efforts to publicize the instrumental roles of learning assessment quality among pertinent university communities with the ultimate purpose of creating common understanding and expediting the effectiveness of student learning.