Assessment

© Oxford University Press, 2013. All Rights Reserved. Palliative care practitioners may be involved in assessment in a variety of ways. First, as teachers, they use assessment to motivate, promote, and test student learning in palliative care. Second, as part of a wider community of teachers, they contribute to assessments that are organized by others in the university and workplace. Third, they may be invited to sit on course organizing committees at which discussions about assessment happen. Therefore, a good understanding of assessment enables the palliative care teacher to be more effective in every setting. This chapter sets out the purposes and sources of assessment; differentiates between formative assessment to aid learning and summative assessment which tests student achievement; and discusses the pros and cons of a range of assessment methods.