Student Self-Assessment in Higher Education

This thesis addresses the theme of student self-assessment in higher education. Self-assessment is defined as the process by which students make judgments about their learning, particularly their learning outcomes (Boud & Falchikov, 1989; Eva et al., 2004). It functions to train students to make a better appraisal of aspects of their learning thus enabling them to take further steps to improve on their deficiencies (Thomas, 1999). Self-assessment is not only expected to encourage self-reflection or appraisal of their learning, it is also supposed to engage students actively in their learning. Falchikov (2005) contends that periodic self-assessment of learning processes and outcomes promote monitoring of learning progress, which in turn stimulates repair strategies that enable learners to further improve.