Changing Assessment — Towards a New Assessment Paradigm Using ICT

This article discusses how Information and Communication Technologies can support 21st century assessment strategies and what needs to be done to ensure that technological advances support and foster pedagogical innovation. Based on an extensive review of the literature, it provides an overview of current ICT-enabled assessment practices, with a particular focus on the more recent developments of ICT-enhanced assessment tools that recognise 21st century skills. The article also refers to relevant cases of eAssessment, looks into examples of the potential of emerging technologies for eAssessment and discusses some relevant innovation and policy issues. Reflecting on these examples, it argues that, although technological challenges exist, the more pressing task at present is to transcend the traditional testing paradigm and conceptually develop (e)Assessment strategies that allow to more fully exploit the benefits of emerging technologies in order to foster the development of 21^st century skills.