Implementing first-year assessment principles: An analysis of selected scholarly literature

Assessment plays an important role in students’ learning as students often frame their learning around their assessment tasks. Well-designed assessment can be used to facilitate first-year students making their social and academic transition to university. In 2009, Professor David Nicol prepared a framework for first-year assessment practices that included 12 principles. In this study, these principles were revisited and used to analyse papers from 2013 to 2016 in the journals: ‘Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education’, ‘The International Journal of First Year in Higher Education’ and ‘Student Success’. The purpose of the study was to determine how current literature addresses Nicol’s first-year assessment principles, whether there were any issues in implementing them and whether anything new is emerging in the field. Based on this analysis, proposals are made for modifying the principles and recommendations are made for future research.