Joanna Hong-Meng Tai

Designing assessment for inclusion: How does culture fit in?

Introduction

Designing assessment for inclusion: how does culture fit in?. Explore designing inclusive assessment in higher education, focusing on cultural considerations. This review develops principles for culturally inclusive assessment & suggests future research directions.

Abstract

Inclusion is important in higher education, and therefore should be an important consideration within assessment. Over time, the focus of who should be included in higher education has evolved, starting with disability inclusion, and broadening to various aspects of social inclusion. In the context of increasingly internationalized higher education, one contemporary consideration is that of culture. However, what culture is and how it might be accounted for within assessment has not been the focus of prominent scholarly work. This paper undertakes a scoping literature review to establish what is already known, and to offer directions for future work. Through the review, two design principles are developed which speak to the broader movement towards assessment for inclusion. Though culture is ill-defined within the literature, this may be more important to consider within local contexts rather than at a conceptual level. Future research could profitably focus on generating empirical evidence regarding the outcomes of assessment designs which are culturally inclusive, and exploring the implications of implementation for educators and institutions.

Review

The paper "Designing assessment for inclusion: How does culture fit in?" tackles a highly pertinent and increasingly critical challenge within internationalized higher education. The authors adeptly identify a significant gap in scholarly discourse regarding the explicit consideration of culture within inclusive assessment design. By highlighting the evolution of inclusion from disability to broader social aspects, the abstract effectively frames the contemporary relevance of culture as a crucial, yet under-explored, dimension. The decision to undertake a scoping literature review to establish existing knowledge is a sound methodological choice for a field where conceptual clarity and empirical evidence are nascent. Through this review, the paper promises to delineate what is currently understood about the intersection of culture and assessment for inclusion, offering a valuable foundational overview. A key contribution appears to be the development of two design principles specifically tailored to foster culturally inclusive assessment practices, which will undoubtedly serve as practical frameworks for both practitioners and future researchers. The observation that "culture is ill-defined within the literature" but may be more effectively considered within "local contexts" rather than at a purely conceptual level is a particularly insightful nuance, suggesting a pragmatic approach to a complex construct. This analytical distinction underscores the paper's thoughtful engagement with the challenges of operationalizing cultural inclusion. Overall, this paper makes a significant theoretical and practical contribution by systematically addressing a previously neglected aspect of inclusive assessment. By not only mapping the existing landscape but also generating actionable design principles, the authors provide a vital stepping stone for advancing practice. Furthermore, the explicit articulation of future research directions – focusing on empirical outcomes of culturally inclusive designs and the practical implications for educators and institutions – clearly signposts pathways for the field to mature. This work promises to be a foundational text for scholars and practitioners aiming to enhance the equity and relevance of assessment in diverse higher education settings.

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