11. What gets in the way of implementation?

The single greatest barrier to implementation is lack of imagination: imagining tasks, imagining how to sell them to students, imagining how to address the concerns of colleagues. There are so many tired and unimaginative activities in assessment that low expectations are generated. We need to put the energy and enthusiasm into assessment design that we put into our most exciting lectures.
There are, of course, all the practical and everyday barriers created by assessment regimes designed to systematise and commodify assessment and protect students from our errors and excesses. These need to be negotiated effectively and not distract us from a more vital educational task.

There are, of course, all the practical and everyday barriers created by assessment regimes designed to systematise and commodify assessment and protect students from our errors and excesses. These need to be negotiated effectively and not distract us from a more vital educational task.