DigCompEdu recognises the importance of assessment, not just in deciding whether or not a student passes or fails a course, but also in terms of shedding light on the effectiveness of course design, teaching methods, and learner progress. It identifies three broad competencies.

Assessment strategies

"To use digital technologies for formative and summative assessment. To enhance the diversity and suitability of assessment formats and approaches."

Analysing evidence

"To generate, select, critically analyse and interpret digital evidence on learner activity, performance and progress, in order to inform teaching and learning."

Feedback and Planning

"To use digital technologies to provide targeted and timely feedback to learners. To adapt teaching strategies and to provide targeted support, based on the evidence generated by the digital technologies used. To enable learners to understand the evidence provided by digital technologies and use it for decision-making."

(Note that in the original DigCompEdu documentation there is reference to 'parents' since it covers all levels of education. We have omitted such references here since we are focused on higher education.)

These are all relevant and important areas, but it is worth us spending a little time recapping or reflecting a little on what it is that we know about assessment from research and practice, particularly if we are wanting to ask broader questions about how we might reconfigure assessment to facilitate more effective learning.