Beyond the Rubric

Abstract

Beyond the Rubric: Reconceptualizing Assessment as Dialogue examines how assessment in higher education can become a continuing exchange through which students learn to interpret standards, use feedback, and develop evaluative judgement. Dr. Naeem Fatima brings together dialogic pedagogy, sociocultural theory, feedback literacy, and assessment scholarship to consider how teachers and students can share responsibility for understanding quality. Across five chapters, the book moves from the limits and affordances of rubrics to the design of feedback conversations, peer review, co-constructed criteria, portfolios, and assessment across programmes. It examines the trust, power, emotion, and inclusion that shape participation, and proposes a Dialogic Assessment Framework as a conceptual synthesis for further research and educational design. The discussion draws on selected literature and illustrative designs; the framework is presented as a proposal requiring empirical evaluation. The final chapter considers curriculum reform, faculty development, workload, quality assurance, and generative AI. Written for higher education educators, researchers, academic developers, and institutional leaders, the book invites a careful reconsideration of how assessment can support rigorous judgement, learner agency, and sustained learning.