Assessment in higher education historically refers to the evaluation of student learning. Although assessment has recently come to encompass the evaluation of teaching, programs of study, and even [Page 39]whole institutions of learning, these other arenas of assessment are still significant only with respect to student learning. Currently, in what has become a vast and contested area of study, the field of assessment is in flux. Much that has been taken for granted is now under critical review, and many new concepts and theories are being developed and rigorously tested as scholarly research. Nonetheless, assessment activities are mostly conceptualized as occurring within the context of individual classrooms and single institutions. Thus, the potential impact of distributed learning environments on our understanding and practice of assessment ...