50Centre for Excellence in Teaching The Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning in Assessment for Learning ( CETL AfL) The CETL AfL is designed to promote developments in assessment and deliver substantial benefits to students, teachers and institutions. Our approach to Assessment for Learning means that students will benefit from assessment which does far more than simply test what they know. There are three general areas of activity within the CETL AfL. These cover: . Enhancements to modules and programmes using AfL approaches . Developing improved student engagement . Research into assessment, teaching and learning CETL Pedagogic Research Expertise Research into learning and assessment is an integral, vibrant element of CETL AfL activities. CETL AfL staff are at the centre of a network of research expertise in teaching, learning and assessment that extends across Northumbria's schools and beyond to national and international networks. CETL AfL staff are involved in projects in Denmark, Australia and Europe and have given papers at international peer- reviewed conferences in South Africa, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany and Japan to name but a few. CETL AfL staff continue to produce high- quality research outputs such as books and publications in peer- reviewed journals. A list of staff publications are available on the CETL website www. northumbria. ac. uk/ cetl_ afl/ pubandpres/. CETL AfL has research staff and PhD students working on a range of projects that include studies of student transition from China to the UK, the influence of assessment for learning environments on international students, studies of authenticity in learning in the social sciences, staff perceptions of assessment ' cultures' across disciplines and developing understandings of difficult concepts in Engineering. CETL's current PhD students are benefiting from a learning environment where they work closely with their supervisors and other PhD students and are based in an excellent collaborative working environment with access to state-of- the- art resources and facilities. Our PhD students are well- integrated with CETL AfL research activities and they get involved with presenting alongside their supervisors and collaborating on publications at an early stage. CETL AfL staff have a range of expertise and can effectively supervise students in areas that include the impact of assessment on learning, student engagement, internationalisation and curriculum design. The Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning in Assessment for Learning ( CETL AfL) is the national centre for expertise in Assessment for Learning and a home for innovation, development and research into assessment, learning and teaching at Northumbria University.

www. northumbria. ac. uk51 Jessie Junxia Hou PhD student profile " My name is Junxia Hou and I am a CETL AfL PhD student researching the transition between learning environments in China and the UK. Back in China I am a university lecturer and I hold positions of responsibility at my home university. I have spent much of the last 15 months with a group of 54 Chinese students from a well-known university in China who are now studying at Northumbria. I am focusing on their experience of the transition between the two learning environments and I've also been accompanying the students to classes and lectures here at Northumbria and interviewing them about their perceptions of their experiences. I feel that being part of CETL AfL is really helping me towards success in my PhD. There is a very positive atmosphere and people tend to share developments in their work as soon as they happen. It's the informality of the discussion that helps sometimes and there's always someone around to talk to if you need to test out an idea." Gillian Davison PhD student profile " I am a CETL AfL PhD student and my research is looking at the potential to develop learner autonomy through the practice of ' authentic assessment' in Higher Education. I am originally from the North East of England and prior to starting my PhD I had a career in Social Work. My interest in authenticity is grounded in the National agenda to raise the standards of learning and as such is an important national priority ( Leitch, 2006). The Higher Education Funding Council ( 2007) indicate that today's graduates need to be able to apply knowledge when working with people, they need to be able to work independently, become efficient problem solvers, engage in self- evaluation, and be able to develop higher order skills to become ' lifelong learners' in an increasingly globalised, technological world. Northumbria has excellent examples of where authentic and complex assessment tasks are being used and my study aims to examine the nature of these contexts."