Intro
Assessment, and specifically, how a piece of work is being assessed, has always been a difficult subject, especially in creative education. Due to the fact you cannot assess if your work is either ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ it becomes even more confusing for a student to understand as there are no specific parameters. As a student coming from a theoretical background where assessment was based on how well you could remember facts and offer answers that are either right or wrong, I was struggling to understand how my tutors will assess my work in a creative, seemingly subjective, specialism. It took a lot of work and observation to understand that the development and process of my practice was the most important part of my learning.
Context
Process and Research Document
This intervention focuses on assessment undertaken as part of the ‘Level 4, CertHE: Preparation for Design, Media and Screen’ which uses a document called the ‘Process and Research Document’. As part of the assessment process, students are required to complete a specific template with all their research and show the process and their development whilst following a very specific set of guidelines which is really prescriptive.
The problem is that instead of teaching how to edit and present their work based on specific parameters as they would come across working in the creative industries, this particular way is removing the opportunity for each student to potentially demonstrate the skill of problem solving and thinking outside the box. It also focuses on subject area – Design – without consideration for other subject areas.
Positionality
I will be looking into this intervention as a student as well as an academic. This is one the main reasons I chose to do an intervention on the issue mentioned above. I am also neurodivergent, which adds another layer into the perspective I’m taking. English is also not my first language and this has been a big part of my experience both as a student and academic- especially understanding key terms, phrases and academic language. My experience has played a key part in this intervention, so I will be exploring ways of making assessment more inclusive and less confusing for both students and academics, based on research and comments and observations from academics and students. I would also like to mention here that my experience as a student and academic has heavily influenced this intervention. I have been struggling a lot with academic language and heavily academic papers when researching. This has resulted in me not having confidence in my writing but also discussing themes that other students or colleagues are using specific terminology as I have to look into it and take my time to understand in my own way.
Intervention
Lindström suggests that effective assessment in arts education requires a multidimensional approach that aligns with the diverse objectives of arts education. (Lindström, 2012).
Recommendations:
Glossary: Creating a glossary of key terms such as primary and secondary research and how it maps with learning outcomes. This will help students that struggle with the language but also students that come from nontraditional art and design backgrounds. It will also help students to understand academic language in their own terms without being forced upon them with no explanation.
Mapping Learning Outcomes and Assessment: A case study by Dr David Preston at Central Saint Martins have looked at a project that it was developed for the BA (Hons) Graphic Communication Design. “Capture/ Curate is a student toolkit for recording and representing the material evidence of process work associated with experiential learning.” (Preston, 2024)
The Design Process Toolkit (Preston,2024) was built to be a two-phase model where the students are capturing and recording their process and then edit and curate. The project also looked into mapping the learning outcomes with different stages of process and development by creating a process map.
Some of the key outcomes are a positive impact on staff and student experience and student are more prepared and have a better understanding of what assessment involves. Some key learnings are that an initiative targeted to students can be beneficial for staff and the skills that the students learn through the ‘Capture/ /Curate toolkit’ are transferable outside their studies.
Preston also notes that “Documenting experiential learning remains challenging for students who favour practical know – how and tacit performance over explicit forms of technical rationality” (Preston, 2024) and it can take some time to make it common practice while using the chosen terminology.
Sketchbook/ Journal: When I started studying photography, keeping a sketchbook was really important to document my practice and my progress. I didn’t really know what a sketchbook was or how to use it or even how it would be assessed when one of the criteria was to produce one. The advice and the feedback that I would receive were vague and would not help me to understand how to improve my sketchbook and how it connects with assessment.
Keeping a sketchbook or a journal is a record of the process and development of a project which shows thought process, idea development, experimentation and problem solving. The students can then use the contents of the sketchbook/journal for assessment but also for purposes of building a portfolio. I work closely with the College Admissions Tutors (CATS) at LCC who are making the decisions on undergraduate applications as part of my role as a Student Recruitment Officer. I also deliver a lot of portfolio development advice talk for applying to universities. We have seen a decline on using sketchbook work and focusing a lot of showing final outcomes, especially for people applying to study photography and film. This does not help the students or the CATS as they can’t subjectively judge a student’s work by how ‘nice’ it looks.
Students at CertHE are expected to submit a portfolio as part of their applications for universities if it’s a requirement. It is important for them to understand what a sketchbook is and how to develop one but also what kind of skills are learning. “Some could not comprehend the difference between a sketchbook developed for their own benefit and a submission document charting the narrative development of their projects aligned to the relevant Learning Outcomes and designed for an external audience.” (Preston, 2024)
Feedback: Students receive feedback either verbal or written and lot of times could vague and ambiguous with no substance. Feedback should be clear and progressive so they students how to move forward and which areas they should focus on. Formative and summative feedback should be a “continuous cycle” (Hall, 2024). When it comes to verbal feedback, there should be the option of having it in written format to support students more inclusively as not everyone can retain verbal information or even struggle with the language and might need to revisit.
Showcase/ exhibition/ presentation: We should also offer different options and ways for students to show and talk about their work depending on what suit each student needs. Showcases and presentations offer the opportunity of peer feedback which are really important for their development. The challenge with this is that not all students are comfortable with showing their works in this way or delivering presentations in front of other people, so it’s important to offer alternatives such as prerecording and visual essays.
Communication: A constant communication between the student and the academic will help and support the learning experience. Reviewing the needs of the student throughout their learning experience and not only in the beginning.
Action Plan
In September I will attend the planning meeting for the new academic year for the L4 CertHE, where I’m going to introduce the recommendations mentioned in this intervention.
The ideal for me would have been to remove completely the Process and Research Document and look into alternative forms of assessment, adapted around the students’ individual needs.
Unfortunately, it won’t be something that can be drastically changed at this time of the academic year as everything is already scheduled and set. But we could look into adopting some of the other recommendations mentioned above.
In the planning meeting, I will suggest offering more flexibility in how the students can present their process and work, so we can allow for creative independence while still retaining some structure. That means that the students could use the Process and Research Document more as a guide and an example instead of a highly structured template that they have to fill in.
I will also look into creating a glossary of key terms and mapping them to the different stages of a project as well as the learning outcomes and assessment based on the ‘Capture/Curate’ toolkit (Preston, 2024).
I believe that mapping learning outcomes to the different stages of development and process and deciphering academic language will help both students and academics.
Conclusion
Before we look into improving the assessment experience for both students and academics we heed to look into the learning experience and how unique is for each individual. We have to provide structure and clear guidelines when it comes to assessment and the connections with the learning experience, but also be flexible and adaptable. I believe communication between the students and the academics it is key as well as a student led approach. Improving the student experience of learning and assessment will also improve staff experience, removing ambiguity and improving understanding by being inclusive for all.
References
Bradshaw, P. & Hickman, J. & Jones, J. ‘Stories & Streams: overcoming the student as consumer mindset through peer-to-peer learning’ Networks (18) Available at: http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/networks/issue-18-july-2012/stories-and-streams-overcoming-the-student-as-consumer-mindset-through-peer-to-peer-learning (Accessed: 20 March 2024)
Davies, A. (2012) ‘Learning outcomes and assessment criteria in art and design. What’s the recurring problem?’ Networks (18) Available at: http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/networks/issue-18-july-2012/learning-outcomes-and-assessment-criteria-in-art-and-design.-whats-the-recurring-problem (Accessed: 10 March 2024)
Hall, R. (2024) Using Discussion as a Summative Assessment. Available at: https://www.edutopia.org/article/classroom-discussion-summative-assessment
(Accessed: 30 July 2024)
Lindström, L. (2012), Aesthetic Learning About, In, With and Through the Arts: A Curriculum Study, Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-8070.2012.01737.x (Accessed: 10 March)
Nicol, David J. and Macfarlane-Dick, Debra(2006) ‘Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice’, Studies in Higher Education, 31: 2, 199 — 218 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075070600572090
Philips, L.(2014) ‘Assessment towards Innovation: Examinig Fedback Methods in the Design Studio’, Athens Journal of Humanities & Arts, 1 (1), pp. 45-54 doi: doi=10.30958/ajha.1-1-4
Preston, D. (2024) Capture/Curate: Designing a Student Process Toolkit. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/425737/AE_Capture-Curate_Toolkit.pdf (Accessed: 31 July 2024)