How do you assess and/or give feedback for learning?
“To ensure good evaluations one had to ensure that students felt good.” (hooks, 2010, p. 85)
Context (ca. 50 words)
As an academic staff member I am involved in regular assessments[1]. I provide feedback throughout workshop sessions, and in longer written form.
To ensure students get the most benefit from feedback and assessment I take different approaches on different units. For example, to provide space for experimentation, in unit 1 of year 1 summative assessment is pass/fail. In semester 2 of year 2, formative feedback is peer-led.
Evaluation (ca. 100 words)
It’s become evident to me through writing these reflections the importance of compassionate, social and liberatory approaches across all aspects of pedagogy. By exploring models for assessment that diverge from grade-oriented summative assessments, I seek to provide meaningful, supportive observations and reduce some of the stresses that are experienced by students through feedback and assessment processes.
A core resource I’ve drawn on is the open-source material emerging from the QAA Collaborative Enhancement Project, Belonging Through Assessment: Pipelines of Compassion[2].
Moving Forwards (ca. 350 words)
Anecdotally I’ve observed the wellbeing benefits from pass/fail assessment. Students appear more willing to experiment and are less attached to vague, received notions of “getting it right”. They seem to respond intuitively, exploring methodologies, aesthetics, materials, and references freely. These observations are supported by the above research project[3].
In assessment, as elsewhere, NVC methods can contribute to producing more functional and communal spaces[4] (Troisi, 2022). I would observe that the community building which features in the integration of NVC practices into the BA Design for Art Direction curriculum contributes positively to this dynamic manifesting.
Besides arguing for the broader implementation of pass/fail assessment, another shift I would like to support is towards more student-led feedback sessions[5]. Recently, together with my colleague Erik Hartin, we facilitated an interim review with a year 2 undergraduate group.
Students printed two-five pages of work and laid them out on desks, they then milled around the studio and made constructive compassionate comments using post it notes which they left on the work.
In the second part of the task, they assembled in small groups and discussed, for an equal amount of time per student, the feedback they’d received. There was a lively and supportive discussion, and student feedback about the session was very positive.
This experience would support the assertion made my Orr and Shreeve that one of the important characteristics of the studio is that “there is no central focus on the lecturer to hold forth but rather students create a social learning environment, discussing amongst peers, enabling the tutor to explore progress and work and hold group or individual tutorials” (Orr and Shreeve, 2017, p. 90).
In developing a student-led approach, another methodology I’m keen to explore is the Evolving Triad described by Sarah Tripp (Sarah Tripp, 2024, p. 99). I’m interested in how this connects to another NVC approach called the listening hour, in which a rotating group of three participants take turns to speak, listen, and observe.
References
Reflections on the Evolving Triad Tutorial in a Postgraduate Art Studio
hooks, b. (2010) Teaching Critical Thinking, London: Routledge
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
Tripp, S. (2024) ‘How much percussion can we take?’ in, The Cesspool of Rapture, Noonan-Ganley, J. London: MA BIBLIOTHEQUE
Podcasts
Broadhead, S. Currant, N. Hughes, P. ‘Pass/fail: Pass/Fail Assessment in Higher Education’. Hosted by Dr Kate Mori, Interrogating Spaces, 1st December 2021
Troisi, A. ‘Compassionate Feedback’. Interviewed by Dr Emily Salinas, Interrogating Spaces, 11th October 2022
[1] Assessments are both formative and summative. Formative feedback relates to ongoing checking for comprehension, whilst summative feedback is measured against learning outcomes at the end of a unit, and results in a grade being given, usually together with some written feedback.
[2] This collaborative research project between University of the Arts London, Leeds Arts University, and Glasgow School of Art between 2021-2022 states an aim as: “The project will identify approaches to assessment that nurture belonging through meaningful, compassionate interactions and practices.”. Research outputs include podcast episodes, academic papers, and YouTube videos.
[3] In the podcast episode “Pass/fail Assessment in Higher Education” recorded as part of Belonging Through Assessment: Pipelines of Compassion, Dr Neil Currant describes “There was a reduction in stress and anxiety. Students talk about grades causing a lot of stress.” he goes on to say with pass/fail students can “focus on the process of learning and being creative… (it) allowed some students to be more creative and to focus on learning and not chasing grades. Intriguingly we got some data that suggests that our progression rates for black and asian students have increased relative to their white peers, so the gap of progression has actually decreased during the period when we had pass/fail.” (2021)
[4] In the podcast episode “Compassionate Feedback“, part of the same series, Anna Troisi says: “The point of NVC is to connect to one another in a more conscious way. NVC can really guide in being (sic) good observers first of all, of what is around us, and also what is inside us, without reaching those very well known patterns of defending ourselves, withdrawing, or attacking someone in the face of judgement or criticism.” (2022)
[5] There are a number of problems with this transmission view when applied to formative assessment and feedback. Firstly, if formative assessment is exclusively in the hands of teachers, then it is difficult to see how students can become empowered and develop the self-regulation skills needed to prepare them for learning outside university and throughout life (Boud, 2000). Secondly, there is an assumption that when teachers transmit feedback information to students these messages are easily decoded and translated into action. Yet, there is strong evidence that feedback messages are invariably complex and difficult to decipher, and that students require opportunities to construct actively an understanding of them (e.g. through discus- sion) before they can be used to regulate performance (Ivanic et al., 2000; Higgins et al., 2001).” (Nicol and MacFarlane-Dick, 2006, pp. 200-201)