Re-imagining assessment

A seminar and design lab

“A cornerstone strategy of our Learning Framework, Re-imagining Assessment commits us to defining and measuring learning in terms of its impacts—its capacity for transforming lives and transforming communities.”

The affordances and limitations of assessment practices are not distributed equally, and there is a history of bias that must be consciously considered when developing assessments. At AU we recognize the need to construct pathways (and accommodations) for students with disabilities, BIPOC students, LGBTQ2S+ students, homeless students, and other marginalized students and/or students with material circumstances that affect how they engage in their education.

Can we do assessment differently, in ways that increase access, support greater inclusion, improve learning outcomes, and enhance the experience of teaching and learning? Our answers to these questions have profound implications for how we design our Integrated Learning Environment (ILE) and how we teach and support AU learners.”

Ideally, our pedagogical philosophy structures our assessment practices, rather than our assessment practices dictating our pedagogies. This seminar will bring together a group of educators (including faculty, as well as learning designers, tutors, and learners) to think through assessment and how it influences our teaching and design practices. 

We’ll consider the history of grades, the effects of formative vs. summative assessments, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, varied alternatives to traditional assessment, issues of equity and access, and how assessment practices can be used as learning activities, not just as measures of learning. The goal is not to dictate pedagogy or to reduce assessment to a neat and tidy list of best practices. Instead, we hope to plant seeds for trans-disciplinary conversations, to gather and discuss examples of innovative practices already used across the institution, and to inspire a diverse set of possible new approaches.

A learning community

In Summer of 2021, the Ad Hoc Committee for Reimagining Assessment is sponsoring a faculty learning community, in which a cohort of Athabasca University educators will gather for a series of seminars and design labs. We’ll read, watch, and discuss the historical and pedagogical foundations of traditional and alternative approaches to assessment. Our syllabus will include more obvious contemporary academic readings, alongside more curious selections (whatever necessary rabbit holes we fall down along the way). Some of these will be chosen in advance, but many will be suggested by the group, allowing the trajectory of our conversation to emerge organically. 

Every Thursday in the month of August, we'll gather for 90 minutes of discussion, starting with big questions and moving toward practical application, as well as discussion of our own specific struggles and successes.

We will be a small group, considering not only assessment but the effectiveness of these kinds of professional development activities. Members of the cohort will ideally incorporate the fruits of our conversation into their ongoing planning and design work, re-writing assignments, assessment plans, and restructuring courses in dialogue with the rest of the group. Some (or all) of the cohort members will have the opportunity to present as part of a panel at a public event in September also hosted by the Ad Hoc Committee for Reimagining Assessment.

Logistical details in brief

WHAT: a series of discussions about the past, present, and future of grades and assessment

WHAT ELSE: a practical workshop for applying our discussions to your own teaching and design work

WHO: open to all full-time and part-time faculty

WHO ELSE: we also hope to bring several tutors / academic experts, learning designers, and learners into the group as resources, but also in recognition of the deeply collaborative work of teaching

WHEN: sessions will be held on Thursdays throughout the month of August (we will determine a specific time for the 90-minute sessions based on the availability of applicants)

Tutors and Academic Experts will receive payment for participation on the basis of 3 hours per week. Learners will also be recompensed for participation on the same basis.

Readings for first meeting

Alfie Kohn, “The Case Against Grades”

Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast: “Joshua Eyler: How Humans Learn: the Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching”

bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, Chapter 1

Going deeper

Dave Cormier, “Rhizomatic Education: Community as Curriculum"

Read selections from Decolonising the University

Marie Battiste, Indigenous Knowledge: Foundations for First Nations

Meeting calendar

We’ll refine our list of topics as a group at our first session. Specific times will be determined to accommodate participant availability.

August 5 - Why Do We Grade?

August 12 - The History of Grades and Assessment Practices

August 19 - Alternatives to Traditional Assessment

August 26 - Equity and Access

Fill | Application for Re-imagining Assessment - a Seminar and Design Lab