Hidden from assessment

Posted by: Dr Ashley Tan on: February 23, 2021

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If I was still a full-time professor, I would probably be a member of the ungrading movement. This is the pushback against number and letter grades because these often obstruct learning.

Completing any assessment meant getting an 80% or higher. But students had infinite attempts on quizzes and challenges. Many students made their first attempts before lectures, to test prior knowledge. Passing the these took persistence, not memorization.

Art by @sylviaduckworth pic.twitter.com/NUQZmgUjx1

— Stacy Farina (@stacyfarina) February 19, 2021

As the visual in the tweet above illustrates, grading and current forms of assessment ignore what lies beneath. They are not designed for the long tail of learning or the less tangible aspects of learning.

This is why I work with organisations that have a more progressive stance on what counts as success. For example, with one institute the focus is on formative feedback and the course is pass/fail. In another group I work with, my modules have no required assessment — I can focus on what my students need in the short and long term. Both allow me to facilitate learning by diving into what is hidden from hurried and mechanical assessment procedures.

Tags: assessment, hidden