Preparatory reading
I chose to read an intriguing paper by Patricia Broadfoot, written in 1996, which investigated the wider implications of assessment within education. I was fascinated by the ways in which it looked at assessment as a consolidator of existing discriminatory structures. I found the feeling of distrust in this system relatable. Despite laws, policies, and attitudes changing since the writing of this paper, the structures within which higher education sits means that it contributes to the further division of opportunity and wealth in the UK – and consequently helps to maintain existing hierarchies and power structures.
Assessment and feedback
Within my group we had some interesting discussions around the different courses we work with, and how this affects assessment and feedback use and structures. There was also some interesting discussion around the difference between formative and summative feedback, and the unhelpfulness of the focus on summative feedback. This made me reflect on my own students, and the inconsistencies of my own providing of formative feedback – this being unstructured, organic, and entirely down to the student putting themselves in a position to receive it. The weight placed on summative assessment over formative feedback (which in my opinion is far more productive, it being given at a point where a student can steer their developing learning towards something more meaningful), is devalues formative feedback. This seems to result in a bottle-neck approach to deadlines, which result in the individual students missing out on potentially very exciting, deeply critical creative processes and learning.
