A3 Assessment and Feedback
Last year I was the lead for the design and delivery for the DPS in the first year of its running under the Textile Design BA course at Chelsea. My role involved designing and developing the
curriculum alongside department staff, developing learning materials and resources and assessing for the Diploma in Professional studies (DPS)
Tasked with planning the critical pathway that the students moved through towards receiving their award and timetabling delivery of content, i considered creating content that matched the skill level and previous experience of our students (DPS learners need to complete a 5000 word report of their experiences on placement, and give a 20 minute presentation on their professional development. Entering the DPS our students have never written a large report or formally presented before so this needed to be considered.)
Given a very broad base to start with (outcomes and assessment criteria), unit brief was added to – updating reading list to include industry relevant sources, textile terminology and specialism
language added.
Alongside the year I ran a t&l project that with the students explored the needs of the student body and countered the challenges they faces. Through deeper reflection since starting the PgCert i have considered the purpose of writing and presenting through our students lens and have turned back to them to ask about their student experience – researched into what value will our students hold to these outcomes? How can meaning/ value be created/ embedded into these tasks – links to seminar discussion on assessment criteria. Perhaps it would be more reflective and meaningful for students to submit thier blogs and case studies as a portfolio of work alongside a presentation – what is the purpose of the 5000 word report that would not be covered in this? = academic writing – who does this serve?
Through research I discovered the Creative Attribute Framework which articulates and connects UAL’s assessment areas and individual course curriculum to professional practice. Prompted
reflection on how each of those attributes could be built through out the year – this started the development of tasks which built to sessions as well as broader ideas for sessions that would
then be coloured in as the course went on.
I decided to share the framework with students too and to use it as a suggested structure for their own evaluation and reflection.
Feedback was given at the draft stage of their report and following ‘pecha kuchas’ as their formative assessments. This allowed students to have written feedback about their progress, I decided to talk through their feedback at their formative tutorials too, alongside discussion about their placements and plans for the year. This allowed for a holistic approach to their feedback – tailoring responses/ thoughts on the assessment criteria to support students putting their goals into their own language with touchstones that made sense to their own career development.
This led to students gaining a deeper understanding of the aims of the DPS as well as placing their learning into context.