Talking about things we can see: Developing assessment and feedback literacies through visualisation and data drawing

Institution-wide assessment criteria support the constructive alignment of learning outcomes across an institution. While designed to create continuity of expectation and experience, they often require thoughtful translation for learners to ensure that they are meaningful, authentic and support the development of disciplinary ways of knowing, practicing and being (Barnett and Coates 2005).

This three-year action research project responded to the specific challenges of developing assessment and feedback literacies (Price et. al. 2012, Carless & Boud, 2018) in the internationalised context of higher education. It asked, very simply how graphic design students might develop assessment and feedback literacies through the visual communication methods core to the practices of graphic design. Diagramming, data visualisation, drawing and mapping methods were developed to address identified barriers for students in understanding formative and summative assessment.

Findings suggest that the use of visualisation in assessment strategies can generate meaningful intrinsic feedback for students, by making their thinking and processes visible to themselves. Furthermore, they can support dialogue and extrinsic feedback processes between students and tutors by revealing how students value individual outcomes and their perceived relevance to their practice. The methods informed new authentic practices and a broader assessment strategy. This strategy is visualised, discussed and evaluated as a pedagogical pattern language informed by Laurillard’s Conversational Framework (2012).

It is argued that visual approaches to assessment have value beyond the design disciplines. By revealing the design principles and processes and evaluation methods used in the study, this presentation seeks to generate discussion around the broader application of the methods.