2.1 Recognise the wellbeing value of assessment choice and feedback
The methods you use to assess your learners’ knowledge and/or skills are a key aspect of their learning experience. Assessment may be essential for the certification process, or it might be an informal method used to check that learners are progressing. Whatever the reason for using assessment methods, they can have consequences for your learners’ wellbeing. For example, certain types of assessment, such as formal exams, test or essays, or more practical task or group-based assessments, may make individual learners feel anxious or overwhelmed or impact their confidence. However, the assessment process can also provide positives for wellbeing as it can offer the opportunity for knowledge and skills to be recognised, can provide reflective moments to acknowledge progress and, for many, is the gateway to successfully achieving their educational goals.
When it comes to choosing an assessment method, academic needs are usually pivotal to the choice. However, how many times are the wellbeing needs of your learners also a consideration? The following activity will encourage you to consider how different forms of assessment can present positives and negative outcomes for learners’ wellbeing.
Activity _unit8.3.2 Activity 3 The influence assessment can have on wellbeing
This activity takes inspiration from Jones et al. (2020) and Wilson (2014) and collates various barriers and enablers to wellbeing based around five types of assessment methods. Drag the statements into the boxes that they correspond to
Match the potential barriers to wellbeing to the form of assessment it relates to.
Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.
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Essays (open book, later submission)
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Presentations
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Group activities
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Projects
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Short answer questions (time bound, exam format)
Match each of the previous list items with an item from the following list:
a.Can be challenging for less socially confident learners
b.Potential for bunching of deadlines
c.Time-consuming
d.Stressful for learners who are less confident in public speaking
e.Tests the ability to remember, which requires the commitment of time and appropriate revision skills.
- 1 = b,
- 2 = d,
- 3 = a,
- 4 = c,
- 5 = e
Now match the potential enablers to wellbeing to the form of assessment it relates to.
Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.
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Essays (open book, later submission)
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Presentations
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Group activities
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Projects
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Short answer questions (time bound, exam format)
Match each of the previous list items with an item from the following list:
a.Individual strengths can be maximised
b.Removes pressure from students with lower literacy levels
c.Removes immediate timebound pressures created by and exam room situation
d.Allows for individual creativity across the breadth of the assessment
e.Familiarity with this format, how to prepare and an awareness of what is expected.
- 1 = c,
- 2 = b,
- 3 = a,
- 4 = d,
- 5 = e
Discussion
These are only intended as a few examples of what could be barriers or enablers to a learner’s wellbeing. However, it is important to remember that for a learner with a mental or physical health condition, or a disability or learning difference, certain types of assessment might present very real practical concerns and impacts. It is therefore important to carefully consider your assessment strategy in terms of potential barriers and enablers for different learners, especially as making reasonable adjustments could be legally required to ensure equality.
For some learners, issues with their mental health may contribute to specific assessment-related feelings and behaviours, such as low self-esteem or consistently asking for work to be checked (sometimes referred to as ‘anxious checking’). Where there is a lack of confidence, and self-doubt is present, learners may delay the start of assignments or revision, which then leads to additional time pressures and further anxieties (McManus et al., 2017). Addressing these concerns, especially at a very early stage, can help to alleviate stressful feelings in the build-up to the assessment and can help the learner develop resilience.
You may also want to consider the potential wellbeing impact of different assessment methods on you as an educator, for example as identified by Jones et al. (2020), as part of your own reflective process and skills assessment.