Design assessment and feedback

Authentic assessment tasks either, call upon the student's knowledge of the 'real world', or have the student complete assessable tasks which replicate 'real world' activities or processes. "Students respect assessment tasks they believe mirror the skills needed in the workplace" (James et al., 2002, p.10). Authentic assessment, which emphasizes the acquisition of attitudes and competencies relevant to the design profession, is needed to prepare design students for their practice in a rapidly evolving workplace.

Project-based assessment, which is meaningful and related to real-life applications, is an established practice in art and design schools. Students receive public feedback from the lecturer on their project in a 'crit' or design critique session. Participation in design 'crits' is "essential to learning how to design" (Shaffer, 1999, cited in Conanan & Pinkard, 2001, p.1).

The skill of giving and receiving of feedback practiced in the design 'crit' is immediately transferable to the professional context of the design studio. The client designer relationship is an emotionally charged context. The ability to give and receive feedback (both positive and negative feedback) in a context where the focus of the feedback - the design - is a public expression of the designer's self which must also fulfil the hopes and desires of others - the client - is an essential attribute of a design professional.

Complicating the feedback interaction between learner and teacher (and designer and client) is the nature of the design being critiqued. Often the work has never been viewed before. It is at a development stage, rather than a finished product. This situation is challenging both for the students and the teacher. The teacher has to give feedback that is encouraging and motivating, that may contain negative elements, often without adequate time for reflection and preparation of a response prior to the feedback interaction. Effective feedback assists design students to form accurate perceptions of their abilities and to establish internal standards against which they can evaluate their own design work.

While most design educators are familiar with the general principles defining effective feedback the application of these principles in particular design learning contexts is not as well articulated. Schon (1983) has written extensively about the interactions of teacher and learner in the design studio. Bennett (1997) reports the process and outcomes of a research project which tackled the problem of giving quality individual feedback to design students working in large studio groups. Cruikshank (1998) describes the implementation and evaluation of the use of video as a method of delivering feedback to art and design students. Conanan and Pinkard (2001) investigated design students perceptions of giving and receiving asynchronous feedback to each other in the online learning context. The context of the graphic design critique has received little research attention.

مواضيع ذات صلة

Research methodology The action inquiry process

Significance of the research

Feedback and learning

Assessment, learning and feedback in higher education Assessment and learning

Effective Verbal Feedback for Project-Based Assessment: A Case Study of the Graphic Design Critique

Further considerations for the student experience

The student experience Discussion

Comments from a student with a mark lower than expected

Comments from another student who agreed with the mark

Comments from a student who agreed with the mark

Comments from a student whose marks were above expectation

Comments from a student whose marks were as expected