Workshop
The focus of Workshop 3 was Assessment, and we were asked to produce three statements reflecting a challenge, a personal insight, and a hope or expectation for the future of assessment in the arts.
Challenge, Insight and Hope
Bikker, D. (2026) Challenge, Insight and Hope [Photograph]
Challenge
As a design lecturer, providing feedback is one of my key responsibilities and an aspect of my role that I value highly. During summative assessments, however, I became increasingly aware that written feedback had become a significant challenge. I often struggled to complete feedback within the allocated timeframe, which resulted in working beyond my contracted hours. This led to increased stress and required me to organise personal commitments around assessment deadlines.
At the time, I justified this approach by believing that students needed extensive written feedback to support their learning. I assumed that providing more information would lead to better understanding and improvement. This assumption was challenged during feedback tutorials, where I discussed written feedback with students. I frequently encountered confusion, and students often reported feeling overwhelmed by the feedback. In some cases, students admitted they had not even read the feedback at all!
A key turning point in my practice came from the 2024 External Examiner’s report:“Overall I think there may, at times, be slightly too much written feedback and that putting some course wide word limits might help reduce pressure on staff and manage student expectations.” Following this, the Course Leader and I reviewed our feedback approach and implemented a revised structure where feedback was limited to a maximum wordcount.
Throughout the subsequent academic year, I observed that assessment periods became more manageable in terms of workload and time management. Students also appeared more engaged with feedback during tutorials, demonstrating improved understanding. Additional, more detailed feedback was delivered verbally during tutorials, allowing for clarification and dialogue rather than overwhelming students in written form.
This experience has made me recognise that more feedback does not necessarily equal better learning. Feedback is most effective when it is focused, accessible, and aligned with students’ capacity to engage. This shift in my practice aligns with principles of ‘Assessment for Learning’, which emphasise that feedback should be clear, targeted, and actionable, enabling students to engage with and apply it effectively (Black and Wiliam, 1998). This change was further affirmed in the 2025 External Examiner’s report, which described the feedback as “well realised” and “designed to support student development.”
References
Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998) Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. London: King’s College London School of Education.
Cambridge Assessment International Education (2011). Getting Started with Assessment for Learning. Available at: https://cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswafl/index.html (Accessed at 18-03-2026).