On Assessments

‘Where To From Here?’ is an alternative anthropological curriculum that seeks to examine the anthropological present and begin to imagine its future. Traditionally, educational programs of this sort have been accompanied by assessments which aim to measure and quantify the students’ engagement with the content and the success of the curriculum in reaching its learning objectives (Acheson et al. 2021, 3). However, for many students, these tasks encourage the students to engage with the material in a way that privileges the content expected to be assessed, rather than focusing on deep engagement with the provided reading material or the content as a whole. We believe that this mode of learning results in students instrumentalising the taught skills and knowledge solely in service of the upcoming assessment, thereby limiting its potential further significance (Sadler 2014, 156). In contrast, when students are aware that their involvement and experience with the course will not be graded, they are more able to engage with educational processes and view them as opportunities for expanding their understanding of the topic at hand (Hardy & Totman 2021, 165-166). Our hope is that this program facilitates an opening-up of anthropology’s future. To prescribe additional, and in fact more consequential, learning objectives beyond the aims of each module would undermine the participants’ voluntary, interested engagement with the material, by requiring that this engagement be eventually assessed and quantified. The modules have been developed to facilitate a discussion and critical reflection of our discipline as it exists in the present moment, the potential for creative, unconventional anthropological expression, and finally, the direction of anthropology as it continues in the future. The questions we have raised are intended to facilitate ongoing discussions within the discipline, and beyond. Although we have prescribed how each module should be facilitated, to prescribe the conclusions our participants ought to leave with would be antithetical to the intention of this program. Should assessments be developed for ‘Where to From Here?’ we hope that they are responsive to the particular character of anthropology in the context it which it is being taught, and that they continue to expand, rather than collapse, participants’ imagination of anthropology’s future.  

Bibliography 

Acheson, K, Jin, L, Stahl, A & Yngve, K 2021, ‘Introduction: Special issue on assessment as pedagogy in education abroad’, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 1-10.

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Hardy, M & Totman, S 2021, ‘Taking a pass on assessment grades for a career focused tour of the Middle East’, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 148-167 .

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Sadler, D 2014, ‘Learning from assessment events: The role of goal knowledge’, in C Kreber, C Anderson, N Entwistle & J McArthur (eds), Advances and innovations in university assessment and feedback, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp. 152-172.