The relationship between assessment and transformative learning is a complicated and generally under-examined one (Fostaty-Young, 2012). In this session we aim to explore the pedagogical processes at play in the intersection of assessment with transformative learning. Building on Troop’s (2014) work with graduate students, you’ll have the opportunity to examine the relevance to your own instructional context of keyword writing (Luce-Kapler, 2004), critical analysis through journal keeping and other instructional and assessment strategies that have been found to make space for transformative learning. After a brief introduction to the research that informs conceptions of and supports for transformative learning, questions to be explored through guided small group discussion include: How might we use a harmonized (or aligned) curriculum to construct the dissonance that’s a necessary catalyst for transformative learning? How can we then assess (measure and observe) transformative learning? What are the inherent challenges with assessing transformative learning? In what ways does assessment enable and/or constrain the learning process? The intended learning outcomes for the session are that participants will: (a) Identify the inherent challenges and constraints of supporting and assessing transformative learning in their own instructional context and (b) Apply a framework to make curricular space to support the potential for transformative learning to occur and be assessed.
References:
Fostaty-Young, S. (2012). Transformative Effects of Learning & Assessment Focused Educational Development. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Luce-Kapler, R. (2004). Writing with, through, and beyond the text: An ecology of language. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Troop, M .(2014). Traversing Creative Space, Transforming Higher Education: A Contemporary Curricular View of Teaching and Learning. Unpublished doctoral disseration. Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
