Creative Assessments

Designing assessments that are seamlessly integrated into workshops is a real craft. Traditional assessment methods, such as surveys and standardized tests, often fall short of capturing deep understanding and can disrupt students' flow when deeply engaged in a project. In contrast, artifact-based and competency-based assessments offer effective strategies for gaining deeper insights into students’ learning, skill-building, and social emotional development across diverse learning environments.

At The Possible Zone, students begin and end workshops with circles or stand-ups, reflecting on their experiences and celebrating peers and mentors. This practice reinforces a sense of belonging and community. Analog documentation methods, such as journals and Polaroids, further enrich reflections and serve as engaging provocations for deeper thinking.

Celebrating learning can take creative forms, such as building “fail walls” where students and faculty share lessons learned in a playful way. Embracing 'process learning' can help reduce pressures commonly placed on final projects and preconceived notions of ‘success.’

The field of learning assessments is rapidly advancing with AI tools which adds excitement and innovation to this field, but there is still enduring value in these low-tech, human-centered methods and protocols that foster authenticity, connection, and reflective growth.

2016 to present

Collaborator, co-lead, overseeing director

MANY thought partners, including: Irena Acic, Daina Estime, Zach Fredin, David Selles, The Possible Zone, MakerEd Initiative