Specification:

Assessment type:

Formative

Learning outcome:

Knowledge

A reflective report is a formative assessment method which can be applied for assessing the student’s understanding of the importance of addressing values in design. The students’ acquired knowledge is assessed by asking them to write about how values are manifested in products, systems and services, and where these values come from.

A reflective report is a formative method for assessing the knowledge the students have acquired through the teaching activity. A reflective report takes into account the context in which events occur, questions assumptions, considers alternatives, thinks about consequences of decisions/actions on others, and engages in reflective skepticism Hatton and Smith (1995).This activity allows the students to demonstrate their acquired knowledge by identifying and describing the values that their designs (or others’ designs) could manifest, and critically reflecting on where these values come from.

This assessment activity allows the teacher to see whether the expected learning outcomes of the teaching activity have been achieved. The reflective report also allows the teacher to assess the students' acquired vocabulary and knowledge in relation to values in design, for example, ethics, value systems or products, systems or services.

After the teaching activity, ask the students to write a reflective report demonstrating their acquired knowledge about the teaching activity. The report should target the specified assessment criteria.

Step 1:

• Write a reflective report about how values are manifested in your (or others’) design and where these values come from. Address the following questions:
• • What values are manifested in your work (or in the work of others)?
  • What significance or meaning do the values represent in your work (or in the work of others)?
  • Where do these values come from?
  • What did you learn about values in design as a result of the teaching activity?

Step 2:

• Next, address how you will apply this knowledge to future design activities in your upcoming professional and academic life. Address the following questions:

• • What is the gap between the identified values and your own personal values?
  • What methods or strategies did you fail to implement in order to be aware about values?
  • How would you change your approach of being value-oriented in the future?
  • What are the key steps for intentionally designing with values in mind?

The following steps are optional:

Step 3:

• Share the reflective report with the other students.

Step 4:

• Read the other students’ reflective reports to deepen and broaden your own knowledge and report (and revise your report if necessary).

In this assessment activity, it is important to focus on the students’ abilities to explain and address their reflections on the knowledge acquisition about values in design. When doing a formative assessment, the focus is on whether the students are able to explain and elaborate on their acquired knowledge in relation to the intended learning outcomes and relevant assessment criteria. Formative assessment provides the teacher with information on the students’ abilities to elaborate and reflect upon new knowledge that they have acquired through the teaching activity and how they will make use of it in future learning situations.

When reviewing the students’ reflective report, it might be helpful to pay attention to the following optional proposals for focus points depending on the content of the related teaching activity:

• To what extent do the students meet the assessment criteria listed in the teaching activity?
• Can they name any methods or strategies for addressing values in design and when designing?
• Can they explain the significance or meaning of values represented in their work?
• How deep and broad are the students' knowledge when it comes to identifying values manifested in a product, system or service?
• Are there apparent knowledge gaps between the identified values and their own design activities?
• Can they identify the important aspects related to implementing values in designs?
• Can they explain the significance or meaning of values represented in their work (or the work of others)?
• Can the student relate their own values, worldview and vision on values in design up against existing theoretical frameworks?

For further professional development consider:

• Are there specific learning outcomes or assessment criteria that students are particularly successful/unsuccessful in demonstrating?
• Are there any exemplary reflective reports that work particularly well in addressing the intended learning outcomes and assessment criteria (consider sharing these with the students)?

Hatton, Neville, & Smith, David (1995). Reflection in teacher education: Towards definition and implementation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11 (1), 33-49.