Instructor Perspectives

Several factors prevent the widespread of alternative assessments in higher education. One factor is a lack of awareness or understanding of the social and cultural contexts in which assessments occur. Instructors may not be familiar with their students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences, or they may not be aware of how their biases and assumptions can influence their assessment practices.

Another factor is the pressure to conform to institutional ideas and practices of rigour, which often prioritize ableist and racist assessment forms such as standardized testing and quantitative metrics over more inclusive and equitable forms of assessment. This can create a culture where instructors feel pressured to prioritize content coverage and high-stakes testing over more student-centred and inclusive forms of assessment. In other cases, institutions’ learning platforms and systems may not readily support flexibility and variety in assessments, for example, offering flexible due dates. Despite these factors, instructors can still take steps to design more equitable assessment opportunities in their courses and make a difference in their student’s learning.

Ensuring each student’s success is an emotional and physical labour that requires time and acknowledgment that not all students will be successful at the end of a course. However, as an instructor, you can work toward developing equitable assessment practices by:

• Starting small!
• Remembering that developing and implementing equitable assessments is continuous and iterative work.
• Identifying what you can do and what applies to your classroom and discipline.
• Educating yourself about your student’s social and cultural contexts, diverse backgrounds, and experiences.
• Engaging in ongoing reflection and dialogue about your biases and assumptions and how these may influence your assessment practices.
• Designing assessments aligned with the course learning goals and prioritizing student learning and growth over ranking and sorting.
• Using various assessment methods, including qualitative and narrative feedback, to provide a more comprehensive and inclusive picture of student learning.
• Creating opportunities for students to be involved in the assessment process, including co-creating assessment criteria and evaluating their learning.