Christina Jerne, Department of Anthropology

Abstract

Writing to Learn: A formative assessment design

For a long time, educators and institutions merely considered writing a means of communication and emphasized correct usage of language. Many university assessments reflect this type of thinking: essays and short texts verify the presence or absence of knowledge. My intervention approaches writing as a generative teaching tool that can empower students to become self-regulated, independent learners. Drawing on the pedagogy of the Writing to Learn movement (WTL), as well as performative approaches to semiotics, this project seeks to activate writing to increase metacognitive skills in students. To this aim, I propose a formative assessment design that seeks to increase student self-awareness around learning processes throughout the duration of the course. The assessment design consists in a 4-part portfolio exam, representing a diversity of writing genres, purposes and audiences. The intervention produced evidence of the students’ individual learning processes via ongoing exercises. This evidence can lead to a) improved student awareness and regulation of their metacognitive skills, and b) a better ground for the teachers’ assessment of learning outcomes.