“Will this be on the test?”: student empowerment in/and assessments 

For years, I, Mariske Westendorp, have been teaching cultural anthropology, exploring the world and its many beings in it with my students. My primary goal has always been to engage in dialogue with them, reflect on different perspectives and empower them to become critical, independent thinkers. While I sometimes succeed, more often than not, students approach me asking exactly what they need to know for their assessments. Having grown up in a “cijfercultuur” (grading culture) that has deeply influenced our education system from primary school onward, many students seem more focused on becoming “good” students and achieving high grades rather than on personal growth and intellectual development. So, how can we inspire them to learn for the sake of learning rather than simply for a grade? What changes can we make — not only in our teaching but also in our assessment methods — to free students from the constraints of grading and, in turn, encourage true freedom of thought?

These questions set the stage for a session organized by T@UU during the January 2025 Teaching & Learning Inspiration Days, a biannual event where educators gather for workshops, inspiration sessions and roundtable discussions aimed at enhancing their teaching practices. Building on previous T@UU sessions that explored student empowerment in the classroom, this time we wanted to focus on a crucial, yet often overlooked, aspect: assessments. While assessments are essential for ensuring that students meet learning outcomes, an overwhelming focus on grades creates a heavy workload for teachers and reduces students to passive learners, more concerned with ‘scoring’ than engaging deeply with the material. This grade-centered approach risks stifling the creativity, curiosity and intellectual freedom that higher education is meant to inspire.

Our desire to delve deeper into the issue of assessment stemmed from earlier discussions and CAT sessions organized by the T@UU on student empowerment. In these discussions, assessments emerged as both a significant hurdle and a powerful enabler of student empowerment. As we did (and still do not) have all the answers or a step-by-step handbook for implementing student-empowered assessments, the session was designed as a collaborative brainstorm, meant to spark ideas and lay the groundwork for rethinking assessments in ways that truly empower students.

Student empowerment in summative and formative assessments

The literature on student empowerment (e.g. Bain, 2010; Leach et al. 2001; Sokhanvar et al., 2021) highlights three key themes: (1) fostering student agency, where students have a say in what happens and hold a degree of power, although with the guidance/under the supervision of the teacher; (2) creating an open classroom atmosphere that fosters a sense of community; and (3) sharing a responsibility for the learning process and outcomes. These themes can also be applied to the two key types of assessments: summative and formative. Here, summative assessment acts as a final check, occurring at the end of a course or unit to evaluate overall learning. Examples include final exams, final essays or projects that contribute to a student’s final grade. Formative assessments function more as a practice round, providing ongoing feedback to help students improve their work and thinking processes before reaching the final stage. These include quizzes, drafts, and group discussions, where the primary focus is on learning rather than judgement.

Student empowerment in assessment in “real life”: A matter of choice

During our session, we asked the participants to first formulate whether they have any experience with creating student empowerment in formative or summative assessments. Having identified some options, we then asked them to reflect on the opportunities such assessments might bring, but also their challenges. 

“Choice” quickly came forward through our discussions as a critical component for student empowerment. We identified numerous forms of choice in assessments, each shaping in different ways how students can engage with their learning: 

• Choice in the topic or focus of the assessment. Students could, for example, have a say in selecting their writing assignment topic, or choosing their essay subject and its intended purpose (whether to inform, persuade or analyse).
• Choice in assessment format. Students could be given the freedom to present their work in different ways, such as delivering a proposal presentation, giving an oral pitch before submitting their final product, creating a podcast, or presenting to classmates in a cycle of peer feedback and revision.
• Choice in the assessment process itself. This could involve having students design  their own rubric, developing a final product through iterative smaller side-products, or having the flexibility to direct aspects of their own assessment journey. 

Opportunities and challenges in these assessments’ forms

Once divided into groups of four, the participants worked through four selected assessment examples: (1) Designing your own rubric, (2) choice between a number of tests/questions and their weights, (3) formulating own goals & trajectories (flexibility in process),and (4) choosing the format of the assessment. 

Designing your own rubric offers students the opportunity to develop a clearer understanding of learning goals by defining what constitutes a good product. This process encourages students to think critically and creatively, which can deepen their engagement with the subject matter. However, the challenges include the possibility that students may focus primarily on areas in which they are already skilled, potentially neglecting other important competencies. Furthermore, creating a comprehensive rubric requires time and flexibility, and some students might experience increased anxiety, especially if they are unsure about their ability to assess their own work. There is also the risk that students might not fully meet the learning goals if they misinterpret the expectations or overlook key elements.

Choice between the number of tests/questions and their weights provides the benefit of reducing the pressure on students to memorize every detail, allowing them to focus on understanding the material more deeply. It also minimizes the likelihood of penalizing students for misunderstanding question formulations. However, students may gravitate toward easier questions, which could lead to surface-level learning rather than deep engagement with the subject. Additionally, ensuring that the chosen questions comprehensively cover the course material is challenging. There is also the issue of preventing selective studying, particularly in large classes, where it may be difficult to ensure that all students are adequately challenged and that their learning remains broad.

A topic discussed here was competency-based grading, which is an educational approach that ensures students achieve clearly defined skills and proficiency levels through explicit learning outcomes and criterion-referenced assessment (Townsley & Schmid, 2020). It offers a flexible time frame for mastery and incorporates diverse instructional activities to support different learning styles. Progress is based on demonstrating competency rather than time spent in a course (Townsley & Smid, 2020). Competency based learning addresses some of the challenges by shifting the focus from test selection to demonstrated mastery of all required competencies. Rather than allowing students to choose easier questions, competency-based grading ensures that they meet explicit learning outcomes through criterion-referenced assessment, reducing the risk of surface-level learning. The flexible time frame allows students to deepen their understanding without the pressure of rigid deadlines.

Formulating own goals & trajectories gives students more autonomy over their learning process, which can foster a stronger sense of responsibility and motivation, especially in more advanced stages like thesis writing. It also reduces stress by allowing students to pace themselves and take control of their schedules. However, this approach is difficult to implement in structured courses that have fixed deadlines and may create a loss of control for both the student and the teacher. Not all students, particularly in their first year, may be ready for this level of autonomy, and there is a risk that they may either overestimate or underestimate their abilities. Teachers may also struggle to provide the necessary support, especially if students’ goals require specialized guidance or expertise, or if the class size is large.

Choosing the format of the assessment allows students to pick assessment formats that align with their interests, increasing motivation and potentially fostering the development of new skills, such as public speaking or video production. This flexibility can also spark creativity, as students are empowered to approach assignments in innovative ways. However, one of the main challenges lies in ensuring that all students are graded equitably across different formats. A standardized, appropriate rubric is necessary to maintain fairness, but even with a rubric, comparing between drastically different assessment formats can be difficult and might lead to concerns over subjectivity in grading. Additionally, assessing the final product fairly when the formats differ can present challenges, especially if one format demands significantly more time or effort than another.

Critical ingredients for student empowerment in assessments

We concluded our session highlighting some practical ingredients to implement student empowerment in assessments: 

• Students need to be included in the process of the assessment; they have agency in what is actually assessed.
• Offer options in how students demonstrate their learning (e.g., essays, presentations, projects, or portfolios).
• Provide rubrics and examples of high-quality work. Ensure students understand what is expected of them and how they will be evaluated (this can be also self-assessment, but the requirements must be clear). Considering letting students choose or define what items are on the  rubric (they can choose more what they want to learn and what they are assessed on)
• Offer timely, detailed, and actionable feedback that guides improvement rather than just evaluating performance. Foster a dialogue around feedback encouraging students to reflect and respond.
• Emphasize formative assessments that prioritize learning over summative assessments. Shift conversations from grades to skills, competencies and personal development.
• Create a culture where students feel safe to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them. Foster a sense of belonging and mutual respect among peers and instructors.
• Be open as teachers. Learning could/should be an opportunity to learn together, in which teachers should also lean into vulnerability. 
• Invite students to think beyond the assessment towards “the world at large”. In this way, assessments can be created as ways of “attending to things” (Tim Ingold, Anthropology and/as Education), as an inherent part of life. 

All in all, this session highlighted how reimagining assessments can significantly contribute to student empowerment. By incorporating elements of choice, whether in topics, formats, or evaluation criteria, students gain a stronger sense of agency, responsibility, and engagement in their learning. At the same time, implementing these approaches requires careful consideration of challenges such as grading fairness, maintaining academic rigor and ensuring all students receive adequate support. Ultimately, fostering a more flexible and inclusive assessment culture not only benefits students, but also enhances the overall educational experience by shifting the focus from merely earning grades to truly developing knowledge, skills and critical thinking.

References

Bain, J. (2010). Integrating student voice: Assessment for empowerment. Practitioner Research in Higher Education, 4(1), 14-29.

Leach, L., Neutze, G., & Zepke, N. (2001). Assessment and empowerment: Some critical questions. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 26(4), 293-305.

Sokhanvar, Z., Salehi, K., & Sokhanvar, F. (2021). Advantages of authentic assessment for improving the learning experience and employability skills of higher education students: A systematic literature review. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 70, 101030.

​​Townsley, M., & Schmid, D. (2020). Alternative grading practices: An entry point for faculty in competency‐based education. The Journal of Competency‐Based Education, 5(3), e01219

Marijn van Ellen