Revisioning the potential of Freire’s principles of assessment: Influences on the art of assessment in open and online learning through blogging

ABSTRACT

When the art of assessment in online and distributed learning is grounded in Freirean writings, instructors have the opportunity to craft a nuanced and layered learning environment where the potential for critical consciousness is enhanced through carefully codesigned assessment strategies. Patton (2017) summarized 10 pedagogical principles based on the writings of Freire, which he determined relevant as a result of their connection to critical pedagogy of evaluation. We explore a revisioning of those principles: using evaluative thinking to cultivate critical consciousness; learning resides in communities, not just individuals; critical pedagogy must be dialogical and interactive; assessment should integrate reflection, action, thinking, and emotion; and critical consciousness is co-intentional, focusing on process and product. We use them as a framework to describe what we call Freirean principles of assessment, through the application of student blogs within online and distributed assessment practices. Our intention is to share the potential of blogging, in connection with Freirean principles of assessment, when considering open assessment in higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Paulo Freire
• principles of assessment
• open education
• open educational practices (OEP)
• blogs
• learning design

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge our students who continue to teach us about assessment. We thank our global network, which provides us with critical and essential feedback in our work as educators and scholars.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

No external funding has been received for this article.

Notes on contributors

Helen DeWaard

Helen DeWaard teaches at the Faculty of Education, Lakehead University, and is a learning designer with the Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia. She holds a Master of Educational Technology from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Education from the University of Toronto, and is a PhD candidate.

Verena Roberts

Verena Roberts is an adjunct assistant professor with the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary and an instructional designer with Thompson Rivers University. Her research interests include learning design, open learning, open educational resources and pedagogy, participatory learning, and the ethics of educational technology.