ABSTRACT

This paper explores the emotional responses that assessment can provoke in undergraduate students. The literature on the link between emotions and learning is well established, with an emphasis on confidence and anxiety, but there is surprisingly little research on the relationship between emotions and innovative assessment practices. This article aims to make a contribution to these debates by looking at courses where students were assessed through blogging, an assessment strategy that was new and unfamiliar to all of them. Focus groups were undertaken with students on four courses at the University of Edinburgh. The data from the focus groups identified positive emotional responses to blogging with students outlining how it was a way to enhance engagement because of the enjoyment it brought them. Blogging also evoked negative emotions, with respondents detailing how a new assessment method initially engendered feelings of unease and anxiety. Our analysis indicates that it is important to pay attention to the wider emotional landscape of assessment strategies. Students compared the allure and appeal of blogging, despite its unknowns and uncertainties, with the often negative feelings they had about being assessed using more conventional means such as essays and examinations.

摘要

本文探讨了评估可以激发大学生的情绪反应。关于情感与学习之间联系的文献已经建立，重点是信心和焦虑，但令人惊讶的是，很少有关于情感与创新评估实践之间关系的研究。本文旨在通过查看通过博客对学生进行评估的课程来为这些辩论做出贡献，这是一种对所有人都不陌生的评估策略。在爱丁堡大学与学生进行了焦点小组的四门课程。焦点小组的数据确定了博客对学生的积极情感反应，概述了博客带来的乐趣是如何提高参与度的一种方法。博客也引起了负面情绪，受访者详细介绍了一种新的评估方法最初如何引起不安和焦虑感。我们的分析表明，重要的是要注意更广泛的情感情感评估策略。学生们将博客的魅力和吸引力（尽管未知和不确定）与他们对使用更常规的方法（如论文和考试）进行评估时经常产生的负面感觉进行了比较。