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Provocations panel: making assessment meaningful part 1

Jonathan Powles, University of West of Scotland

Jonathan Powles, Vice Principal and PVC Learning, from University of West of Scotland on the provocations panel discussion on the topic ‘Making Assessment Meaningful’. This recording is from our 2023 MiniBash community event which was hosted in Birmingham, England. 

Provocations panel: making assessment meaningful features Jonathan Powles, Vice‑Principal and PVC Learning at the University of the West of Scotland, offering a challenging and thought‑provoking perspective on assessment, curriculum design, and the nature of learning itself.

Drawing on history, philosophy, and metaphor, Jonathan questions the sector’s growing tendency to over‑specify learning outcomes and tightly map student journeys. He argues that education is fundamentally about navigating unknown spaces, and that attempting to fully predetermine what students will learn risks undermining the very purpose of higher education.

Using the metaphor of map‑making, the talk contrasts curriculum mapping as a fixed representation of knowledge with learning as an evolving, individual journey shaped by relevance, efficacy, and belonging. Jonathan explores how work‑related learning, personal tutoring, and ePortfolios can support students to construct their own maps of learning — making sense of where they are, where they want to go, and how they are changing along the way.

The provocation challenges educators to embrace uncertainty, resist over‑engineering assessment, and recognise learning as a transformational process that cannot be fully predicted or standardised — while asking what role technology should play in supporting this deeply human endeavour.

This talk took place at the studio, Birmingham in June 2023.

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