Education guide 'Eindhoven designs' - Technische Universiteit ...

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designer over the past semester, framed in
their past development and envisioned future
development. This may confirm, modify or
reject what students themselves communicate
through and conclude in their showcase. In this
respect, the assessment is also feedback on
the students’ ability to self-assess. In addition,
the assessment gives feedback on the
separate parts that make up the whole, such
as students’ competency development profile.
Last but not least, the assessment fulfils a feed
forward function: it helps students fine-tune or
adjust their long-term goals for their growth as
a designer and set competency development
goals in their Personal Development Plan for
the next semester.
Components of the
assessment process
In the assessment two parties are involved:
the student and an independent assessor.
Independent means that the assessor has
not been involved as a coach in the student’s
development process during the semester.
The process of an assessment comprises
three components. Each of these components
provides the assessor with information from a
different perspective:
• The first component is the end-of-term exhibition.
Here students show their project,
framed in their overall development. They
exhibit visuals about their project, including
the process, as well as tangible deliverables.
In addition, they ‘pitch’ their project to visiting
students and staff members, including
their assessor. The assessor has the opportunity
to enter in a dialogue with the student
and to ask explanatory as well as probing
questions. The exhibition provides the assessor
with extensive information about the
student’s project. In addition, the assessor
gets information on the student’s design
process, his or her approach and attitude
towards designing, and vision on designing.
These exhibitions also create a platform for
a dialogue between ‘peer-reviewers’. This
may contribute to a frame of reference at the
departmental level: what do we consider to
be an adequate or typical second-year bachelor
project, for example, or what illustrates
a particular developmental stage best?
The second component is the
• showcasereview.
The assessor goes through the student’s
showcase, which gives information
on the integrated whole of students’ development
of their overall competence of designing,
vision on designing and growth as a
designer. The showcase also demonstrates
students’ competency development and the
quality of their deliverables as achieved in
separate learning activities, and how these
have contributed to the students’ overall
development and growth. The central questions
to be answered from this showcase
review are: (1) what overall picture emerges
in terms of the student’s overall competence
of designing and vision on designing (observation).
If the emerging picture is somehow
diffuse, the assessor contacts the student’s
competency coach for clarification; (2) which
developmental stage does this represent
(evaluation); (3) what is the student’s
growth compared to the previous semester
(observation) and to what extent does this
represent an acceleration (evaluation); (4)
to what extent has the student achieved (or,
in case of excellence, has gone beyond) the
expected developmental stage, given the
block he/she has been doing (evaluation);
and (5) can the student be promoted to the