Festival of Learning 2020

Imaginative Assessment for Learning (AFL) in Post-Secondary: Exploring The Impact of Cognitive Tools on Students’ Learning, Engagement, and Demonstrations of Understanding

Imagination doesn't get much airtime in post-secondary education. When it does, it is often described as a "hook" for learning rather than the heart of engaging and effective teaching practice*. Discussion of imagination in the context of assessment for student learning (AFL) is even more rare. This session shares some research into imaginative assessment for learning practices in post-secondary. Within the context of AFL practice, we looked specifically at engagement. One premise of our research is that emotional and imaginative engagement lie at the heart of effective learning—in order to remember, we must be affected. A team of faculty from across SFU co-created and implemented in their graduate/undergraduate classes AFL activities that employed “cognitive tools”—learning tools such as story, imagery, wonder, mystery that engage imagination and emotion with knowledge. Cognitive tools are learning tools at the heart of Dr. Kieran Egan’s theory of Imaginative Education. Cognitive tools develop the imagination by engaging emotion and connecting it with knowledge in the process of learning. As a whole philosophy of education, Imaginative Education offers an understanding of how cognitive tools impact the growth of knowledge in the mind, and how they impact the shape of the imagination during our lives. CIRCE [the Centre for Imagination in Research, Culture and Education—formerly the Imaginative Education Research Group] has developed innovative teaching methods that centralize emotional and imaginative engagement in the teaching and learning process. Research into how cognitive tools can impact student learning in post-secondary is new. *NOTE: In this research, imagination is defined as the ability to think of the possible, not just the actual in all things; it is the source of invention, novelty, and flexibility in human thinking; it is not distinct from rationality but is rather a capacity that greatly enriches rational thinking; it is tied to our ability to form images in the mind, and image-forming commonly involves emotions. We use the term "imaginative" in relation to AFL to refer to activities that employ cognitive tools.