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PAL: A Provocative Framework for Assessment and Evaluation of 'Timeless' Topics in Technology-Driven 'Classroom' Learning Environments

Introduction to the Provocative Artifacts for Learning (PAL) Model

Provocative Artifacts for Learning (PAL, Nix 2018) is a practice-led model for assessment and evaluation in a digital age. As Fraser (2012) aligned learning environments research with research on social climates and the psychology of educational productivity, Nix combined ideas from established areas, namely design and memory, to define a new milieu. Teasing out the links woven throughout and around original artifacts and derivative works, PAL facilitates the examination of key influencing factors of time, place, and persona to investigate how current mechanics, dynamics, and interpretation shape (re)presentations. At this most basic level, PAL harnesses the tools and techniques of our digital age in order to catalyze learning while stimulating the personal interests and abilities of the learner. The kairotic transition zone between the original artifact and the developing derivative work creates a space for change by focusing on the affective dimension of learning. The ‘teacher’ plays a vital role in saying or doing the right things at the right moment to ‘provoke’ understanding.

The 3D conceptualization of PAL is similar to the strategy used by Bautista and Balsamo (2013) to better understand the role of museums in the digital age, particularly how new technologies are affecting traditional museum practices and communities. Considering student production as a “practice of cultural reproduction”, which Balsamo (2010) adds as a fourth meaning of ‘design’, “makes new things possible when the expression of a design may manifest something that has not yet been realized” (p 2). This techno-cultural perspective helps to explain the viability of trends in 21^st-century pedagogy toward active learning in technology-rich contexts. “Several decades of research support the view that it is the activity that the learner engages in, and the outcomes of that activity, that are significant to learning” (Beetham and Sharpe 2013, p 31).

Because PAL encompasses two separate but linked items (A1 and A2), the different sides of the axes are related but not antithetically (as in assessment versus evaluation, not in a positive or negative sense). The particular dimensions derive from specific factors. In the same way, other PAL topics can be defined simply by shifting perspectives from the effective to the affective. The meaning-making around A1 develops from the evaluation of place, time, and person, bringing to light critical issues regarding access, bias, and provenance. The sense-making around A2 is revealed in the assessment of the mechanics, dynamics, and discovery evidenced in the final product or outcome of the activity that promotes critical voice, shared control, and student negotiation. In creating A2, students apply what they learned from evaluating A1. In assessing A2, teachers provide feedback that is directly related to the study of A1. Comparing and contrasting A2s across individuals or groups adds even more knowledge and understanding of A1 through multiple insights from tangential viewpoints.

PAL Scoring Rubrics

Two innovative templates are available to support the design and implementation of PAL activities: for the evaluation of an existing artifact (A1) and for the assessment of a derivative artifact (A2). As a matter of practicality, an electronic version performs the calculations on basic points earned (0 = No, 1 = Okay, 2 = Good, 3 = Great) for five items on each of the dimensions of the appropriate framework (A1 or A2, assessment or evaluation). The final score is represented as a total percentage, emphasizing the need for attending to both content (as in attention to details, facts, ideas) and context (as in connections within and among axes) to paint a complete picture. Students can plot and connect the total points per axis to illustrate the completeness of their assessment/ evaluation. Space is also provided for teacher feedback and learner reflections. Any of which could be modified to match other defining parameters.

PAL Application Example: Holocaust Studies

The following poster summarizes the preliminary case studies presented by Christine Maxwell on 2020 February 22 at RAW: Research, Art & Writing, the Arts & Humanities Graduate Student Association conference at The University of Texas at Dallas as part of her doctoral thesis investigation.