Assessing the Arts, and student response, within the creative expressive therapies in higher education.

My original focus, through a small research project, was to examine the complexity of assessing the arts within dance, drama, art and music pathways on the BA (Hons) Creative Expressive Therapies programme (which will potentially change to BA (Hons) Arts Health and Wellbeing) at the University of Derby. However, my research focus shifted as I became increasingly more interested in how students responded emotionally to the assessment process and their individual feedback. So, the research came to be less about how the assessments are carried out by lecturers, and more about students’ personal emotional responses to them. This led to three areas of focus which appeared to be of key concern to students, assessing creativity, tutor bias and student understanding.

My original focus, through a small research project, was to examine the complexity of assessing the arts within dance, drama, art and music pathways on the BA (Hons) Creative Expressive Therapies programme (which will potentially change to BA (Hons) Arts Health and Wellbeing) at the University of Derby. However, my research focus shifted as I became increasingly more interested in how students responded emotionally to the assessment process and their individual feedback. So, the research came to be less about how the assessments are carried out by lecturers, and more about students’ personal emotional responses to them. This led to three areas of focus which appeared to be of key concern to students, assessing creativity, tutor bias and student understanding.