Integrating assessment effectively into international fieldwork: A case study using student-led teaching and learning

Assessing international fieldwork provides a series of challenges and opportunities that frames the student experience. In this case study students are presented with a task to deliver an assessed presentation and an activity based on a research topic of their choice to their peers in situ. Students are assessed and gain formative and summative feedback through multiple stages of the fieldtrip module from an initial group project proposal, a group presentation, an individual fieldwork diary, a reflective essay on their student-led experience, and an essay based on an overarching research theme. The chapter reveals that assessment and feedback are inextricably linked with one stage of the process informing another. Direct experiences of being on fieldwork stimulates the affective domain, with resulting emotional responses and behavior influencing performance (in assessment) and participation in students’ communities of learning (including group dynamics). This highlights the importance and role of (self-) reflection in assessment. Further consideration is made to adapt the approach to assessing international fieldwork at other levels and scales of geographical education