Examining the Effectiveness of Evaluating an Open-Ended Task

The process of edification is undergoing changes rapidly. ‘Undergraduate research’ is gaining momentum in the current context. In Asia, higher education institutions are grappling to meet the minimum standards of education, questioning research at the undergraduate level. Besides, teachers need the basic knowledge as well as an inquiring mind to foster ‘systematic investigation’ among the young minds. With an intention to instigate systematic investigation among the teachers so as to facilitate ‘undergraduate research’, a practicum focusing on ‘assessment’ was organized as part of a Faculty Development Programme (FDP) at Department of architecture at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, which was conducted in association with Council of Architecture – Training and Research centre. The practicum revolved around the evaluation of the emergent outcomes of an open-ended design task titled ‘grids. The activities were planned sequentially as worksheets so as to give an insight into evaluating the creativity manifested in the emergent outcomes of a basic design task. Teachers with architectural background participated in the FDP voluntarily. Around 65% of participants had plans to pursue research in the near future. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through pre and post-tests, worksheets as well as questionnaires. Mixed methods were adopted to foster a direction to investigate the emergent outcome systematically among the participants as well to construct the knowledge about the framed practicum from wider as well as diverse perspectives. Findings indicate that the direction adopted is effective to foster ‘methodological triangulation’, paving a way to critically comprehend and explore the quality of instructions and level of learning among the students in architectural design studios. With the experience gained through planning the practicum, the authors have modified Maher’s model to formulate open ended tasks.