Faculty Development Programme on Assessing the Participatory Humanities Classroom: Designing Evaluation for Multimodal and Alternative Pedagogies

Imagine replacing rigid bluebook examinations with student-produced podcasts, curated digital archives, evocative photo-essays, and other multimodal projects. At the Conference Room of the Management Block, faculty members gathered around screens and whiteboards, rethinking how higher education can measure creativity, critical thinking, and authentic learning. This intellectual energy shaped a five-day Faculty Development Programme that reconsidered humanities assessment from the ground up. Organized by the Department of English & Cultural Studies, the programme addressed an urgent question in contemporary higher education: how do we assess the participatory classroom? As students increasingly communicate through diverse digital and creative forms, conventional written examinations alone cannot capture the breadth of their learning. Faculty members explored criterion-referenced rubrics and alternative assessment models that provide academic rigor while recognizing multimodal student expression and ensuring objective academic validation. Across five immersive days, the workshop combined discussion, practical experimentation, peer learning, and collaborative curriculum design. Dr. Anil Adagale and Dr. Ajith K initiated conversations on traditional testing paradigms, followed by Dr. Nadia Anwar and Dr. Shweta Sachdeva’s hands-on rubric design lab.

Participants developed multi-tiered evaluation criteria for digital media projects and audio essays, focusing on transparency, consistency, and meaningful feedback. Dr. Sumallya Mukhopadhyay and Dr. Pankaj Chavan introduced constructive alignment, helping faculty connect learning outcomes with participatory assignments and assessment strategies. Cultural anthropologist Meghna Sandhir explored ethnographically informed approaches to feedback, while Dr. Devanjan Khuntia and Dr. Sachin Labade guided participants through a capstone showcase of developed, audit-ready course modules. The process was not without challenges. Navigating outcome-based education software and complex multi-criteria matrices initially created technical difficulties. However, peer-mentoring pairs and expert facilitators transformed these obstacles into opportunities for collaboration and problem-solving. Every participant completed and presented a revised curriculum package. By engaging with John Biggs’ Constructive

Alignment framework, faculty members strengthened the connection between intended learning outcomes, teaching activities, and assessment. The resulting frameworks support transparent evaluation, reduce subjective grading bias, and encourage students to take greater responsibility for their learning. The initiative also reflects the distinctive academic environment of the Lavasa Campus. Nestled among the mist-draped hills near Pune, the campus offers an atmosphere conducive to experimentation, reflection, and pedagogical innovation. This FDP translates that spirit into classroom practice, enabling student-led exploration, digital storytelling, critical inquiry, and experiential learning to become integral parts of humanities education. The programme ultimately positions assessment as a pedagogical practice rather than a final checkpoint. It encourages faculty to ask not only what students know, but how they demonstrate understanding, collaborate, respond to feedback, and apply knowledge in contexts that reflect professional and cultural life. As these assessment frameworks are implemented in future semesters, classrooms at Christ University Lavasa can become spaces where evaluation is not simply a measure of learning, but part of the learning process itself. The programme demonstrates how thoughtful assessment design can make humanities education more inclusive, creative, transparent, and academically rigorous, preparing students to communicate ideas across the varied media and contexts of contemporary life, while strengthening institutional accountability and maintaining clear, measurable academic standards.