Near the end of college in 2017, I knew that I would be moving out of New Orleans and to Ann Arbor. I wanted a way to stay connected to my high school and college friends, and after a semester of student teaching, I had learned enough from my ninth graders to understand that Facebook was definitely not cool. So, I began posting little snippets of my life on Instagram stories. Leading up to my graduation, I documented the process of designing my graduation cap. Many of my friends responded, sharing pictures of their cap process or their recollection of creating their caps. How does this relate to assessment as I construct this blog post for my assessment course? This creative, personal project turned into an exciting real-world experience of understanding creative assessment, particularly in contrast to traditional grading.
Allow me to explain. To me, Instagram was, and has always been, a day-in-the-life, authentic platform, and at times, a bit ridiculous. Currently, I am documenting how many Costco hot dogs I plan to eat in 2025. The content that I am sharing is meant to entertain, connect, and share a moment that would otherwise be lost to time. The purpose of the stories was never to get views or likes. The metric of success was engagement – are my friends responding to these stories? Are they creating a connection with the content I am sharing? There was a continuous feedback loop throughout the process; engagement, or lack thereof, served as a way for me to know if the content was “successful.”
Now, if I were in a digital literacy course where I was tasked with creating stories, I wonder if Alfie Kohn’s (2011) unintended consequences of grading would have been a consideration. Would I have been willing to post my ridiculous Costco hot dog tally? Would intellectual risk-taking have been absent? And I know that posting about a hot dog can hardly be considered “intellectual.” Still, I would argue that this form of informal communication allows both me and my audience of friends to engage in deeper critical thinking. There is a freedom from perfection, as well as the ability to stop posting at any time, that fundamentally differs from graded assessments.
The continuous, informal process of creating and refining Instagram stories became a personal experiment for digital communication. I have improved my ability to lay out material in a 9:16 aspect ratio, a skill relevant to visual communication in any digital medium. I have also discovered a genuine enjoyment for the creative task of designing a concise narrative, learning that more text does not always equal more engagement. This was not an immediate realization, though. My archive holds many stories with far too much text. It took time to develop what I do not consider just “Instagram skills.” This iterative process of creating, receiving (or not receiving) feedback, and refining my approach has led to transferable learning. I find myself applying these ideas — conciseness, audience awareness, and visual learning — to my professional life, crafting more succinct and compelling administrative emails. My personal endeavor demonstrates how consistent, low-stakes practice, driven by intrinsic motivation and immediate feedback, can lead to skill development that is far more applicable than what is typically found in a traditional classroom setting.
For a recent assessment that I created, I developed a podcast pitch where my students would be tasked with delivering a speech on a theme and summary in a standardized format. I thought of my personal Instagram stories and how there is power in a creative, performance-based assessment that, while still structured, could encourage authentic engagement. The strict timing mirrored the conciseness I learned on Instagram, and the focus on a pitch aimed for the kind of clear, impactful communication I strive for in my own stories. This design, inspired by my ungraded digital learning, reflects my hopes for assessment in education: to prioritize authentic engagement, genuine understanding, and meaningful feedback over traditional metrics and the unintended consequences of grading pressures.
My Instagram stories journey has shaped my understanding of creative assessment and shown me that significant learning, driven by intrinsic motivation (Kohn 2011) and continuous, authentic feedback, is best when it is divorced from the pressures of traditional grades. Assessment should be about giving learners the chance to engage in their storytelling, where the joy of creation and the pursuit of understanding are the rewards, and the grade is far from their primary concern.
References
Grammarly. (2025). Generative AI Assistance. https://app.grammarly.com
Contribution from Grammarly: I utilized Grammarly to enhance the clarity and grammatical correctness of the post, as well as to refine word choice and overall flow.
Kohn, A. (2011). The case against grades. Alfie Kohn. https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/case-grades/