The most interesting academic request I have encountered so far at UEA is something our lecturers like to call “formative assessments.”

Formative assessments masquerade as normal homework assignments, appearing in the form of an article for journalism, a short 500 word essay for a literature class, a group presentation and other such tasks. These assignments are nothing unexpected in a collegiate setting, just another project for another class.

However, students are not assigned grades on these assessments. We are promised feedback and criticism on what we have completed, but we turn it in knowing that this does not factor into our GPAs nor does it impact our overall grades in our classes. That is the purpose of “summative assessments,” and the majority of classes seem to only have one or two each.

It’s slightly terrifying knowing that two essays and nothing else will determine how well I’ve understood the writings of Jacques Derrida over the course of the semester and it’s also slightly confusing that I’m putting a good amount of effort into dissecting one single sentence over the course of 500 words for no grade, only feedback.

This leads to the question: why do students do formative work? In my last literature and deconstruction class, my professor said, “It’s no skin off my nose if you don’t do it,” referring to the aforementioned analysis due this coming Wednesday. She assigned it knowing that the feedback she gives us will help when we have to write our first real essays, but she also assigned it under the assumption that students will know what’s in their best interests and complete it for what can be viewed as ‘no reason.’

Although the purpose of recording academic growth before it is truly assessed has a clear purpose, how are professors comfortable putting so much trust in their students? I suppose a good answer to this is because assignments like this are what students here are used to.

I spoke to a student in my journalism class today about how at home, we have class more than once a week for shorter periods of time and nearly every assignment counts. Instead of instantly understanding how logical this process was, he responded, “That sounds overwhelming. How do you have time for everything?”

Despite the fact that England communicates in the same language, this is just another example I’ve come across that makes it clear that there are many more differences between the U.K. and the U.S. other than the side of the street cars drive on.