Karmic assessment: evidence from business students

Abstract

This paper reports the results of assessment as an embedded learning opportunity through evidence from a course on Management and Spirituality for business students offered in 2002 and 2003 in the USA and Europe. It discusses how assessment can be strategically used to nudge students’ minds through learning experiences that expand current mental models of being. The construct of Karma with its emphasis on the need to sow carefully to reap a rich harvest for humanity is the context within which the assessment is designed. The paper develops three interrelated themes: the first is the theoretical background on assessment and the need to integrate it with global citizenship and bottom of the pyramid awareness; the second theme sketches the three assessment tasks; while the final theme suggests a model for assessment which amalgamates the learning community, learning environment and individual introspection to achieve karmic assessment.