April Ursula Fox (Educational Psychology) presented "Zines in the Classroom: A Practical Guide to Zines as Summative and Formative Assessment" at PunkCon 2026: “Teaching for the Masses: Punk Pedagogies for Scholastic Saboteurs,” held May 7–8 at UNLV.
Fox’s presentation explored how zines—independently produced, creative publications with deep roots in punk and DIY cultures—can serve as rigorous and meaningful alternatives or complements to traditional exams, papers, and classroom assessments. Drawing from her teaching practice and research, Fox demonstrated how instructors can design, scaffold, and evaluate zine-based assignments while supporting student agency, reflection, creativity, and meaningful engagement with course content.
The presentation provided educators with practical strategies for incorporating zines into formative and summative assessment across K–12, higher education, and community-based learning environments. Participants examined adaptable assignment models, approaches to feedback and grading, and strategies for addressing common challenges such as time constraints, structure, and student familiarity with alternative forms of assessment.
Fox’s work reflects her broader research on learning as an embodied, agentic, and culturally mediated process. At the intersection of educational psychology, creative expression, and informal learning, her scholarship examines how practices such as zine-making allow learners to author knowledge through their own voices, experiences, identities, and cultural positions.
Her research contributes to the emerging framework of Performatic Learning, which conceptualizes learning as a participatory process through which knowledge is not simply received but actively interpreted, expressed, and performed. Fox has presented her scholarship at national conferences, including the American Educational Research Association (AERA), facilitated workshops focused on creative learning design and reflective practice, and contributed to interdisciplinary conversations in museum studies.
By bringing research on creative assessment into conversation with PunkCon’s emphasis on alternative pedagogies, DIY culture, and diverse forms of knowledge-making, Fox’s presentation highlighted the possibilities of reimagining assessment as not only a measure of learning, but also a space for students to create, reflect, and make meaning.
Fox welcomes opportunities to collaborate with scholars, educators, designers, and practitioners interested in multimodal learning, creative assessment, participatory pedagogy, and expressive approaches to knowledge-making. More information about her research and collaborative interests is available at aprilursulafox.com.
