Using computational essays as an alternative mode of assessment in physics education

Computation holds great potential for enabling students to engage in creative, exploratory, and investigative scientific coursework. At the University of Oslo, Norway, we have been exploring this potential through the development and testing of a new teaching tool known as a computational essay. After using computational essays across several semesters of a large-enrollment electricity and magnetism course have found that they can serve a key role in both supporting and assessing students as they engage in open-ended, inquiry-based, disciplinarily-authentic coursework. In this talk, I will describe how we are conceptualizing student creativity and agency in physics, how we use computational essays to support these qualities in our teaching, and the various possibilities for using computational essays as an alternative mode of assessment in physics education.