This picture represent something I strongly believe in, we all need to make sure that our students can perform the skills they are acquiring in class, and in order to know if this is happening we need to give them adequate assessments tasks that will help us to find out if they acquired the skills. My goal is to continue learning and to put in practice the new knowledge in my lectures, activities and assessment tasks.
Assessment: a powerful tool for teachers and students.
Assessment has always been considered a key part in education, however the approach regarding such a relevant term has changed since I started teaching. Initially it was considered only as a way to measure the knowledge acquired by our students, nevertheless nowadays assessment is a much more powerful tool. Fortunately, thanks to my personal experience and academic growth, my thoughts concerning this topic have evolved positively. Personally, when I was a student, I had a very narrow view of what assessment really is, a fact indeed, which is widespread among our students, for most of them, including myself (some years ago) assessment is:
- stressful (for teachers and students)
- measured through tests or exams
- a method to give the student a grade
- a strategy to know if the student has acquired the content presented in class
These are some of the most common thoughts about assessment, but these are not the only ones. Assessment is a tool that has been widely used in an inappropriate way, assessment is not only a method to give a student a grade, is a strategy that is set to help students and teachers in the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills. For most of us assessment, examination and test have a similar meaning and are used somewhat interchangeably, but they are not, as it is clearly explained in the General Guide of the International Baccalaureate. For more than four years I worked in an International School where the IB program was the framework of the whole school curriculum program, it was there that I started to understand that assessment is a very powerful practice that will improve our teaching and our student’s learning process. Later on, in this reflective paper, I will be able to analyze the subsequent thoughts on aspects of assessment thanks to the variety of activities performed during this very intensive workshop on Assessment in Higher Education.
Current methods of assessment and feedback
When I started teaching the most common assessment methods used were three:
1. Weekly Tests
2. Final Term Exams
3. Pop quizzes
These three types of assessment methods can be labeled as summative assessment because they are given at a particular point in time to determine what students know and do not know. The final goal is to obtain a grade that will reflect the knowledge that a student has of a certain topic. Luckily, I did not stop here. It was relatively early in my career when I realized that these kinds of assessment methods did not help my students either me. They were not realistic and practical, but it was the methodology imposed in the school system I was working in (they were too worried to obtain the best result in state tests). I continued using them because it was mandatory but I added other kinds of strategies that helped my students acquire the content and skills in a much more realistic way, and not only that, it also helped me to improve my teaching strategies thanks to the feedback obtained from those new assessment exercises. Some of the assessment activities that I included were:
- Realistic role-plays between two or more students.
- Creation of brochures
- Group and individual posters
- Journals
This type of methods should be included in what is called formative assessment. Formative assessment provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening[1]. And I believe this is a very powerful aspect of formative assessment, the teacher has the opportunity to redo his or her plans for the classroom, teaching is not static, it is always in movement and different for every student. So this way of assessing our students help us to align the learning outcomes, the process of teaching and learning and assessment methods, and this is the only way to be successful in the classroom, by making sure that the three components are aligned. Sadly, it was not until I received specific training in assessment that I realized how crucial this point was. I also understood that during the past years what I thought it could be considered assessment was not, it was only a set of exercises that created a lot of stress on my students and that provided me with a list of numbers that were supposed to indicate my students’ knowledge. Another big mistake I made for many years was to consider this set of numbers as feedback. I certainly know that this is a very common mistake among teachers, but that is not an excuse, and we have to work together to change this malpractice. I could firmly admit that my weakest point regarding assessment is feedback; it took me a while to realize that feedback has to be:
Assessment is not a tool to give a grade to our students (as many people may think) but a way to promote a better acquisition of concepts and skills as well as to encourage a more effective teaching and learning process. In order to make an assessment task reasonable we must always know the purpose of it, it is not possible to use one assessment process for different purposes (…)[2]. Different purposes require vastly different approaches, and mixing the purposes is likely to ensure that none of them will be well served. It is becoming more and more obvious that we must first decide about the purpose and then design the assessment program to fit. This point, so well discussed by Lorna M. Earl in her book Assessment as learning, makes me think about a current method of curriculum design called Understanding by Design, which main idea is that we have to start by knowing what is the purpose of the course, the assessment task or the lesson before we start the process of teaching and learning. This process is defined by its creators, Wiggins and McTighe as a "framework for designing curriculum units, performance assessments, and instruction that lead your students to deep understanding of the content and skills you teach". We must always know which objectives are to be accomplished when designing an assessment task.
Following the current analysis, it is necessary to review the three aspects of assessment and how it is applied in nowadays education setting: [3] ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING/ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING/ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING
In most academic scenarios the most predominant kind of assessment is Assessment of Learning, which involves summative assessments that give the students a grade that position them with other students, this kind of assessment is most common given at the end of a unit, term, or semester and takes the form of tests or exam. This approach is still widely used in secondary schools, and researches encourage to not to use this aspect of assessment but to also combine it with Assessment for Learning and Assessment as Learning. When Assessment for learning is taking place, professors collect a wide range of data so that they can modify the activities that take place during the teaching and learning process for their students. To do this we should use observation, worksheets, questioning in class, student-teacher conferences or whatever method will give us information that will be useful in the process of planning the teaching and learning process. The student has an active role in the process of acquiring new concepts and skills and this is related to Assessment as Learning, the student is the link. Assessment as Learning occurs when students personally monitor what they are learning and use the feedback to make adjustments in the process of learning. I feel the need to give my students a more active role in the teaching and learning process, this is why, they use rubrics to assess their own work, and to give me feedback about how the rubrics helped them or not, it might be challenging but working together hand with hand with students is being very rewarding.
Rubrics are very useful tools to make the experience of teaching and learning a cooperative process between the teacher and the student. Rubrics and Mark Schemes promote Assessment as Learning, this is the main reason why we should all try to make an effort and implement the use of these strategies in our classes. By using them we would be fostering a more likely environment for Assessment as Learning to happen.
Random thoughts on assessment and its deeper implications.
As per my personal observation in the different Higher Education Institutions that I worked, current assessment need to be reviewed to promote assessment for learning and assessment as learning. By introducing these two aspects for assessment in Higher Education, assessment will become a powerful tool that teachers and students will be able to benefit, it will not just a be method to obtain a final grade, but a way to create learning that lasts[4]. Moreover it is indispensable to be aware that assessment is not a punctual thing but an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning[5], and by improving student learning, the process of teaching will be also improved. Whether or not professors are willing to change their assessments methods, in the time coming, they will find themselves forced to adapt their strategies to the new approach of assessment. We should all review our methods and encourage our colleagues to discard old fashion assessment tasks that do not promote learning of skills but only learning of content. Assessments should look at what a student can do or demonstrate what a student knows not only focus on content.
Another aspect that should be implemented in professors’ daily practices is to provide our students with appropriate and focused feedback early and often[6]. Feedback that promotes learning and acquisition of skills, and that will help the student understand better what is expected from them, students need to learn how to assess their own learning[7]. The moment they are capable to do so, the process of assessing will be promoting assessment as learning, and that it is our goal, to promote assessment as learning and not only of learning. The fact that we do not give proper feedback creates confusion on our students. They are used to look at a number or a letter to know how they performed in an assessment task. The objective now is to change that fact and use feedback as a way to lead and guide our students in the process of learning as well as to help us in the process of teaching. To achieve this goal the staff needs to be trained in new practices that promote assessment for learning and assessment as learning, as well as in ways to give adequate feedback that will assist students in the process of acquiring new skills. Feedback should not be a number of a letter but, for example, a set of comments that will really explain the students the strengths and weaknesses of their work and how to keep improving.
Exams create stress that influences negatively in our students performance, that is why I am in favor of using class work, group projects and task based activities to assess my students and not only the grades obtained in an exam. According to my personal experience assessment should be a continuous task that makes the student a person capable to auto-assess and self-correct as well as an instrument that helps the teacher to self-assess his or her teaching strategies.
[1] Formative and Summative Assessement in the Classroom. Catherine Garrinson and Michael Ehringhaus, Ph.D.
[2] Gibbs, C. (1994) Beyond testing: Towards a theory of educational assessment. London: Falmer.
[3] Earl, Lorna (2003) Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximise Student Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA, Corwin Press.
[4] Falchikov, N. (2005). Improving assessment through student involvement:Practical solutions for aiding learning in higher education. Routledge
[5] Angelo, (1995) Defining (and Re-assessing) Assessment: A Second Try, AAHE Bulletin no. 48, p.
[6] Thomas A. Angelo & Patricia Cross (1993) Classroom Assessment Techniques-A handbook for College Teachers, Jossey-Bass publications,.
[7]Thomas A. Angelo & Patricia Cross (1993), Classroom Assessment Techniques-A handbook for College Teachers, Jossey-Bass publications.
- stressful (for teachers and students)
- measured through tests or exams
- a method to give the student a grade
- a strategy to know if the student has acquired the content presented in class
These are some of the most common thoughts about assessment, but these are not the only ones. Assessment is a tool that has been widely used in an inappropriate way, assessment is not only a method to give a student a grade, is a strategy that is set to help students and teachers in the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills. For most of us assessment, examination and test have a similar meaning and are used somewhat interchangeably, but they are not, as it is clearly explained in the General Guide of the International Baccalaureate. For more than four years I worked in an International School where the IB program was the framework of the whole school curriculum program, it was there that I started to understand that assessment is a very powerful practice that will improve our teaching and our student’s learning process. Later on, in this reflective paper, I will be able to analyze the subsequent thoughts on aspects of assessment thanks to the variety of activities performed during this very intensive workshop on Assessment in Higher Education.
Current methods of assessment and feedback
When I started teaching the most common assessment methods used were three:
1. Weekly Tests
2. Final Term Exams
3. Pop quizzes
These three types of assessment methods can be labeled as summative assessment because they are given at a particular point in time to determine what students know and do not know. The final goal is to obtain a grade that will reflect the knowledge that a student has of a certain topic. Luckily, I did not stop here. It was relatively early in my career when I realized that these kinds of assessment methods did not help my students either me. They were not realistic and practical, but it was the methodology imposed in the school system I was working in (they were too worried to obtain the best result in state tests). I continued using them because it was mandatory but I added other kinds of strategies that helped my students acquire the content and skills in a much more realistic way, and not only that, it also helped me to improve my teaching strategies thanks to the feedback obtained from those new assessment exercises. Some of the assessment activities that I included were:
- Realistic role-plays between two or more students.
- Creation of brochures
- Group and individual posters
- Journals
This type of methods should be included in what is called formative assessment. Formative assessment provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening[1]. And I believe this is a very powerful aspect of formative assessment, the teacher has the opportunity to redo his or her plans for the classroom, teaching is not static, it is always in movement and different for every student. So this way of assessing our students help us to align the learning outcomes, the process of teaching and learning and assessment methods, and this is the only way to be successful in the classroom, by making sure that the three components are aligned. Sadly, it was not until I received specific training in assessment that I realized how crucial this point was. I also understood that during the past years what I thought it could be considered assessment was not, it was only a set of exercises that created a lot of stress on my students and that provided me with a list of numbers that were supposed to indicate my students’ knowledge. Another big mistake I made for many years was to consider this set of numbers as feedback. I certainly know that this is a very common mistake among teachers, but that is not an excuse, and we have to work together to change this malpractice. I could firmly admit that my weakest point regarding assessment is feedback; it took me a while to realize that feedback has to be:
- Prompt
- Clear
- Related to goals
- Personal
Assessment is not a tool to give a grade to our students (as many people may think) but a way to promote a better acquisition of concepts and skills as well as to encourage a more effective teaching and learning process. In order to make an assessment task reasonable we must always know the purpose of it, it is not possible to use one assessment process for different purposes (…)[2]. Different purposes require vastly different approaches, and mixing the purposes is likely to ensure that none of them will be well served. It is becoming more and more obvious that we must first decide about the purpose and then design the assessment program to fit. This point, so well discussed by Lorna M. Earl in her book Assessment as learning, makes me think about a current method of curriculum design called Understanding by Design, which main idea is that we have to start by knowing what is the purpose of the course, the assessment task or the lesson before we start the process of teaching and learning. This process is defined by its creators, Wiggins and McTighe as a "framework for designing curriculum units, performance assessments, and instruction that lead your students to deep understanding of the content and skills you teach". We must always know which objectives are to be accomplished when designing an assessment task.
Following the current analysis, it is necessary to review the three aspects of assessment and how it is applied in nowadays education setting: [3] ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING/ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING/ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING
In most academic scenarios the most predominant kind of assessment is Assessment of Learning, which involves summative assessments that give the students a grade that position them with other students, this kind of assessment is most common given at the end of a unit, term, or semester and takes the form of tests or exam. This approach is still widely used in secondary schools, and researches encourage to not to use this aspect of assessment but to also combine it with Assessment for Learning and Assessment as Learning. When Assessment for learning is taking place, professors collect a wide range of data so that they can modify the activities that take place during the teaching and learning process for their students. To do this we should use observation, worksheets, questioning in class, student-teacher conferences or whatever method will give us information that will be useful in the process of planning the teaching and learning process. The student has an active role in the process of acquiring new concepts and skills and this is related to Assessment as Learning, the student is the link. Assessment as Learning occurs when students personally monitor what they are learning and use the feedback to make adjustments in the process of learning. I feel the need to give my students a more active role in the teaching and learning process, this is why, they use rubrics to assess their own work, and to give me feedback about how the rubrics helped them or not, it might be challenging but working together hand with hand with students is being very rewarding.
Rubrics are very useful tools to make the experience of teaching and learning a cooperative process between the teacher and the student. Rubrics and Mark Schemes promote Assessment as Learning, this is the main reason why we should all try to make an effort and implement the use of these strategies in our classes. By using them we would be fostering a more likely environment for Assessment as Learning to happen.
Random thoughts on assessment and its deeper implications.
As per my personal observation in the different Higher Education Institutions that I worked, current assessment need to be reviewed to promote assessment for learning and assessment as learning. By introducing these two aspects for assessment in Higher Education, assessment will become a powerful tool that teachers and students will be able to benefit, it will not just a be method to obtain a final grade, but a way to create learning that lasts[4]. Moreover it is indispensable to be aware that assessment is not a punctual thing but an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning[5], and by improving student learning, the process of teaching will be also improved. Whether or not professors are willing to change their assessments methods, in the time coming, they will find themselves forced to adapt their strategies to the new approach of assessment. We should all review our methods and encourage our colleagues to discard old fashion assessment tasks that do not promote learning of skills but only learning of content. Assessments should look at what a student can do or demonstrate what a student knows not only focus on content.
Another aspect that should be implemented in professors’ daily practices is to provide our students with appropriate and focused feedback early and often[6]. Feedback that promotes learning and acquisition of skills, and that will help the student understand better what is expected from them, students need to learn how to assess their own learning[7]. The moment they are capable to do so, the process of assessing will be promoting assessment as learning, and that it is our goal, to promote assessment as learning and not only of learning. The fact that we do not give proper feedback creates confusion on our students. They are used to look at a number or a letter to know how they performed in an assessment task. The objective now is to change that fact and use feedback as a way to lead and guide our students in the process of learning as well as to help us in the process of teaching. To achieve this goal the staff needs to be trained in new practices that promote assessment for learning and assessment as learning, as well as in ways to give adequate feedback that will assist students in the process of acquiring new skills. Feedback should not be a number of a letter but, for example, a set of comments that will really explain the students the strengths and weaknesses of their work and how to keep improving.
Exams create stress that influences negatively in our students performance, that is why I am in favor of using class work, group projects and task based activities to assess my students and not only the grades obtained in an exam. According to my personal experience assessment should be a continuous task that makes the student a person capable to auto-assess and self-correct as well as an instrument that helps the teacher to self-assess his or her teaching strategies.
[1] Formative and Summative Assessement in the Classroom. Catherine Garrinson and Michael Ehringhaus, Ph.D.
[2] Gibbs, C. (1994) Beyond testing: Towards a theory of educational assessment. London: Falmer.
[3] Earl, Lorna (2003) Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximise Student Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA, Corwin Press.
[4] Falchikov, N. (2005). Improving assessment through student involvement:Practical solutions for aiding learning in higher education. Routledge
[5] Angelo, (1995) Defining (and Re-assessing) Assessment: A Second Try, AAHE Bulletin no. 48, p.
[6] Thomas A. Angelo & Patricia Cross (1993) Classroom Assessment Techniques-A handbook for College Teachers, Jossey-Bass publications,.
[7]Thomas A. Angelo & Patricia Cross (1993), Classroom Assessment Techniques-A handbook for College Teachers, Jossey-Bass publications.
