ON LINE TOPIC Assessment

 Educational assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs. Assessment can focus on the individual learner, the learning community (class, workshop, or other organized group of learners), the institution, or the educational system as a whole.

 Make a few notes on why you think we assess learners before going on to the next slide.

 Earlier in the course we talked about the ‘learning journey’. Assessment helps us to answer the third question of this journey – ‘How will we know when we have arrived?’  This ‘arrival’ may be in terms of moving on to another topic, finishing a unit or completing a whole course.  Assessment not only tells us whether or not our learners have actually learnt what we were trying to teach them (assessment of learning) but also helps us to identify any areas where they may need further support to complete this learning (assessment for learning).

Assessment should be an on-going process. Most tutors are continually checking learning throughout their teaching. In additon to this, spend a few moments trying to think if there are any specific times when you assess your learners.

 Initial assessment – normally carried out before the course starts or at the first session to gauge the learners’ existing levels of knowledge/expertise. Most curriculum areas now also include an initial assessment in Functional Skills to help identify any areas where learners might need additional support.  You will need to know how & when this is carried out in your organisation for the assignment

 This may not be familiar to everyone but, if you are teaching in an area such as Functional Skills or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) this type of assessment is important to target specific topics/areas that your learners need to improve e.g. it’s not enough just to know that a learner needs to improve their spelling, you will need to know which particular aspects such as plurals, double consonants etc. etc.

 This is the on-going, day to day, assessment that all tutors carry out in their classes to check that learning is taking place and whether learners are ready to move on.  This type of assessment may be formal or informal but more on that later.

 This type of assessment usually comes at the end of a topic, unit or course.  It ‘sums up’ everything the learner knows and may result in formal certification or allow the learner to progress to the next module of the course.  Often this type of assessment is more formal and most exams are summative assessments.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT Progression to further learning Individual Learning Plan Progression within course

 For all the types of assessment we have considered there is a range of possible different methods to use to carry out the assessment.  Spend a few minutes now noting down all the assessment methods you can think of (not just those that you use in your subject/curriculum area)

 Obviously, the list here is potentially huge but you might have included: questioningquizzesobservation exams practical activitiesobservations assignmentsrole playgames productsself assessment peer assessmentperformance

 Working with your own list, add any assessment methods from the list on the previous slide that you had missed and any more that you have now thought of having seen the list.  Using two different coloured pens/highlighters, now highlight those assessment methods on your list that you think are ‘formal’ and ‘informal’

 This task isn’t as easy as many people think it is going to be!  What you have probably found out is that there is no clear distinction here – many methods of assessment can be either formal or informal depending on how they are structured and presented to the learners.

 Once we have assessed our learners what do we then do with the information?  Once we have considered the results of an assessment activity, we then need to provide our learners with feedback - how they are doing & suggestions for how they can further improve.  Feedback may be either oral or written but should always be constructive, helping learners to acknowledge and celebrate what they have achieved whilst identifying areas for further improvement and progression.

 One of the most common models for providing feedback to learners is to use the ‘feedback sandwich’ Start with something positive Identify area for improvement Close with something positive

 The thinking behind this model is fairly straightforward:  There are always some positive aspects we can identify and it is important to acknowledge learners’ achievements to date  If we start the feedback with something negative, the learner will not hear anything we later say that is positive  If we end the feedback with something negative, the learner will only remember that.  However, there are a number of issues with this model. See if you can identify any before you move on to the next slide.

 Although feedback sandwiches are useful, there are a number of issues with this model. Three of the main ones are:  There is a danger of feedback becoming formulaic  Learners quickly recognise the model and only listen to the ‘filling’ regarding anything else as unimportant  There is a danger of identifying too many areas for improvement and overwhelming the learner

 A different model for providing feedback, ‘Medals & Missions’ devised by Geoff Petty, is now becoming widely accepted  In this model, the tutor first provides the learner with ‘medals’ so acknowledging & celebrating what they have achieved so far  The ‘missions’ are then identified as clear areas for improvement and strategies/action plans for how this will be undertaken.  You can find out more about this model in Petty, G. ( 2002) Teaching Today, p65-72 or at

 Before moving on to the next slide think about the assessment records you keep.  Do you keep electronic records? Tracking sheets? Individual tracking or whole group?  Why do you keep these records?

 There is a wide range of methods for keeping assessment records and many reasons for doing this. They include:  Assessment records allow us to keep track of how our learners are progressing through the course and help us to identify any ‘problem’ areas. For example, if you could see that all your learners had struggled with a particular assignment, you would need to reflect on why and perhaps spend more time on it on the next run of the course or re-think the way you were teaching the topic  Tracking of assessment may also be a requirement of your awarding body and your external verifier may need to see these records  Your organisation may use this information to keep track of successes across the college or to pinpoint any areas for improvement. This information is often utilised for the annual Self Assessment report (SAR). If you are not familiar with this term, you might want to ask your line manager to explain further.

 Using the information from this PowerPoint, and your own notes, you should now be able to complete Theory Assignment 7  State the different assessment methods available and explain the ones you would use for your subject area, including reference to initial assessment. State the types of assessment records you would complete and why.  Word count:

 The assignment asks for a statement of different assessment methods. This is your opportunity to show how much you know so don’t limit this first paragraph to the methods you use in your own area – show that you are aware of the wide range of methods available.  Now you should move on to discuss the assessment methods you use in your particular area explaining why they are used e.g. required by examining body, meeting the needs of different learning styles.  Remember you will need to explain the initial assessment procedure in your area.  Your comments on assessment records will be different depending on the organisation you work for. Some organisations keep these electronically, some have paper-based tracking sheets; some spreadsheets. You may have to do some research here to find out what your organisation uses & why.

 In this assignment it is important that you demonstrate that you can correctly use the following terms:  Initial assessment  Formative assessment/assessment for learning  Summative assessment/assessment of learning Given the word limit, it is unlikely that you will have space to discuss feedback in any detail & the assignment does not require this.

If anything in the PowerPoint is not clear or you would like to discuss any of the points further before working on your assignment, please feel free to contact me: Barbara Hately-Broad (Please note that I am not available on Mondays or Fridays)