Assessment What is it good for????

Outcomes Define common types of assessment Identify the purposes of assessment Outline useful approaches to assessment and the importance of feedback

What is Assessment? Assessment is making Judgements about……. Skills and knowledge Potential and Progress Who are making the judgements Examiners Teachers Students

Categories or Types of Assessment Initial Diagnostic Formative Summative

Initial and Diagnostic Initial assessment can screen students, identify support needs or simply benchmark a learner’s skills, knowledge and understanding at the start of a programme. Diagnostics should take this on into the programme giving further insight into skills, knowledge and understanding throughout the programme.

Summative (Assessment of Learning) Summative assessment is performed at the end (of unit, term, year or sometimes one session) to check on learning. Summative assessment methods tend to be more formal and include……  Exams  Demonstration of skills  Assignment  Project  Oral questions  Observation  Computer based questions  Others?

Formative (Assessment for Learning) Developmental and ongoing assessments. We use these methods constantly. Formative assessment methods tend to be more informal and may include……….

Some Quotes………. “Assessment makes teaching into teaching. Mere presentation—without assessment of what the learners have made of what you have offered them—is not teaching.” ATHERTON J S (2010) Learning and Teaching; Assessment [On-line] UK: Available: http :// Accessed: 5 October 2010 “Assessment procedures to gauge student learning should be as varied as the teaching strategies used to teach them.” Read more at Suite101: What is Assessment: Assessing Student Learning assessment-a149777#ixzz11Tz9E04hWhat is Assessment: Assessing Student Learninghttp:// assessment-a149777#ixzz11Tz9E04h

Assessment for Learning Inside the black box (1998) is a summary of the main findings arising from 250 assessment articles (covering nine years of international research) studied by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam. Its findings still provide a touchstone for other researchers, advisers and teachers. Assessment for Learning is the approach to formative assessment which has developed from this……

Defining Assessment for Learning? (A4L) “The process teachers and learners use to decide: where learners are in their learning where they need to go how best to get there.” Paul Black Co-author of “Inside the Black Box.”, “Working inside the Black Box.” and “ Assessment for Learning: Putting it into Practice.” 10

Peer and self assessment Peer and self-assessment have an important role in A4L. Key elements are... Students using the assessment criteria to assess and set own targets for improvement. Students make comments about their own strengths and weaknesses before hearing/receiving other people's views. Teachers and others demonstrating examples of what is required. (Did I hear someone say “modelling”?)

Peer and Self Assessment Task... Discuss in what ways teachers can use peer and self assessment. Identify the successes and pitfalls in using these methods. If you seldom use these methods, identify the barriers to there use in your teaching.

Assessment - what is it good for? To diagnose faults and support progression To give us feedback on how our learners are progressing and how our teaching is going To guide improvement and motivate students To provide statistics for the course, or for the institution To enable grading, exam classifications and final degree classifications To add variety to students’ learning experience, and add direction to our teaching Race (2001) The lecturer’s toolkit

Or put simply Assessment is for learning

Classroom Activities

First can you peer assess this teacher…….. wA&feature=related wA&feature=related

Feedback What feedback would you give this teacher….. What if you were told this was his first ever teaching session…… What if you were told it was his eighth and final observation within a teacher training course?

What about our video clip of a teacher shown earlier……. In your feedback did you indicate…. where he was with his teaching where he needed to go how best to get there If you did you were apply the principles of A4L

An assessment tool With a partner, discuss…. What types of assessments was the assessment tool used for? Can you suggest anything similar? What are the key features of good assessment? Video