Principles_and_Practace_of_Asessment

Unit 3 Principles and practice of assessment Alan Gregory Level 4 Theory assessment. Rational Within the theory assignment for unit three I was required to research the following areas: Principles of assessment, Peer and Self Assessment, Feedback and Questioning and Assessment Record Requirements. In order to increase my understanding of the areas research was completed to greater embed the skills I need to become an effective teacher. Through my research I feel I gained an invaluable insight into the way in which I approach my students regarding assessment and be able to incorporate these ideas into my teaching methods. Principles of assessment. Wikipedia 2009 defines assessment as: ‘…process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs...’ There are many types of assessment that can convey a variety of information important to the successful measurement of a students learning. Petty 2004 suggests assessment serves many different purposes. It can provide a long term goal for students to work towards, help grade the learners, give evidence on the effectiveness of a course and allows you to adjust teaching in order to meet all targets or criteria. In my subject assessment is the key part in showing evidence that the students are competent at each required level of the curriculum. Types of assessment. Initial assessment. Is a starting point this type of assessment allows you to identify the needs of the learner, the current level of ability and can identify any special support that may be needed' It provides the information needed to decide a learners starting point and measure a learner’s progress and achievement. The more information we have about a student the easier it will be to adapt to suit the learners needs. When working with adults on a level three course it is vital to understand the level at which the students are in order to effectively map out their future progress. Sometimes it is simply not enough that they have attained the level 2 qualification in order to get onto the course as ability in hairdressing can vary greatly with experience. Independent assessment. This type of assessment is ongoing rather than an examination at the end. An independent assessor will make an objective decision as to the student’s achievement by the end of the course. This type of assessment is used in my field of teaching although only a selection of work will be assessed by independent or external verifiers (EV’ S). Formative assessment. Is an ongoing assessment based on a set of learning outcomes. Students will be observed to assess practical skills and asked questions to assess knowledge or set assignments to show understanding of the subject. Formative assessment allows learning to be monitored and reviewed. This type of assessment will show a students progress and allow the use of feedback upon which decisions can be made for the direction of future learning. Generally this type of assessment does not effect the students final grade but are for the use of monitoring and helping the students understand their strengths and weaknesses. Summative assessment. Is generally a final assessment and leads to a pass or fail. My students will do a number of formative assessments working towards a summative pass although an opportunity to retry is always in place in order for the student to meet the required criteria for the course. Summative assessment is seen as a formal testing in order to produce marks or grades. Research suggests that summertive assessment can have a negative effect on students learning but in my opinion this is not the case. I have generally found that the students gain more of a scence of achievement in the completion of a task than they do from constant formative assessment. Summative assessments are set by city and guilds in my field as the students are working towards a certificate based qualification. Peer and self assessment. During the practical assessment of learners I will generally use formative, summative and self assessment to gage the ability of the students .Formative assessment allows me to see how the learner is developing this backed up with self assessment in the form of tracking sheets the students and myself can set achievable goals to work towards thus finishing with a summertive assessment to meet the requirements of the qualification. The use of informal assessment methods, including games and quizzes, can galvanise the interest of studentswww.ofsted.gov.uk Peer and self assessment. By letting my students take control of their learning they can feel more motivated ‘it can be very revealing for learners to begin to assess their own performance.’ (Hiller2003). With this in mind we can understand that by self assessment students are going to discover something that they might not get from you as a teacher .this can be very useful if a student is not performing as well as you think they can as they can reflect on their own performance. This type of assessment is always open to feedback and discussion. Gravells suggests that ‘Students consider more what their peers are saying than what you might.’(gravells2007) This is extremely useful when you are trying to identify the level of learning taking place and giving back feedback in an indirect way. You may agree with peer assessment and this can make the feedback process more objective as you may only need to reinforce ideas that the student may not have agreed with if it was solely your feedback they were receiving. Petty (2008) believes that ‘Self assessment encourages reflection and purposeful activity towards useful goals, as well as encouraging learners to become responsible for their own learning. Any type of assessment that allows the learner to take ownership of the agenda like peer and self assessment will only encourage the students to feel more responsible and involved in what is required of them. ‘The act of assessing is one of the deepest learning experiences. Applying criteria to someone else’s work is one of the most productive ways of developing understanding of subject matter.’ (Race 2001.) Feedback The way in which we give feedback is of vital importance to the future performance of the student. Feedback needs to be Timely –giving feedback as soon as possible is much more effective as the students can still remember what they were thinking as they did the task. Individual – feedback should be relevant to the individual needs of the student. Empowering- feedback should encourage students and be of a positive nature even when it is critical. Manageable-feedback needs to be delivered in a concise manner as it can easily consume too much time and energy from the teacher’s point of view. The learner can also find it difficult to identify routine feedback from important. Feedback should be ‘oriented to opening doors, not closing them.’(Race 2001) The language that is used when giving feedback is vital. Using words like ‘weak’ or ‘poor’ can be very negative to a student and create a breakdown in communication. Positive words can also be problematic the use of excellent on a piece of work followed by very good on another can make a student wonder why a piece of work is not as good as the last. It is better to elaborate on why a piece of work is good or bad rather than just using one word answers thus avoiding confusion. (Petty, 2004)”Feedback while you learn has more effect on student achievement than any other factor. It gives students an intrinsic motivation to learn rather than extrinsic, therefore doing something or learning something because they want to not because they have been told they have to” During my research for my micro teach presentation I came across a training video that created a scenario of a student receiving what he believed to be very negative feedback from his lecturer.the video seemed to cause quite a stir within the class as both teacher and student held very valid points on why the feedback seemed to be so negative. The students were split in their opinions of who was right or wrong but after a discussion we all seemed to agree that the main problem was a breakdown in communication.from this discussion I concluded that communication in its many forms is the key to assessment and feedback. As stated earlier it is important that you are consistent and clear in the way that you assess students and assumption is the mother of all mistakes . Obtain the facts and do not pre judge students ability or attitude. AS lecturers we need to be in tune to a variety of issues to make sure we meet the needs of the individual learner as well as the whole. Questioning When Giving feed back the type of questioning methods should be monitored carefully. The main reason for questioning is that of fact finding, you need to get as much information as you need but you need to do it in a way that does not make the student feel interrogated or uneasy as this creates a negative feeling about the feed back you are about to give. Assessment records. When completing any type of assessment record it is important to cover the following points. Who was assessed; What was assessed; When assessment took place; Why assessment took place; Where the assessment took place; How the assessment took place; (Gravells 2007) Within my field we would generally start with an initial assessment in the form of an application form South Notts has a standardised form that is used for all courses and contain only basic information on a student’s current level of education. We would then move on to a formal interview were direct questions could be asked that have more relevance to the e subject matter. A portfolio of work containing evidence of achievement would then be compiled over the length of the course. This portfolio uses a variety of assessment methods to gain evidence. Firstly the students will have to complete a number of assignments following a curriculum mapped out by city and guilds. Secondly at the end of each unit students are required to sit a multiple choice GOLA test. On a practical level the students will use formative assessment sheets until they feel ready to complete a task without help or supervision they will then complete a sumative assessment sheet and if they meet the required level of skill they will be signed of on that area. A log book is used to record evidence that students are competent both theoretically and practically in the subject and tracking sheets record students’ progress throughout the course setting goals and making sure students meet targets. Backed up by individual learning plans. Once all of the evidence is put together in a portfolio it is then checked by an external verifier and the certificate is then awarded. Methodology Areas to be researched: • Principles of Assessment • Peer and Self Assessment • Feedback and Questioning • Types of Assessment Records used to meet Organisational and External Requirements. Materials • Academic books (can be seen in bibliography) • Internet sites (can be seen in bibliography) • PC • Discussion • Peer Micro Teaching Sessions Steps taken Initially I chose how feed back and questioning as an area to research and present back to the class through a micro teaching session. i researched how effective or ineffective feedback can be. Using a training video from youtube.com I was able to create a debate on effective methods of feedback and how this effects a students progress. For the other three areas of research I completed individual research to complete the assignment. To research the various areas, I used academic books, as identified in the bibliography and internet sources. Using these sources I was able to complete the assignment. Bibliography Gravells Anne(2007) preparing to teach in the lifelong learning sector second edition learning matters Exeter uk Hiller Yvonne(2003) reflective teaching in fe second edition continuum york road London Petty, G (2004), Teaching Today, A Practical Guide 3rd Edition, Nelson Thornes Ltd. Race phill(2004) lecturers toolkit, second edition Routledge Falmer New Fetter Lane London Ofsted.gov(2010)Assessment.availiable:) ofsted.gov.uk/.../Sharing%20good%20practice%20a%20survey%20of%20history%20in%20...last accessed 05/04/2010 Wikipedia(2010)Assessment. Available: )www.wikipedia.org.last accessed 03/04/2010 Reference. Gravells Anne(2007) preparing to teach in the lifelong learning sector second edition learning matters Exeter uk Hiller Yvonne(2003) reflective teaching in fe second edition continuum york road London Petty, G (2004), Teaching Today, A Practical Guide 3rd Edition, Nelson Thornes Ltd. Race phill(2004) lecturers toolkit, second edition Routledge Falmer New Fetter Lane London Ofsted.gov(2010)Assessment.availiable:) ofsted.gov.uk/.../Sharing%20good%20practice%20a%20survey%20of%20history%20in%20...last accessed 05/04/2010 Wikipedia(2010)Assessment. Available: )www.wikipedia.org.last accessed 03/04/2010