Ptlls_Assignment_1,_Unit_7

Nicola Murphy Preparing to teach in the Lifelong Learning sector Assignment 1 – level 3 Theory Unit 7 Q: 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 explain why. Assessments within the teaching profession are important as they allow for the tutor to identify if the outcomes of a lesson or course of lessons have been achieved. They help to check individual progress and help to provide feedback to learners. The tutor is also able to get feedback on their own teaching and learning methods and assessments enable the tutor to deliver a session successfully by using reflective practice. Assessments need to be valid, authentic, current, sufficient and reliable. Valid work carried out by the student should be related and appropriate to the criteria being assessed, authentic work should show that the student has written or created the piece of work by themselves and not copied the work of others and work that is current should be up to date at the time of assessment. Work that is produced by students should be sufficient to cover all the relevant standards and criteria being assessed and reliable work should be consistent across all students and be at the mandatory level required by the board of examiners. Three different types of assessment, namely, initial, formative and summative are key assessments that are vital to the learning process. Initial assessment is generally carried out before a student commences a course or qualification. This type of assessment should indicate that a student is taking the right qualification at the most appropriate level, for example, if a student wishes to take a cookery course it would be helpful to the tutor to know if the student has any prior experience and a keen interest in cooking. The initial assessment can help the tutor to know what abilities and prior knowledge about a subject the students may already have and can help in the preparation and structure of lesson planning and future assessments. Formative assessments take place during the course of learning and provide an ongoing means of assessment. During a session a student can be assessed by a variety of methods that allow the tutor to identify if the student is learning the material which informs the tutor if the learning outcomes are being achieved by individual student. An example of formative assessment may include question and answer sessions on an individual or group basis. Formative assessments help the tutor to monitor and review the learning of students. If a student is having difficulty with one area of a subject the tutor can monitor this and perhaps give more one to one help if needed. Summative assessments take place at the end of a course or unit of learning and this type of assessment allows for the tutor to summarize the learning and development of a student at a particular or specific point. There are three possible outcomes to a summative assessment, a pass, referral or a fail. However a fail does not mean there is no way back for the student it simply allows the tutor to identify any areas of weakness which the student may have and allows for the student to progress and improve from there. Formative and summative assessments are a form of giving feedback to students and it is vital that the tutor records this information clearly and precisely. Good quality feedback that is clear, to the point and positive can give the student confidence and motivation in their learning. Feedback that is negative should always be explained, the student should be informed about how they can improve their work to achieve better positive outcomes. Recording feedback of how a student is performing and progressing on a course allows for both the tutor and student to track their development and is the key to successful learning and lesson planning. For example, if a group of ten students complete a written piece of work on a particular subject and only five have successfully answered the question correctly then the tutor can re examine the areas of weakness with the remaining five student and re visit the subject area allowing for those who have not grasped the information clearly. Types of assessment can take different forms. They are usually intended to measure a student’s knowledge, skill, understanding and abilities about the subject they have been learning about. Different types of tests can be performed, they can include, verbal tests, written, one to one verbal questioning and answering sessions, multiple choice answer papers, group work, practical work, reading tests and e-assessment. E-assessment is the use of information technology that can be used with many forms of assessment related activity. It is becoming a widely used form of assessment and can have some advantages over other forms of testing, for example, e-assessments can give the student instant feedback and results of a test and sometimes allow for the student to have a practice test before the real test. E-assessments can also be used with formative and summative assessments. Online formative tests involve separating or sifting out incorrect answers which gives the tutor time to explain to the student where they went wrong, or how the student should have answered the question, thus allowing for the student to re-visit a similar question and having a better approach to answering it. Summative e-assessments can identify areas of weakness from the formative stage and proceed to test only those areas that a student has previously learnt. Initial, formative and summative assessments should be used in all types of the learning process.