Ptlls_Level_4_Assignment_T7

Review a range of different assessment methods available and explain the ones you would use for your subject area. Evaluate the use of assessment methods in different contexts, including reference to initial assessment. Justify the types of assessment records you would complete and why. There are several different assessment methods available which can be used throughout the teaching cycle. The London Metropolitan University website (2006) states that assessment plays an important part in the teaching-learning process at all levels of education, I believe this to be true. Delivering sales and IT training I was often working with learners prior to designing a training session so my initial forms of assessment would include, listening, observation, peer assessment, interview with a line manager and work product which were always a really strong way to understand what a learners needs are and where to focus my attention in training sessions. Some learners have even come to me after self-assessment and asked me to help them address specific needs. During the training session I would use formative assessment methods such as listening, observation, peer assessment, Q&A’s, self-assessment and professional discussion to enable me to understand the progress of learners. Work product has also helped me, especially when I am working one-to-one with learners over time. For a summative assessment it hasn’t been appropriate for me to use the most common method of summative assessment, examinations. My summative assessment was linked to work product, seeing improvements in sales or the usage of software was the most common way for me to perform a summative assessment. I have used quizzes in some appropriate circumstances to give me immediate insight into the success of the course however work product has been the main judge of the success of the training. In order to put various assessment methods into context I will apply them to where I think they fit with the teaching cycle. However as demonstrated above with my initial assessments, these can be interchangeable. The teaching cycle includes assessment at three separate stages, initial, formative and summative. Initial is performed prior to training, formative is performed throughout the training and summative at the end. Typical methods of initial assessment include the use of pre course evaluation forms, observation, face to face or telephone interview and other methods such as researching your learners through their peers/manager or even online. All of these are a great way to identify any potential barriers to learning which need to be overcome and discover how much they already know. Formative assessment arguably includes the most diverse range of strategies. These can include Q&A’s, listening, observation, peer assessment, quizzes, mid-course tests, assignments, marking/feedback, self-assessment, professional discussion, portfolio/evidence and others. These should all enable a teacher to assess a learners progress and help to identify gaps in knowledge and areas which might need more focus. The summative assessment is typical summed up by the use of a final exam but this could be in combination with, or instead of other methods such as portfolio/evidence, assignments, work product or even a witness statement amongst others. The most well-known method of summative assessment would probably be an exam but a debate on the BBC website (2012) asks the question “Are exams the best form of assessment”. One user who contributed to this debate called ‘Just that girl’ in 2008 argued that she didn’t believe so as exams can cause stress and learners don’t like them. I would tend to agree with this however on some occasions a final exam is necessary. I do not however believe that an exam always gives a true indication of a learners ability and it is preferable that other forms of assessment are considered. The types of assessment record I would keep in relation to my training would focus mainly on work product and recording observations. The main purpose of my role was to influence a commission figure that we received from our clients. This figure was generated by the clients sales so I kept many detailed records of individual sales performance, tracking what they sold and how. This then would gain me insights into the success of the training. In addition to this I had the benefit of usage stats so that I could check the usage and type of usage of the IT system that we supplied. Recording and using the information gleamed from this system helped me to understand the success of my training. Lastly I kept a profile about my learners, recording information about my learners, how they were performing, and what training I had delivered in order to understand the many individuals that I worked with. This then enabled me to easily check and adapt what I delivered to them to suit their needs. References List London Metropolitan University (2006) http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/deliberations/assessment/ BBC, user ‘Just that girl’ (2008) http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbstudentlife/F9991413'thread=5829786