H817 wk 21 Act 1:Activating Assessment for Learning
Monday, 23 Jun 2014, 10:45
Visible to anyone in the world
I read the ARG pamphlet almost with disbelief, as it seemed so old and dated. The reason for that is that having recently completed a PGCE Secondary in MFL, I had to write, as part of that course, a summary of the differences between Assessment FOR learning and Assessment OF learning. All of the points raised by ARG (1999, 2002) are now 'built-in' to the training programme - not necessarily successfully, but the assumption is made that that is how assessment WILL be done.
However, having read Elliott (2008) and Whitelock (2010) I find that perhaps these principles are not applied quite as widely as I had been led to believe! After years of building 'learning dialogues' and giving 'positive feedback', and encouraging 'peer assessment', I find that, apparently, there are still people teaching who only use assessment to meet the requirements of the curriculum.
Elliot (2008) says assessment 2.0 should be;
• Authentic: involving real-world knowledge and skills.
Personalised: tailored to the knowledge, skills and interests of each student.
• Negotiated: agreed between the learner and the teacher.
• Engaging: involving the personal interests of the student.
• Recognise existing skills:willing to accredit the student’s existing work.
• Deep: assessing deep knowledge – not memorisation.
• Problem oriented: original tasks requiring genuine problem solving skills.
• Collaboratively produced: produced in partnership with fellow students.
• Peer and self assessed: involving self reflection and peer review.
• Tool supported: encouraging the use of ICT
And I fully agree with all of these points, and have always attempted to meet all (or at least most) of these criteria when carrying out assessment. I admit that this is not always easy, as there is often pressure to do 'marking' instead of 'assessment', but have always found it far more helpful.
Whitelock, D. (2010) 'Activating Assessment for Learning: Are we on the way with WEB 2.0?', in Lee, M.J.W. and McLoughlin, C. (eds) Web 2.0-Based E-Learning: Applying Social Informatics forTertiary Teaching, IGI Global.
H817 wk 21 Act 1:Activating Assessment for Learning
I read the ARG pamphlet almost with disbelief, as it seemed so old and dated. The reason for that is that having recently completed a PGCE Secondary in MFL, I had to write, as part of that course, a summary of the differences between Assessment FOR learning and Assessment OF learning. All of the points raised by ARG (1999, 2002) are now 'built-in' to the training programme - not necessarily successfully, but the assumption is made that that is how assessment WILL be done.
However, having read Elliott (2008) and Whitelock (2010) I find that perhaps these principles are not applied quite as widely as I had been led to believe! After years of building 'learning dialogues' and giving 'positive feedback', and encouraging 'peer assessment', I find that, apparently, there are still people teaching who only use assessment to meet the requirements of the curriculum.
Elliot (2008) says assessment 2.0 should be;
And I fully agree with all of these points, and have always attempted to meet all (or at least most) of these criteria when carrying out assessment. I admit that this is not always easy, as there is often pressure to do 'marking' instead of 'assessment', but have always found it far more helpful.
References:
Assessment Reform Group (ARG) (1999) Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box [Online], ARG, Available at http://assessmentreformgroup.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/beyond_blackbox.pdf (Accessed 20 June 2014).
Assessment Reform Group (ARG) (2002) Assessment for Learning: 10 Principles [Online], London, ARG, Available at http://assessmentreformgroup.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/10principles_english.pdf (Accessed 20 June 2014).
Elliot, B. (2008) Assessment 2.0 [Online], SQA. Available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/461041/Assessment-2-0 (Accessed 20 June 2014).
Whitelock, D. (2010) 'Activating Assessment for Learning: Are we on the way with WEB 2.0?', in Lee, M.J.W. and McLoughlin, C. (eds) Web 2.0-Based E-Learning: Applying Social Informatics forTertiary Teaching, IGI Global.