ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING P T Kikani Mechanical Engineering Department AITS Rajkot

National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training and Research(NITTTR) , Bhopal

What is Assessment? Assessment is the systematic collection of information about students learning, using the time, knowledge, expertise, and resources available in order to inform decisions that affect student learning (Walvoord, 2010, p. 23).

What is Assessment? Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It’s more than just collecting data.

Importance of Assessment To find out what the students know (knowledge). To find out what the students can do, and how well they can do it (skill; performance). To find out how students go about the task of doing their work (process). To find out how students feel about their work (motivation, effort).

What is Student Assessment for? To help us design and modify programs to better promote learning and student success. To provide common definitions and benchmarks for student abilities that will enable us to act more coherently and effectively to promote student learning.

What is Student Assessment for? To provide feedback, guidance, and mentoring to students so as to help them better plan and execute their educational programs. To provide improved feedback about student learning to support faculty in their work.

Functions of Assessment Diagnostic: tell us what the student needs to learn. Formative: tell us how well the student is doing as work progresses. Summative: tell us how well the student did at the end of a unit/task.

What can be assessed? Students’ learning characteristics -Ability differences -Learning styles Students’ motivational characteristics -Interest -goal orientation

What can be assessed? Cont. Learning Content knowledge Ability to apply content knowledge Skills Dispositions and attitudes Performances

How should we assess? Multiple Choice Short Answer Essay Practical Exam Papers/Reports Projects Questionnaires Checklist Self Rating Journal Portfolio Observations Discussions Interviews

Criteria In Choosing an Assessment Method It should be reliable. It should be valid. It should be simple to operate, and should not be too costly. It should be seen by students and society in general. It should benefit all students.

Who should be involved in assessment? The teacher The student Administrator

What should we do with the information from our assessment? Use it to improve the focus of our teaching (diagnosis). Use it to focus student attention of strengths and weaknesses (motivation). Use it to improve program planning (program assessment). Use it for reporting to parents.

Classroom Assessment Paper and pencil assessments Performance Assessments Informal Assessments Formal assessments

Paper and pencil assessments: Ask students to respond in writing to questions or problem. e.g. multiple choice, matching (recognition), short answer, essay (recall).

Paper and Pencil Assessment Strengths Can cover a lot of material reasonably well. Effective in assessing declarative knowledge of content. Easier to construct and administer than performance assessments. Weaknesses Less effective in assessing procedural knowledge and creative thinking. Construction of good higher level recognition items is difficult. job of assessing higher level thinking (essay questions) are difficult to score.

2. Performance Assessments - Assessment that evaluates actual student performances. Types of Performances: Products: Drawings, science experiments, term papers, solution to authentic problems. Behavior: Time trial for running a mile, Acting tryouts etc.

Performance assessments Strengths Effective for assessing higher level thinking and authentic learning. Effective for assessing skill and procedural learning. Interesting and motivating for students. Weaknesses Difficult to construct. Time consuming to administer. Hard to score fairly.

Classroom Assessment Informal Assessment: teachers’ spontaneous, day to day observations of student performances. Examples Verbal -Asking questions -Listening to student discussions -Conducting student conferences.

3. Informal Assessment-cont. Nonverbal -Observing -Task performances -On-and off-task behavior -student choices -student body language

Informal Assessment Strengths -Facilitates responsive teaching -Can be done during teaching -Easy to individualize Weaknesses -Requires high level of teacher skill -Is vulnerable to -Bias -Inequities -Mistakes

4. Formal assessment: Assessment that is planned in advance and used to assess a predetermined content and/or skill domain. Strengths Allows the teacher to evaluate all students systematically on the important skills and concepts. helps teachers to determine how well students are progressing over the entire semester/year. provides useful information to parents and administrators.

Portfolios Portfolios are systematic, purposeful, and meaningful collections of students’ work in one or more subject areas that representing or demonstrating student academic growth. It can include formative and summative assessment. It may contain written work, journals, maps, charts, survey, group reports, peer reviews and other such items.

Importance of Portfolios For Students Shows growth over time Displays student’s accomplishment Encourages them to take responsibility for their work Demonstrates how students think.

Importance of Portfolios For Teachers Highlights performance-based activities over semester/year. Provides a framework for organizing student’s work. Facilitates student information for decision making.

Importance of Portfolios For Parents Offer insight into what their children do in college. Facilitates communication between home and college. Gives the parents an opportunity to react to what their child is doing in college and to their development.

Importance of Portfolios For Administrators Provides evidence that teacher/ college goals are being met. Shows growth of students and teachers.

What do portfolios contain? Three basic models: Showcase model, consisting of work samples chosen by the student. Descriptive model, consisting of representative work of the student. Evaluative model, consisting of representative products that have been evaluated by criteria.

Classroom Assessment Presentation: a presentation by one student or by a group of students to demonstrate the skills used in the completion of an activity. The presentation can take the form of a skit, lecture, lab presentation, debate etc. Computers can also be used for presentation when using such software as Hyperstudio, PowerPoint or Corel presentations.

Summary A fair assessment is one in which students are given opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do. Classroom assessment is not only for grading or ranking purposes. Its goal is to help them make good educational decisions. Assessment is integrated with student’s day-to-day learning experiences rather than a series of an end-of-course tests.

Better assessment means better teaching. Why link assessment with instruction? Better assessment means better teaching. Better teaching means better learning. Better learning better students. Better students mean better opportunities for a better life.

Points can also be include in assessment of students’ learning Different types of questions and their strengths and limitations. Concept of Question Banking.

THANK YOU !!!!