Assessment Lecture 3

Chain of control Assessment which results in monitoring a learner’s achievements during his/her programme of study forms an essential link in a chain of control, enabling the modification of teaching programmes to achieve objectives and improve curriculum design and presentation

Examinations An accurate examination of a learner’s rate of progress serves several useful purposes: – Provides incentive – Knowledge of achievement – Enables remedial action – Provides the tutor with a measurement of the appropriateness and effectiveness of his/her teaching strategy

Formal examinations Assess attainment Diagnosis of a learner’s difficulties Evaluate and internally validate courses and curricula Provide motivation Predict a learner’s future behaviour

Case against They tend to dominate the curricula Designed for learners with higher levels of ability An end in themselves rather than a means to an end True levels of attainment are distorted Poor self-esteem as a result of poor performance Repressive and restrictive influences on tutors and students – Learning by rote – Coaching in producing the type of work that examiners favour – Question spotting

Case against Repressive and restrictive influences on tutors and students Learning by rote Uncritical regurgitated facts or second-hand interpretation of the facts Coaching in producing the type of work that examiners favour (subjective standards) Question spotting Feedback has restrictive value and is rarely motivating Unmerited emphasis on speed

The case for Analysis of progress Identification of weaknesses and deficiencies in teaching and learning Motivation and encouragement of students Development of communication skills to reproduce knowledge in an acceptable form Introduce a standard of discipline

Problems with essay questions No real uniformity or reliability in marking standards Highly subjective element Research experiments show different marks awarded at different times to the same essay by the same examiner Examiners can be swayed by presentation of answers

Problems with essay questions They do not provide measures of complex mental processes such as critical thinking, originality, the ability to organise and integrate (Ebel, 1979)

Reliability? Different examiners tend to vary the emphasis placed on features of the essay – Skills (spelling, punctuation) – Ideas (originality, coherence) – Vocabulary (precision) – Personal style (individual expression) – Organisation (structure, general presentation)

How can this be improved Blind marking Blind moderation Internal verification

Further problems Questions may not be of an equal standard E.g in the ABC 3 from 5 format: – Candidate A answers 1,2,3 – Candidate B answers 2,4,5 – Candidate C answers 1,4,5 They all answer different papers

Development of essay questions What am I examining? How can I best test what has been learned? Length of time available Clear instructions given Draft questions should go through moderation process

Planning the examination Pass/fail mark? Norm-referenced tests or criterion referenced tests? Publish the grades?

Normal Distribution curve Mean Frequency (number of students) Examination Marks A normal distribution curve showing examination results.

Record Keeping Education Act 2002 (s.202) the government may make regulations ‘about the compilation, retention and disclosure of educational records of further education institutions’

Record Keeping All records should contain enough information to extrapolate a pattern of development: – Grades before entry – Formative grades – Summative grades – Continuous assessment (criterion referenced based)

Open book examinations Basic reference material allowed (non- annotated) – Reduce stress – Reduces the burden on memory and recall – Concentrates on retrieval and selection

Data response questions Short essay questions – produced from financial press or government reports Stimulus material – statistical table or paragraph of prose together with a group of questions which test ability in comprehension and analysis Can test application of theory and has the advantage of presenting ‘real world’ problems

Continuous assessment May provide a fairer picture of the learner’s level of achievement Prompt continuous feedback Can plan for remedial action Immediate educational future is not determined by performance in one examination only

Disadvantages Anxiety can be spread over an entire term/year Heavy demands on teaching staff to produce assessments Depends heavily on the subjective judgements of tutors Lack of external moderation

The use of projects in assessment Motivates students Allows for the development of creativity, problem solving, decision making and independent work May lead to personal development in the acceptance of responsibility

The use of oral examinations Tends to be neglected in some areas of FE provision Assesses verbal fluency and confidence in a stressful situation Strengths and weaknesses can be identified quickly through probing

Oral examinations Examiners need training Open questioning The ability to explore avenues opened up by learner responses Testing environment should be stage- managed Examiners need to be reassuring Practice sessions are useful

Feedback Activity 1 What picture does ‘giving and receiving feedback’ create in your mind Close your eyes for a few seconds and look at your mental picture Now describe the details of your mental picture to the rest of the group

Feedback Activity 2 Hold both hands out above the desk and try to recall the number of times you have received valuable feedback over the last 7 days For each occasion you have received valuable feedback, place one finger of your left hand on the desk For each occasion you have given valuable feedback, place one finger on your right hand on the desk Now look at your fingers