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ICT supported Assessment for Learning Mary-Anne Murphy ROTORUA 2011

Intentions of this session... To explore the following questions... What are our understandings of "Assessment for Learning"? What ICT's/Technologies are available to support Assessment for Learning practices? How can these ICTs be utilised in a pedagogically sound manner?

EXPLORING OUR MENTAL MODELS AROUND ASSESSMENT... "Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action" “The Fifth Discipline” Peter Senge. (p. 8). A chosen set of beliefs and method to interpret a given context; usually underpinned by a less- conscious paradigm or worldview

If we are to explore the images we have in our minds around assessment, what might they look like and how might they be placed in relation to each other?

Draw “assessment” What does assessment look like to you?

Dialogue around our Mental Models of Assessment Speaker Questioner & Notetaker The speaker will speak uninterrupted around their “drawing” whilst the other listens and takes notes of key words. The questioner will then ask questions regarding what the person spoke about, in an effort to clarify or deepen their thinking. The questioner will also add anything else to their notes as this is happening.

Let’s explore our words. What are you noticing? What categories are starting to emerge?

Assessment From Latin: to sit beside How does this definition link with your ideas?

Involves students Benefits students Supports teaching and learning goals Is valid and fair Is planned and communicated Is suited to the purpose Characteristics of Effective Assessment

What assessment information is gathered... and how it is subsequently used profoundly affect studentmotivation and capacity to learn. If we get theconditions wrong – if we collect the wrong informationin the wrong way for the wrong purposes – we will addto the number of students who disengage fromlearning and leave school with little to show for it. If weget the conditions right the reverse will be true:achievement will increase and disparities decrease. Directions for Assessment in NZ, 2009, p5.

What do you understand by these terms? Assessment FOR Learning and Assessment OF Learning. How do your words/categories relate to these concepts? Share your thinking with a different person next to you.

So what is “Assessment for Learning?” Let’s hear from Dylan Wiliam who was one of the co-authors of “Inside the Black Box”.

The characteristics of assessment that promote learning are that it: Is embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which it is an essential part; Involves sharing learning goals with pupils; Aims to help pupils to know and to recognise the standards they are aiming at; Involves pupils in self-assessment; Provides feedback which leads to pupils recognising their next steps and how to take them; Is underpinned by confidence that every pupil can improve; Involves both teacher and pupils reviewing and reflecting on assessment data. Assessment for learning – Beyond the black Box, ARG, 1999

Key indicators from AToL project... OUTCOME ONE B: Improve student learning and achievement Students will be clear about what they are learning and why, Students will be clear about how they will achieve this, Students will be clear about what the learning might look like Students will be clear about how well the learning has been achieved; (self assessment) Students will be clear about how well the learning has been achieved; (self assessment)

Outcome 2: Shift teacher’s assessment knowledge and practice; (improve teaching) Teachers construct with students what they are learning and why, (learning intentions) Teachers construct with students how they will achieve this, (criteria for achieving and task/activity match to learning, help seeking strategies) Teachers construct with students what the learning might look like and (exemplars and models) Teachers construct with students how well the learning has been achieved; (self assessment/ improvement/ next steps achieved) Teachers will initiate classroom/student discussions about learning, assessment and progress; Teachers will use feedback, prompts and questioning to support student learning.

How might I create opportunities that will enable students to be actively involved in their own learning? Knowing progressions of learning of subject matter and skills Provision of feedback that identifies achievement and determines next steps in learning. Dialogue and questioning in order to develop metacognitive skills. Learning and thinking talk in the classroom. The use of student self and peer assessment practices Planning for Learning. Making decisions about relevant and motivating learning tasks that engage the learner. Co-construction of criteria that describe the successful achievement of learning. Teachers and students clearly identify the intended learning outcomes for achievement. Selecting examples of quality work to exemplify expectations and co- constructing progress with students. Identify student’s current achievement through observation, questioning, formal and informal testing. Having high expectations for learners Adapted from Harlen: Principals of Assessment for Learning Some of the ways the characteristics can be achieved...

Key questions to ask your students What do you think you are learning? 2. Why do you think you are learning this? 3. How will you know you have learnt it? 4. What do you think you need to do now to get better at …/ improve your learning in…? 5. How do you think you learn? 6. So what happens at school that helps you to learn? (I noticed your teacher x, why do you think they did this?) 7. How do the comments your teacher makes about your learning help you? 8. When you are learning, how do you think talking about your learning helps you to think? What aspects of Formative Assessment do you consider each question addresses? Discuss.

The Black Box: findings Black and Wiliam’s research (1998): “ Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment” indicates that improving learning through assessment depends on five deceptively simple factors: 1. Providing effective feedback to students. 2. Students’ active involvement in their own learning. 3. Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment. 4. Recognising the profound influence of assessment on students’ motivation and self-esteem - both crucial influences on learning. 5. Ensuring pupils assess themselves and understand how to improve. Handout and video clip

To what extent do you address these aspects within your current classroom practice? Discuss.

So how might ICT support Formative Assessment practices. Lets explore some options... Scenario 1. You are wanting to capture collective and individual student thinking around their interpretation of an assigned reading. (scribblar) Scenario 2. You have junior students who are at a pre- reading level and you wish to co-construct success criteria with them. (photovisi) Scenario 3. You are wanting students to offer feedback to each other in relation to co-constructed success criteria. (wallwisher)

Wallwisher:

Now it’s your turn... Look through the ICT tools on the wiki. Consider one tool, or a combination of tools and share with the person next to you how you could see yourself or your students using it to support assessment for learning practices within your current class context.

But wait... there’s more to consider... Dialogue for Learning What is Dialogue for Learning? How can ICT support a dialogic approach to Assessment for Learning?

What is dialogue? "A process of communication in which two or more participants engage in an open exploration of issues and relationships on an equitable basis. "Dialogue is the exchange of ideas, opinions, beliefs, and feelings between participants - both speakers and audience. It is listening with respect to others and being able to express one's own views with confidence. "Dialogue is not silence, chaos or one person or faction monopolising the session.“

“Where the end point of conversation may not be clear at the outset, in classroom dialogue, for the teacher at least, it usually is. Where conversation often consists of a sequence of unchained two-part exchanges as participants talk at or past each other (though it can be very different), classroom dialogue explicitly seeks to makes attention and engagement mandatory and to chain exchanges into a meaningful sequence.” Robin Alexander

Dialogue for learning… “The dialogue between pupils and a teacher should be thoughtful, reflective, focused to evoke and explore understanding, and conducted so that all pupils have an opportunity to think and to express their ideas”. Black & Wiliams, 2001 Inside the Black Box

How else might we create learning atmospheres that enable dialogue? How can we create opportunities for students to be “actively involved” in this process?

Lets consider how we might use another ICT tool to support a dialogic Assessment for Learning approach. Scenario: You are wanting to capture dialogue you are having with a student about how they worked out a maths problem, so you can upload it to their learning profile/portfolio. (jing)

So what do we need to consider when seeking ICTs that will support Assessment for Learning practices? Students actively involved and their learning at the heart of the process Dialogue evident Formative practices... Not ongoing summative practices. Addresses characteristics of effective assessment. ICT supports not leads the process.

Thanks for coming to this breakout. Mary-Anne Murphy