- Internal Code :
- Subject Code : BED200
- University : Murdoch University
- Subject Name : Education
Assessment and Action Research
1. My interpretation of what a successful assessment entails is that, when evaluated correctly, it presents the teacher with in-depth knowledge of what the student is capable of, how their abilities represent their curriculum standards and provide the teacher with insightful knowledge of the student's strengths and, most importantly, limitations, such as areas that the student requires. Effective assessment becomes more challenging, and if the students are fully engaged in the evaluation mission, I feel more likely to achieve good evaluation outcomes. I think the review should be stimulating, it must also be fair and give all students an equal opportunity to demonstrate their experience and understanding of program concepts (Deeley, 2018). I think a successful evaluation represents how the student learns but also how and what teachers teach their students. Efficient assessment is important to improve the integrated facets of teaching and learning. In other words, what I teach and what the students are studying is clear to the students and effectively incorporated into their evaluation. The successful evaluation is objective, based on the success of the students (Murphy & Broadfoot, 2017). It shouldn't represent the instructor's personal views, likes, dislikes, or prejudices. I always strive not to allow judgment of student success to be affected, favorably, or unfavorably, by his personal views of the subject. To be fair an appraisal must be honest; it must be based on the outcome as it was, not as it should have been. The evaluation also has a part to perform in classroom learning, effective assessment not only should show what the student understands to the teacher but can also help the teacher promote learning in most instances (Dubiel, 2016).
There are usually three ways of student evaluation that are addressed the most often and I often use them in education and learning. One form of assessment offered at the start of the course or the beginning of the unit/topic is known as diagnostic assessment. This evaluation is used to gather data about what the students already know about the subject. Diagnostic tests are collections of written questions (multiple choice or short answer) evaluating the existing body of knowledge of a student or existing views on a subject/issue to be learned in the course. The intention would be to get a glimpse of where students are currently standing-mentally, psychologically, or socially allowing the teacher to make rational teaching plans on how to approach the new learning materials and how to use it (Csapó & Molnár, 2019).
The second method is a summative evaluation which I carry out at the end of the study course. Summative evaluation is systematic and is primarily about learning results. The summative evaluation is often useful especially on student achievement trends, it does so without allowing students the opportunity to focus on and illustrate progress in defined areas for change, and does not offer an avenue for the teacher to adjust lesson plan during the process of teaching and learning (Yüksel & Gündüz, 2017). Examples of summative evaluation include rigorous final evaluations or reports.
The third method, the formative assessment, includes assessing the learning of the students over time. The fundamental aim is to measure the level of achievement of the students to improve the learning process of the students. By evaluating the success of students through formative evaluation and discussing findings with them, teachers help students "understand their strengths and weaknesses and focus on how they need to develop in their remaining studies." Formative evaluation involves course work — where students receive feedback defining achievements, shortcomings (Dixson & Worrell, 2016).
3. Learning is the process of gaining new understanding, skills, habits, competencies, beliefs, attitudes, and interests. Some learning is instantaneous, triggered by a single event, but it accumulates a lot of ability and expertise from repeated interactions. The changes caused by learning often last a lifetime, and it is difficult to differentiate between learned information that appears to be "lost" and something that cannot be recovered. I usually make learning easier for the students by making the instructional process simpler (Nisbet & Shucksmith, 2017). Learning encourages students to reflect and to understand how the learning method operates. A variety of teaching approaches can help a teacher step away from the traditional delivery of lessons and towards promoting a truly educational experience. One day the lessons can be conceived around tactile learners and the next visual learners. I always allow students to work individually as well as in groups to address the children's several needs in their classroom. I know that students enjoy studying alone, whereas others excel in cooperative education, also described as peer-to-peer learning. I try to keep the lessons applicable to the real world which is a crucial part of education. I make the student connect with the outside world to get a connection with practical knowledge (McNett, 2016).
4. Whenever I work on evaluation as well as preparing the learning curriculum, I create evaluation activities that provide more accurate data to make decisions about whether a student is learning what the next steps will be in the learning program. Given that the approaches used to evaluate students are among the most important of all factors on their learning, it is well understood that evaluation has a profound impact on what and how students study, how well they study, and also how efficiently they study. Assessment is a critical part of learning since it helps learners learn (Bryan & Clegg, 2019). Also, evaluation can help encourage students. If students know they are doing poorly they will continue to work harder. The assessment helps teachers just as assessment helps the students. Regular evaluations help me see how effective their coaching has been. The assessment also helps teachers ensure students learn what they want and need to learn to meet the program's educational goals. There are two things to consider: the amount of work analyzed and the consistency of the types of evaluations (Rowe, 2017). The improper methods of evaluation exert immense pressure on a student to take the wrong approach to learn activities. So this approach is always avoided by me. It is often the evaluation which is the cause of the issue, not the student. Assessment is on multiple aspects at once. This is not about simplistic dualities like ranking vs. diagnosis. It is about reflecting on the successes of the students and educating them better by more explicitly explaining the aims of our curricula to them. It is about assessing learning among students and diagnosing particular misunderstandings to help students understand the concept. It's about the teaching quality as well as the learning standard (Palm et al., 2017).
5. The best evaluations in the classroom often act as useful learning sources for me, as it helps me recognize what students have learned well and what they need to improve on. I make a clear list of how many students skipped each performance item or have failed to meet certain criteria. I always first consider the consistency of the item or criteria when evaluating certain results. The query can be worded ambiguously, or the criteria are vague (Cheng & Fox, 2017). Whatever the case, I decide if the information, comprehension, or ability were meant to evaluate is adequately addressed by those things. I believe in creative effective feedback, which can offer corrective guidance and give second chances to students to show progress will enhance their performance and help students understand.
Large-scale evaluations are structured for a particular purpose as are all evaluations. Those that are used today in most states are intended to rate schools and students for performance purposes — and some do it reasonably well. But rating assessments are usually not good resources to help teachers develop their teaching or change their approach to individual students (O’Donovan, 2017). The evaluations better suited to direct progress in student learning are the quizzes, exams, writing assignments, and other assessments that teachers routinely conduct in their classrooms. Owing to their close relationship to classroom instructional objectives, teachers trust the outcomes from these tests. What's more, the findings are immediate and simple to interpret at the student level. However, teachers need to adjust both their understanding of evaluations and their perception of outcomes to use classroom assessments to make changes. Specifically, their tests need to be seen as an important part of the instructional process and as crucial to helping students understand (Watling & Ginsburg, 2019).
References for Connections Among Assessment, Learning and Teaching
Bryan, C., & Clegg, K. (Eds.). (2019). Innovative assessment in higher education: A handbook for academic practitioners. Routledge.
Cheng, L., & Fox, J. (2017). Assessment in the language classroom: Teachers supporting student learning. Palgrave.
Csapó, B., & Molnár, G. (2019). Online diagnostic assessment in support of personalized teaching and learning: The eDia system. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1522.
Deeley, S. J. (2018). Using technology to facilitate effective assessment for learning and feedback in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(3), 439-448.
Dixson, D. D., & Worrell, F. C. (2016). Formative and summative assessment in the classroom. Theory Into Practice, 55(2), 153-159.
Dubiel, J. (2016). Effective assessment in the early years foundation stage. Sage. Feelings about feedback: the role of emotions in assessment for learning. In Scaling up assessment for learning in higher education (pp. 159-172). Springer, Singapore.
McNett, G. (2016). Using stories to facilitate learning. College Teaching, 64(4), 184-193.
Murphy, R., & Broadfoot, P. (2017). Effective assessment and the improvement of education: A tribute to Desmond Nuttall. Routledge.
Nisbet, J., & Shucksmith, J. (2017). Learning strategies. Routledge.
O’Donovan, B. (2017). How student beliefs about knowledge and knowing influence their satisfaction with assessment and feedback. Higher Education, 74(4), 617-633.
Palm, T., Andersson, C., Boström, E., & Vingsle, C. (2017). A review of the impact of formative assessment on student achievement in mathematics. Nordisk matematikkdidaktikk, 22(3), 25-50.
Watling, C. J., & Ginsburg, S. (2019). Assessment, feedback and the alchemy of learning. Medical Education, 53(1), 76-85.
Yüksel, H. S., & Gündüz, N. (2017). Formative and summative assessment in higher education: opinions and practices of instructors. European Journal of Education Studies, 1-10.
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