The Roles of Assessment, Evaluation and Feedback - Essay Example

Assessment, Evaluation and Feedback Introduction In the teaching profession, have to be assessed on various grounds and for different reasons. These reasons range from; acquiring feedback to the staff on how the students are fairing on as far as the course being taught is concerned, motivational purposes, grading, as a tool for quality assurance and creating learning opportunities. It is an essential practice for these functions to be assessed regularly not necessarily at the same time but varying degrees through the teaching process. Certain assessment techniques are usually applied to achieve this, either the through essay questions where the answers are given marks and used in grading the students, or simply through a peer-assessed seminar presentation. The essay process can be quiet expensive on time but fulfils all the functions of assessment, on the other hand, seminar presentation is time saving and can fulfill the key functions of assessment even though they do not determine the student’s final grades. There is always the possibility that the assessments do not achieve their purpose, or the suitable method for assessment is being disregarded. Exercise 1 Assessment vs. Evaluation Assessment and evaluation are two terms that in majority cases are used interchangeably to mean the same thing, but in reality both terms do not seriously mean the same thing. Assessment is a classroom inquiry procedure to supply useful feedback in development better teaching and learning. Evaluation on the other hand, is concerned with grading and evaluating students’ degree of understanding, by using various methods and measures. The main difference is the direction of feedback; for assessment feedback is from students to instructor while in evaluation, the feedback is from the instructor to students. Assessment has four basic principles; Reliability, Validity, Relevance & transferability, and Criterion vs. Norm referenced assessment. These principles are usually used in various practices/classes of assessment. Assessment is grouped into six classes namely: informal and formal, formal usually involves written documents while informal is more of casual and may include portfolio assessment, rubrics and observations. External and internal, internal usually set and marked by the teachers of the school while external is set by a governing body and marked by unbiased professionals, Traditional assessment, Authentic, Standardized and finally ongoing assessment. Evaluation mainly deals with combined results for the reason of grading appraising and judging. Donald Kirkpatrick is a writer that has with several books talking about training and evaluation. One of his books published in 1959 Evaluating training Programs is being used widely across the world. The book’s theory was later updated into the four levels of evaluation (1998). These four essential levels in an evaluation model measure; the students’ reaction towards the training, the learning in terms of capability and knowledge acquired improvement in behavior, and finally the impact of the trainee’s performance on the business. As much as these two techniques; evaluation and assessment, possess different characteristics in the normal setting it would be hard to differentiate them. Exercise 2 There are quite a number of evaluation approaches just to mention a few; public relations, experimental research, testing programs, client centered, content analysis, policy studies, connoisseur and many others. In Aesthetics, we deal with nature and appreciation of art, beauty and taste. The best approach to conduct evaluations in this field is through connoisseur as this approach is characterized by conducting vastly developed proficiency on the subject of interest. It also works towards appraising, decisively describe and illuminate an object. Another appropriate approach in this field is the client centered because in this approach, the students are encouraged to carry their own evaluations. Assessment techniques Classroom assessment; is a teaching approach that can be beneficial to the instructor as he/she can analyze how the students are learning and help the instructor to organize teaching. It is also a technique that is comprehensible, unspecified, non-graded in class activities that provide feedback to the instructor as well as the instructor. This approach differs with other tests as it focused on improvement as opposed to assigning grades. In this approach involve a few steps that start; with the instructor first deciding on what is to be assessed from the students, then choose a Class Assessment Technique (CAT), it should be easily implementable and reliable with the teaching method. Then the students have to be briefed on the purpose of the activity and finally conduct it. After assessing the results, explain to the students what was viewed from the results, and if any changes are to be made in the teaching setup conduct them. There are a number of techniques that can be used in classroom assessment, to mention a few; the instructor/lecturer can carry out a background knowledge probe the technique does not take much time as it is not too technical. The core idea is to initiate an effective and appropriate level to start a lesson. The procedure for carrying it out is straightforward, and students are encouraged on originality when they are notified that they will not be graded. At the end of the assessment, the instructor should share the results with the students telling them how he/she will conduct teaching based on the results. Another example is a minute paper which is a remarkably common technique in classroom assessment. It is best used at the end of a class or end of a discussion, its aim is for the professor/instructor assesses whether the students were able to grasp the main idea of the discussion or topic. Muddiest point is another simplest technique an instructor can use to assess students. It is also highly effective in giving feedback with low investment of time. This technique can be used in situations of a lecture, discussion or a play where the instructor inquires the students to jot down a quick feedback to a simple question. The instructor then collects the responses and comments on them in the following session. One-sentence summary is another technique that involve the students responding to the question “who, does what to whom, when, how, and why?” on a given topic. Deciding on what the principle is, a technique also used in classroom assessment involves the students’ dealings to be figured out on level of difficulty, to solve the problem they then have to decide on the principle or principles to use in tackling the problem. Exercise 3 Aesthetic course is exceptionally detailed and diverse, therefore, when it comes to choosing an assessment technique one needs to be extraordinarily precise. From the provided examples, the minute paper is the best technique to apply to this course. The instructor can note whether the students are acquiring the concept being taught. This enables the instructor to carryout quick measures where he/she notices that the concept is not being understood. A technique like one sentence summary is not particularly appropriate in this situation as it does not blend well with the nature of aesthetics. Aesthetics deals with appreciation of beauty and questions like when? Whom? Where? Why cannot be used together in this field except for very few cases? Feedback Feedback is the main purpose for carrying out assessment and evaluations. The feedback received should be used by an instructor to identify what is beneficial for the subject or topic being taught. A positive feedback should be able to; guide teacher and student, be a core part of learning, centre of topic learning outcomes, guide students to be self-regulating, account for developmental advancement in achieving discipline. As much as the aim of feedback is improving students’ expectations, there is always the possibility of the students’ leaving university and end up making the same mistakes. This can be explained by the fact that they do not get a comprehensive feedback from the assessors, and in most students do not adhere to advice given to them. Feedback ought to serve a few core purposes in the learning environment. These purposes include the need for instructors to tailor make their teaching accommodate students education needs. Second feedback should support students to implement and modify their learning strategies. It is also key that the principles feedback to be known well so that they can guide one on precision. The principle state that feedback should be: constructive, so that the students feel motivated; timely, to encourage frequent submission of work; prompt, ids in students revisiting approaches they used earlier; supportive of learning, this will encourage students in improving their performance; focused, students work to be gauged rather than the student; specific on the learning outcomes; substantial, removes the redundancy of a student being given the same advice all the time; fostering of self-determination; and finally the feedback should be efficient. There is a range of forms of feedback these include informal, formal, direct, indirect, formative, and summative. Feedback as much as it is an effective tool in evaluation and assessment it has some of its difficulties in achieving it. These difficulties can be grouped into: those of academic concerns; for example time consuming, repetitive, and lateness leading to unusually few feedbacks to enable adjustments. Then there are those of student concern; characterized by lateness, lack of explanations, students not being able to adopt the advice, non progressive, and finally feedback that has little value due to the statements given leading to a cliche. There are various strategies one can use to provide feedback. When it is a large group the best strategy to apply is lecturing assessment. With this a lecturer can quickly assess the progress of the students. Feedback from this can be a guide for future teaching. The feedback from the lecture should form the basis of the next lecture. A follow up on the lecture should be carried out through the creation of assessment profiles and generic feedback technique. This strategy has its advantages such as low on cost, learning focused and there is quick feedback to students. When it comes to offering feedback to individuals there are a number of strategies that can be used. These strategies comprise of check-lists used by students; to evaluate whether areas of importance have been covered. Another strategy is selecting which allows students to request the nature of feedback they should acquire from the teacher. Giving feedback to adult learners is another area of concern as feedback is an integral part of the day today interaction between adults. Feedback In this context is referred to as the non-judgmental interaction to other individuals for the purpose of self-awareness. Developing self-awareness is seen as an essential virtue in adults. It is assumed that a self-aware adult can solemnly change, adopt learn and grow to live a more rewarding life. Evaluation in the same context is also seen as the determination of a person’s knowledge or behavior based on a certain criteria indicated. Evaluation, formal and informal feedbacks are forms of interaction via tone of voice, body language and words used. Formal feedback means that the communication is in writing. A balanced mix of these techniques when applied well and used in the stated format of informal feedback followed by informal evaluation, then formal feedback followed by formal evaluation. These will help adult learners to be able to take action from what they learn towards resolving their life problems. Exercise 4 Positive feedback is the main bit that everyone works towards receiving. But as much that is the case people are not perfect and therefore always facing the risk of getting negative feedback. In this life people do not focus on the positive but will always look for the negative issue to comment. In such scenarios that led to the conclusion of the well known fact; it is in human nature for people always judge you according to the one negative feedback as compared to ten positive ones. A case scenario is one where a parent always provides money to his child for daily use. If one day the parent encounters financial problems and he goes a week without providing the money. It is more likely that in a conversation of the child with his mother or close friend he would say that, “father never gives me money.” Learner assessment technique There are two techniques to assess a learner either through a conventional approach or dynamic. Conventional methods are not highly effective as they are seen as inconsistent and passive. The process is usually treated as neutral and judgmental; often the students are not actively drawn in their assessment. As much as this technique is seen as inaccurate and incoherent, it is still used in forecast, decision-making and inferences about everything from leadership potential of employees to student forecast for lifelong achievements. Exercise 5 In the field of aesthetics a dynamic approach towards assessing the students is the best option to receive the desired feedback. A dynamic approach is adopted over the conventional system; as the conventional system’s way of assessing feedback would not achieve the desires of what the instructor is interested in. It is more focused on the product other than the process and more judgmental rather than interpreting meaning. Dynamic assessment is based on three ideas that when it comes to aesthetics course they help bring out the idea for need of feedback. The first ground shows how learning continues to unfold and not just a momentous thing grasped at once. Secondly learning individuals have to understand that the unfolding process happens in complex systems, and not dependent on the learner alone who can easily be judged in individually. The third pillar is that dynamic evaluation does not simply lean on what the learner knows or can do, but how the student acquires and develops skill and knowledge. The other reason why dynamic assessment is best being is because of the nature of its characteristics on different disciplines of learning. It has three characteristics aesthetics holistic and authentic, process oriented, and finally as an integral and developmental; this lead to several evaluation methods that can be applied in different courses. For example in aesthetics we can use methods like peer evaluation, small periods of field experience, learners self reports, Learning how to observe, interpret and assess what one sees, using criteria. These methods work remarkably well in the field of aesthetics, other activities that can also work exceptionally well in this field are; videotaping, group self assessment and rating scale check-lists. Exercise 6 Rubric Rubric is a tool used in subjective assessment that implies a rule measuring the situation of an assessment to be followed. Rubrics provide platforms for categorizing products or behaviors that vary along a scale. Here is an example of a rubric designed from the Samsung fridge commercial featuring Drogba. Student Date Level Dimension Awesome 4 Good 3 Okay 2 Not quite there yet 1 score Creativity Very thoughtful, great idea, message well displayed, not complicated, positive response and well presented. Good idea, message well displayed, well presented Good, not very well presented, a bit complicated Bad Idea, cannot be understood Message Simple, direct, unbiased, understandable, comprehensive and precise. Good but a bit complicated, understandable Average, not very convincing but worth watching Not clear, does not portray the product positively Actor Suitable, shows positive image of product, fits the character, realistic, audible, Positive image, audible Portrays message well but looks unrealistic Gives negative image, not persuasive. Communication The message passed comprehensively, organized, audible, and precise. Audible, message passed but not convincing Not audible enough, biased, not very organized Not audible, message not related to product Testing Carrying out tests is a core part of evaluation and assessment as this aid to determine four fundamental requirements of learning. These are outlined as evaluating and assessing students whether they understand what is being taught. Second tests motivate students. Third tests help the instructor to know how well he/she is presenting information. Lastly tests update students on the topics they have not understood well and need to revisit. It is necessary for, tests offered to assess and evaluate students’ skills other than recall. In a book, by Fuhrmann and Grasha (1983, p. 170), they state conclude that tests should measure students; knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. There are various methods of carrying out tests, these include, multiple-choice tests, targeted to measure learner’s basic knowledge and complex concepts. True-false tests, suitable for occasional assessment although not particularly reliable. Matching tests are essential in testing students' recognition of the associations connecting words and definitions, events and dates, categories and examples. Essay test, from this instructor can judge students’ ability to put together, interpret material, systematize and express themselves in their own words. We also have a short answer tests involving a positive or negative response. Problem set test, these are common in sciences and arithmetic related, courses. Oral tests are not particularly appropriate in undergraduate classes, but best when instructor needs a fast feedback. Other tests include performance and ‘create-a-game’ test. In combination with above tests, it is always advisable for the instructor to use an alternative test when the first one fails to give the desired results. The tests include take-home, open book, group exams, paired testing and portfolios. Exercise 7 In aesthetics it best to offer oral exams as, this is a course that works with different peoples’ opinions which cannot minimized into just straightforward answers or essays. This best assess the understanding of students and immediate feedback is required as far as this course is concerned. With arguable results that have to be touched on in an informal manner. This should be carried out at the end of every discussion topic to evaluate the students’ progress. When it comes to the professor or instructor choosing an alternative test then the best alternative would be, a group exam this will allow students to interact and acquire new perceptions of their ideas. This also helps in saving time and understanding as with group exams collective ideas are put together and assessed. The students then are able to grasp the relevant information easily. Instructor evaluation It is a fact that no one is perfect, and therefore, everyone has room for development, through evaluation we can identify which aspects of our training are courteous and which need to be altered. In the course of aesthetics, it is best to evaluate the students on their progress, understanding and perception. An example of an evaluation form to aesthetic students would be similar to: Exercise 8 1. To what extent have the intended outcomes of the course been met? Totally Mostly Partly Not To help you understand the objectives of the course To help you be more competent in this field To discover ways of improving your skills and outlook To progress your discovery and perception of nature 2. How practical were these three sessions, for you individually? Very Mostly A bit Not Session 1: introduction to aesthetics Session 2: nature Session 3: beauty and art 3. What do you think of today’s session from your point of view? 4. How could the session be improved to help you better the four objectives listed at question 1? 5. Is there any topic, if any in the previous lessons you think should be revisited? 6. How do you intend to information and ideas gained from today’s session? 7. Any suggestions for improving future sessions? Exercise 9 It is always the phenomenon for instructors to not consider the learners opinion. This is a common occurrence in many learning institutions, what the instructors don’t understand is that these opinions should be taken in as feedbacks from the students. The students are in a better position to judge and evaluate how the instructor is fairing on in terms of providing the necessary skill to the students. This criticism should be taken positively towards the instructor improving or changing the techniques they are using to teach. It should not be simply taken that students lack the wisdom to differentiate good from bad. Learners with special needs Learning Disabilities affect people adversely across their life span. An adult with learning disability comes across a lot of difficulties when it comes to getting the right path education wise. These individuals also face challenges at their work place because of not being comfortable in adjusting to the social situation and the environment. Exercise 10 There are various types of learning disabilities such as, visual, auditory, general attention issues, memory issues and output issues. An example of student encountered had memory issues; this type of student the best way to approach him was to give him additional attention. Also providing him with same information using different techniques to evaluate the way in which they understand best. Finally make him feel comfortable and adopt into the surrounding other than being isolated as this might affect his morale. Literacy is the ability one has to be able to write, read or the ability of understanding a language in speech and writing context. The can also be defined as ability to communicate by the three concepts which are reading, writing and speaking The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has drafted the following definition: "Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Exercise 11 In a class environment identifying someone with a learning disability is quiet easy. First engage the students in discussions and explore what is unique about each student and to what level do they understand class activities. Another approach is to gauge each student’s response to evaluation and assessment tests; this would portray the learners’ learning ability. It would be unethical to reject a student due to their learning disability instead it would be a wise thing to give these students more attention and encouragement. Administering and designing assessment For an effective course design, it should comprise of a variety of assessments together with a range of evaluation tools and techniques. The outcome from these should help the instructor to reflect on their teaching methods towards the students. Exercise 12 Aims Conclusion Learners’ Needs Assessment Why are learners taking this course? What topics would the learners like/need to cover? What does the family/friend support entail? How do you prefer to learn? How well practically can you apply this course to real life situation Results may reveal if there are any students with special needs? Instructor’s Objectives How often do the students ask questions? What are the student’s reactions towards the sessions? Is there a major case in absenteeism? How do the students perform in assessment tests? Results to show instructor’s effectiveness in teaching technique. Institutional Objectives How are the students Performing in evaluation Tests? How is the intake of students? How do students fair on in the Job market after graduating? Results to show the competence of the school and effectiveness of its programs. Physical evaluation of the class Exercise 13 Modes of evaluation Conclusion Physical Setting of the Class Learner Questionnaire designed to evaluate the physical setting of the learning environment enough light desk arrangement should be changed to accommodate group discussions air quality acceptable Learner Self-Assessment cooperative and quiet keen on the lesson interactive Learner Peer Assessment supportive work together in discussions not destructive focused Teacher Assessment by Learners audible enough visible active interactive by go round the class Teacher Assessment by Peers rate reporting to class whether energetic and enthusiast towards lessons lateness in attending to students Teacher Self-Assessment if well equipped with material reaction from students Course Evaluation Students grades Students ability to apply what is learnt Importance of the course in job market Exercise 14 When teaching about nature, beauty and art; the best approach to take in evaluating the student’s level of understanding would be to, carryout oral tests during end of each topic. Through this I can be able to know every students views and understanding. For alternative tests the students would be best given a research activity, this would expound on their knowledge and help them understand objectives of the course through different settings and environment as with this course they have to be as diverse as possible. For the oral tests, a marking scheme would be just a note book where I can note how the students are responding to the questions being asked and which areas are they experiencing difficulties. I would also note the whole class participation rate and finally for individual rating it would be based on the research reports which will have a standard marking scheme. The marking scheme would rate students as those having attained a mark higher than 70% to have passed and those below 39% to have done poorly. The marking scheme would look like this: 70% and above. Extensive, coherent, & concrete development of thoughts. Assumptions are made unambiguous. Details are connected, original, and realistically interpreted correct use of educational referencing proof of independent thought and opinion in answering the query 60-69% Offers concrete but less original analysis. Assumptions are not constantly recognized or made clear. Contains some proper details or examples 50-59% Offers somewhat apparent support that may be too extensive. Details are too general, not well explained, inappropriate to thesis, or inappropriately repetitive 40-49% Offers naive, undeveloped, or puzzling support for the ideas. improper or off-topic generalizations, flawed assumptions, errors of fact 39% and below Display of not having understood the purpose of the research No ideas Based directly on other peoples work limited understanding of the question significant factual errors slight understanding or actual misinterpretation of the issues and debates Learning outcomes Exercise 15 From the book Exceptional teaching (pp. 7, 37 & 117) and the article writing learning outcome, there are various similarities in their definition as they both agree that; learning outcomes are the indications that show what the students will know or be capable to do as a product of a learning activity. Learning outcomes are usually articulated as understanding, skills or attitudes. These out should be achieved through a needs assessment. Learning outcome provides path in the setting up of a learning action. Learning outcomes are said to begin with an action verb and illustrate something visible and assessable. The basic idea in both the book and article is that learning outcomes should end up to knowledge, skill and attitude. Learning outcomes for the course of aesthetics Exercise 16 1. Knowledge Explain the course objectives in a manner that is comprehensive and meaningful of aesthetics. Apply of knowledge received from the class to be used widely in the students work or social life. Analysis of a situation at hand, to give tangible and comprehensive solution to the problem related to beauty nature and art . 2. Skill Select the right method and criteria to solve issues with ease concerning nature. Plan an easy and commendable execution of tasks that give successful results. Create smart and accurate ways solving problems at hand. 3. Attitudes Use attitudes attained in a class environment to reflect in a working environment Critique a person or something in a professional manner even when it is negative Assess new environment behaviors and characteristics to enable adaptation. Work Cited: Kirkpatrick, L. D. Evaluating training programs: The four levels, by Donald L. Kirkpatrick. (1994). San Francisco: Berrett?Koehler. Pp. 229 Read More