Reading Notes. Bloxham&Boyd. Diversifying assessment methods. Cpt 13

Reading Notes – Week 9

Bloxham, S. & Boyd, P. (2007). Developing Effective Assessment in Higher EducationLinks to an external site.. Maidenhead: Open University Press/McGraw Hill.

Chapter 13: Diversifying assessment methods , pages 189-206

Why diversify?

Although teachers are open to use a wide range of teaching methods, teachers are less inclined and less confident to use a range of assessment methods (Rust 2002).

Students need contribution to different assessment methods to leave them with different skills so diversification is necessary “certification, student learning, quality assurance, and lifelong learning.” Page 189

Alignment

‘A greater variety of methods may be administratively inconvenient, but it offers more latitude for students to display their knowledge, and it has the potential to provide a more accurate – though more complex – depiction of each student’s achievement’ (Ramsden 2003: 185).

Conventional methods tend to limit the amount of information that can be assessed. (Brown et al. 1994). Page 190

Learning outcome verbs reflecting and encouraging a surface outcome or deeper learning can be aligned into assessment. For instance to reflect or describe how to make a plaster mould, as apposed to demonstrate your ability to make a plaster mould would have different assessment outcomes.

Inclusivity

Different formats and styles of assessment benefit certain types of learners, so by supplying a range of assessment methods or a choice it can be seen as more inclusive. For example a practical demonstration of knowledge rather than a written or oral test for a student in which English is not their first language.

Student perceptions and motivation

There is limited research on student perceptions but Struyven et al. (2002: 4– 5) has found that alternative assessments (assessment is embedded within the teaching) “where tasks were authentic and meaningful, and where students were ‘involved as active and informed participants’.” Page 191

They saw them as being more valid and purposeful and beyond passing the assessment they saw how it fitted within the wider context beyond education.

This supports the idea that tasks which require real world situations that are worthwhile and ‘authentic’ will encourage intrinsic motivation.

For example it is unlikely that anyone outside an institution will need to write an essay, but will be much more likely to create a clay object, make a plaster mould, write a business plan, organise an exhibition, write a press release or cv.

Practicability

Growing student numbers create more demand on staff. Essays are resource heavy. There are other methods which can save time.

Student Involvement in Assessment

Involving students in their own learning through assessment not only prepares them further for lifelong learning but also supports their current teaching.

“Tasks which involve students in collaborating and putting their work ‘on display’ via group projects, presentations, posters and peer assessment help to ‘develop a common understanding of what has – and can be – achieved’ (Hounsell 2003: 3). They provide opportunities to learn through the process of peer interaction which are not easily afforded by conventional assessment.” Page 191.

Caution

Diversification of assessment is generally a positive decision, although there can be reasos not to diversify.

-          Lack of resources, encouraging a surface approach.

-          Plagiarism and collusion (Gibbs 2006b).

-          Students perceive alternative methods of assessment to be more worth while as it requires them to understand the subject rather than just learn facts. (Sambell et al. 1997) also found evidence though that many students do not find the time to dedicate to this detailed learning.

Diversification in Action

“One aim in diversification of assessment is to increase its authenticity. This describes assessment that ‘reflect[s] the ways in which knowledge and skills are used in real world contexts’ (Maclellan 2001: 308)” page 192

“Multiple assessors, including invited guests and local entrepreneurs, were involved to provide greater validity in the marking. Students were able to see their feedback sheets to gauge the range of opinions on their work.” Page 193

Writing webpages:

“The creation of web pages for a specific purpose may also form a suitable assessment task, and Knight and Yorke (2003) recommend that this is used as a group task as it involves considerable work, although authoring software is now relatively simple to use and readily available. Web pages allow students to demonstrate the ability to write for different audiences as well as engagement with subject knowledge (see Box 13.1). There is also evidence that students find the task more enjoyable than traditional coursework (Reber 2005).” Page 194

Practical examples of authentic assessment

Knight and Yorke (2003) discuss the assessment method of getting students to curate an exhibition, simulating a retail environment. Students work competitively intergrating teaching, assessment of knowledge, skills and personal qualities needed by retail buyers. Working with case studies and ‘real problems’ ‘mirroring genuine contexts’ (Knight and Yorke 2003). 195

“Dunn et al. (2004) stress the importance of ensuring that assessment takes into account students’ mastery of the underpinning knowledge and understanding of a technique or skill as well as its’ execution.” Page 195

“Box 13.2 Integrating skills assessment ‘An art history module requires students to develop an art exhibition on the Web for summative assessment. It requires them to link ‘‘practice’’ and ‘‘theory’’ by presenting an interpretation through the medium of an exhibition. Students develop their exhibitions with enthusiasm and value the opportunity to choose an artist, period or style that interests them and present their exhibition in their own way. It is the process of learning and communicating understanding rather than the final submission of the Gallery for summative assessment that drives student learning’ (Christopher Bailey, reported in McDowell et al. 2005: 12).” Page 195

A variety of methods can be used for feedback at draft stages in the form of 1:1 tutorials of seminars to get feedback from peers. Providing formative feedback opportunities. “Combines assessment for learning with assessment of learning.” Page 196

Journals – foster students learning. Can be seen as a log of diary (Gibbs 1995) They encourage students to pace their work with complex and long tasks and give space for student reflection. (Knight and Yorke 2003). They are helpful on courses in which students can start to add in their own interpretations to a subject and explain aspects of a process. Within their journals :

“They should be expected to draw on and critique appropriate literature and contemporary perspectives as they pertain to their experiences in order to inform their professional development (Dunn et al. 2004).” Page 199

It is the latter (critique and drawing on their own research finding) which should be assessed.

They can be used to draft creative ideas and can be used alongside formative conversations (tutorials/ seminars)

“In general, journals have great value as learning and assessment tools but tutors need to be very clear about purpose, form and assessment criteria, and it is useful to offer a structure for journal entries (Moon 1999)” page 199

Journals can help them to focus their formative assessments, particularly in peer marking.

Moon, (1999) speaks about the potential reliability issues with journals and just recommends students using extracts. It can be used to mask weaknesses.

“Gibbs (1995) argues that summative assessment should be reserved for reflective writing that refers to the journal or uses extracts rather than marking the journal itself.” Page 199

Instructions to students: “Once a week, you should select an ‘event’ from your teaching experience and write a short journal” page 200

Reaction/ reflection/ further enquiry/ development targets (add questions as examples)

Word count? 200/ 300words per entry?

Linking Formative and Summative Assessment

“The ‘patchwork text’ is an innovation in assessment developed to encourage critical understanding and is particularly suitable for the arts, humanities, social sciences and human service professions (Scoggins and Winter 1999)” page 202

In relation to formative development, students share their writing with their peers in order to receive others’ responses to it. Students also keep a private reflective diary.

“Patchwork texts are designed to tackle the gap between assessment as a fragmentary, formative process (for example, a learning journal or portfolio) and assessment as synthesis, where the learning is brought together in a summative assignment (for example, an end-of-module essay).” Page 202

The term patchwork comes from the idea of bringing pieces of disparate information together to form a cohesive bit of writing (Scoggins and Winter 1999)”

Assessing large cohorts

Finding a balance is key between designing deeper learning strategies to assessments and not creating huge amounts of work in terms of marking.

Group assignments can offer this – particularly in year 1 it allows for deep learning through social engagement and less time is spent giving feedback. “where formative assessment for learning may be as important as reliable indicators of performance” page 203

Shorter assignments with fewer words.

“Furthermore, Gibbs (1992) stresses the importance of preparing students well for assessment and carefully scheduling tasks so that there are fewer problems for you and your students to deal with.” Page 203

Group Work

-          Benefits of group work: “There is support for the cognitive, motivational and social benefits of group work (Volet and Mansfield 2006).” Page 204

-          It allows students of see others point of view.

-          Gain insight into group dynamics

-          Facilitating larger more complex tasks than lone work can allow (Mello 1993).

-          They can learn from each other.

-          Gaining employability skills (team work and running meetings) (Mello 1993; Brown et al. 1994) Although Hartley (2005) points out that there is little evidence of this.

-          Reduces tutor marking loads and some could be done in the class room (during presentations)

-          Used early (year 1 students) it can encourage interaction, collaboration, support and student satisfaction (Krause et al. 2002) and motivational factors (not wanting to let down the rest of their group) (Bloxham and Heathfield 1994).

“It is a matter of professional judgement (Ramsden 2003) what the appropriate assessment methods for your modules are, and it is essential to ‘value each assessment method, within the learning environment for which it is intended, and taking its purposes and skills to be assessed into consideration’ (Struyven et al. 2002: 28).” Page 206