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Assessment and learning – getting quality in both. Oslo Adult Education - 2 Nov. 2010 Professor Gordon Stobart Institute of Education, University of London. Focus on learning
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Assessment and learning – getting quality in both Oslo Adult Education - 2 Nov. 2010 Professor Gordon Stobart Institute of Education, University of London
Focus on learning If teaching were as simple as telling we’d all be a lot smarter than we are. Mark Twain The student knows more than the teacher about what he has learned – even though he knows less about what was taught. Peter Elbow What’s the best way to improve teaching? Focus on learning. And the best way to increase learning? Move the focus off the teacher and onto the student. David Kolb Learners must ultimately be responsible for their learning since no-one else can do it for them. Assessment Reform Group
Learning and assessment • What do we know about effective learning? 2. How can assessment best support this? 3. When does assessment get in the way of effective learning?
How we learn • What am I good at? • How did I get good? • How do I know I’m good?
Defining learning ‘A significant change in capability or understanding’ This excludes: the acquisition of further information when it does not contribute to such changes. Michael Eraut Wynne Harlen & Mary James
Deep, Surface and Strategic learning • Deep: seeking meaning Intention: to develop ideas for yourself • Surface: reproducing Intention: to cope with course requirements • Strategic: reflective organising Intention: to achieve the highest possible grades Features: Putting consistent effort into studying; managing time and effort effectively; finding right conditions and materials for studying; monitoring the effectiveness of ways of studying; being alert to assessment requirements and criteria ; gearing work to the perceived preferences of teachers Entwistle (2001) Good strategic learning depends on quality assessment
Assessment: some definitions Summative assessment (Assessment of Learning) Assessment which ‘sums up’ where somebody has got in their learning. Often at the end of a course or topic Formative assessment (Assessment for Learning) Assessment which is used as part of the learning process. It ‘informs’ learning.
Assessment: some confusions That formative assessment is only about testing. It includes many other forms of information-gathering (observation, oral work, misunderstandings, feedback). It is about good teaching/pedagogy. That frequent classroom tests during a course are formative. Unless they are used for further learning, they are better seen as frequent summative (‘mini-summative’) tests
Aligning assessment and learning What forms of classroom assessment will help effective classroom learning? • Builds on what we know – assessment that finds out where learners are in their learning • Makes meaning - ‘makes sense’- makes clear the learning intentions, recognises success • Is active and social – learners take part in their own assessment; importance of classroom interaction (feedback); development of autonomous learners.
Assessment for Learning Assessment for Learning is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there. Assessment Reform Group (2002) Quality AfL keeps learning principles central – the spirit – ‘high organisation based on ideas’.
Finding out where the learners are in their learning • Diagnostic assessment (eg listen to reading; working with test errors) • Questioning and dialogue • Wait time • Rich questions • Misconceptions • Traffic lights
Asking questions • Wait time - Do we want our students to think? ‘Pair and share’ – using random pairs Students asking questions (homework) • Using wrong answers – the problem of protecting self-esteem (focus on task not person): “Error cannot be viewed solely as failure: rather, its source must be sought. In doing so the teacher demonstrates his respect for the child as a thinking being who has arrived at a response through reasons that may not correspond to the task , but which, nonetheless, exist and must be explored” (Feuerstein, 1980) • Traffic lights – Checking whole class understandings
Quality questioning • Using good question stems: ‘why does...?’; ‘what if...?’; ‘how would you...?’; ‘could you explain...?’ • Poker face - the teacher’s body language does not signal to the student what the teacher wants to hear (keeps the focus on the task) • Basketball not ping-pong • Statements instead of questions • Avoids: asking too many questions at once; answering it yourself; only asking the best students; ignoring answers; failing to build on answers
Investigating wrong answers ‘How much is 7-4?’ Becky (age 6): ‘2’ ‘How did you get that answer?’ ‘I knew that 7 take away 4 is 2 because I knew 4 + 2, is 7. And if 4 plus 2 is 7, then 7 take away 2 must be 4’. ‘The second ingredient in the cognitive stew was more interesting than the faulty memory. She introduced the idea that if 4+2=7 then it must be true that 7-4 =2... A classic syllogism’ (H.Ginsburg, 1997)
Knowing where learners need to go: The role of learning criteria and success criteria Clear learning intentions • the teacher is clear about what is being learned (progression in learning) • what we will be learning rather than what we will be doing - ‘tuning in’ – setting the scene (why we are learning this), explaining the situation, linking to what is known, unfamiliar words & phrases explained
Unclear learning intentions The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange the items into different groups. Of course one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things rather than too many. In the short run this may not seem too important but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. (Bartlett)
Knowing where learners need to go: success criteria Success criteria – understanding what is needed Royce Sadler’s paradox • negotiation • exemplars • modelling The role of self and peer assessment: • develop understanding of good performance • develop concepts and vocabulary (assessment literacy)
...and how best to get there. • Feedback • ‘Provides information which allows the learner to close the gap between current and desired performance’ • It is most effective when: • It is effectively timed; • It is clearly linked to the learning intention; • The learner understands the success criteria/standard; • It focuses on the TASK rather than the learner (self/ego); • It gives cues at appropriate levels on how to bridge the gap: the task/process/self-regulation loop; • It offers strategies rather than solutions; • It challenges, requires action, and is achievable.
Feedback often does not improve learning because: • It does not close the gap: • grades/marks; • praise/rewards; • unclear; • too general (‘more detail’). • It is directed at self/ego level rather than the task. • The learner can choose to: • modify the standard; • abandon the standard (‘retire hurt’); • reject the feedback/messenger.
The problem with praise Praise is the most common form of feedback – yet has little impact on learning. Why? Because it is directed at the person not the task & does not provide information about how to improve. Because it can ‘create a growing dependence on securing someone else’s approval’ (Kohn). Expert teachers praise less than novice teachers (expectations)
