Assessment for Learning

Assessment for Learning

        Assessment of Student Learning is a process of evaluating the extent to which participants in Education have developed their knowledge, understanding and abilities. This blog tackles all about our ideas of Education especially on the lessons in Assessment of Student's Learning commonly called Ed 103 subject under the instructions of Dr. Ava Clare Marie O. Robles.

        In classrooms where Assessment for Learning is practiced, students know at the outset of a unit of study what they are expected to learn. At the beginning of the unit, the teacher will work with the student to understand what she or he already knows about the topic as well as to identify any gaps or misconceptions (initial/diagnostic assessment ). As the unit progresses, the teacher and student work together to assess the student’s knowledge, what she or he needs to learn to improve and extend this knowledge, and how the student can best get to that point (formative assessment). Assessment for learning occurs at all stages of the learning process.
          As part of the overall evaluation process, we need specifically to find out if the learners are actually learning (changing their behavior) as a result of the training. This will show us whether the training has been effective, which ultimately is the most important issue. Assessment is a means of finding out what learning is taking place. As well as specific knowledge and skills, we might also like to measure other changes in behavior related to 'personality', social skills, interests, learning styles and etc.

Group Profile

 

 

           The LEADER, Fatima Pareja Carpizo makes the final decision on what should be the content of this requirement for the successful outcome of the Group works. The EDITOR, Moneriza Abellera Bucali is the one who manage the Blog. She edits everything that are important for the good result of this work . The SECRETARY, Sarah Barrios Ahang take notes the ideas of each member of the Group and the one who compiles and finalize its content. The BLOG RESEARCHERS, Denden Alunag Andang, Mary Ann Serundo Paña and Rhodessa Belle Aquino aims to gather all informations regarding with the topic tackled in class and to make a creative logical ideas.

 

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, a future teacher will be able to:
1. Differentiate, describe and understand the basic concepts, relationships and processes involved in assessment, measurement, evaluation and test.
2. Construct, develop and identify the different assessment tools.
3. Prepare, construct and apply the various principles an making Item Analysis, Validation and Improvement of test items congruent to the given instructional objectives.
4. Enumerate and explain the different authentic and alternative assessment methods.
5. Provide students with adequate understanding on Educational Statistics and its interpretation.
6. Discuss the functions and procedures of Grading and Reporting Systems.

Rationale: 

After writing learning objectives, you should to think about how to assess the students' achievement of the different learning objectives.
1. Different learning objectives define the scope and methods of assessment.
2.Relating different levels of objectives with assessment instruments and all items that are graded will make sure you achieve your specific objectives.
3. Busy students need to know what they must do to achieve in the course: What are the assignments? What are the projects? How will they be graded?

Significance of the Activity

          For us, this interactive activity will help us on how to Effectively utilize a blog site as a useful, Educational tool in posting/retrieving additional educational news feeds even in accommodating comments or suggestions which may help upgrade the Learning Ability of the students. In the same manner, this activity will serve as our own cyber Portfolio, through this simple activity, we, as a student and teachers will be able to know how to use the modern technology especially that on our generation, network sites are very important to enhance individuals learning's.

          This Blog help us to boost and build cooperation with our group mates, it enhances our thinking abilities to think critically and logically. This helps us to become more aware of the Significance of the use of different Technology and Network Sites as a medium of Instruction.

Methodology

          This Blog was fashioned collaboratively by our group "The Simple Society 2012". We distributed the tasks to each member wherein all of us are to impart our best to convey a presentable, meaningful and useful Blog. The reflections provided by us were taken deep in our hearts which mean what we have acquired out of the learning we have all attained were no more no less exhibited in the blog. Finally the name of the blog- The Simple Society 2012, was derived from the personality exhibited by the members of the group and it was a unanimous decision made by the group.
          We have also added some videos that is related with the Course, the Assessment of Student's Learning. Through this videos, people may view how Learning important is. These are selected well by the Group members for the benefit of all viewers.
          Each of the member of this group are glad that they belongs to The Simple Society 2012. Through the cooperation and hard-working of everyone who's in this Blog, this work was made possible. This Blog is a Learning Blog which aims every individual to share their thoughts, ideas and knowledge to make this work successful.

SCHEDULE OF THE ACTIVITY

December 05, 2011: We were all eyes wide after hearing the announcement from Professor Robles, to create our own Learning Blog as a requirement under our subject: Assessment of Student's Learning, Ed 103. As we'd all recalled, almost everyone had finally made their own groups, so the, let's say, "out-of-place" remnants joint forces by themselves which later formed the group, "SIMPLE SOCIETY 2012", composed of all-female and an adopted male who has his own style and taste but was grouped for one main purpose. To pass this requirement for the Course.

December 10, 2011: Our head, assigned and disseminate all of our Topics by Module and was tasked to make our Insights on the said works which was to be passed on the same day for the Editing and Preliminary posting in our Blog.

December 23, 2011: Who says that Christmas Vacation's for relaxing and unwinding only? Well, our Leader and the Editor had worked in updating and posting on our Blog because the Researchers had finally completed each others assigned tasks. 

January 19, 2012: The Leader had announced and reminded us about the additional updates which we need to make regards to the assigned Module on us. Well, it helps us to work easier and faster so that we will not cram on the following days to edit and upgrade our works.

February 17, 2012: Through text message, our Leader reminded us for our Blog Presentation. During this day, we had a meeting on what should be done with the distribution of Modules to be Presented on class for the said Event.

February 19, 2012: Our Leader and Editor updated and made some changes with our Blog. New posts are posted and new ideas were added to the Modules.

March 06, 2012: This is the Preliminary checking of Blogs. Well, were glad that at least, before Ma'am Robles will check our work, we had made the updates of the Contents of our works.

March 19, 2012: This is the scheduled date that we need to have our Blog Presentation, but, due to some changes and some activities, the Presentation was moved to March 22, 2012. This gave us chances to edit and upgrade our works again to have a good output.

March 22, 2012: We were all shocked upon our Professors some announcements regarding with our works with our Learning Blogs. Because of this, she made some changes and let our Leaders to have the copy of the proper format to be followed on editing and creating our Blogs.

March 23, 2012: Our Leader called our attention and instructed us on what will be our tasks for the new updates of our Blog, she then gave us the assigned works that we need to contribute so that we can create and finish our Learning Blog completely.

March 25, 2012: The Leader and Editor managed to edit our Blog. The previous posts was saved as a Draft and new updates and changes was made. The name Simple Girls Society 2012 was changed to Simple Society 2012 - Learning Blog. As a Group, we know that through the cooperation of all members we have done our best for the success of this Requirement.

Topical Content

Module 1: Overview in Assessment of Learning 

Module 2: Establishing the Learning Targets
Module 3: Keys to Effective Testing

Module 4: Development of Assessment Tools 

Module 5: Characteristics of a Good Test 

Module 6: Analyzing and Using Test Item Data
Module 7: Educational Statistics
Module 8: Rubrics, Portfolio and Performance-Based Assessment
Module 9: Grading and Reporting Practices

Group Reflections

Module 1: OVERVIEW IN ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING
            We appreciated how each lesson was reported in the class. Now, we had learned that there are different types of assessing students' performances and there are different modes of assessing them.
            As we go along with our learning, we’ve learned that assessment is an important tool for us as a future teachers.  Assessment tools help the teacher to identify the weaknesses of every students in different subject areas, it also give them guide on how to rate their students' learning. Assessment opens new possibilities to proceed in the direction of developing learner’s awareness of their own learning. It also provides tools for managing and monitoring the learning processes. It evaluates the level of understanding of students and reveals the effectiveness of teacher’s strategies and methods of learning. As a future teacher, I’ve learned a lot from it.
          Making an assessment or evaluating the student’s learning performance is very important in a learning activity. Through the evaluation, the teacher could evaluate the effectiveness of his teaching. A teacher could identify the points he had successfully delivered to the pupils and the points the he need to emphasize more. It is by this process you will learn or find if your students really understand the lesson that you are teaching to them. It also serves as a determinant for a learner on what progress he is making, whether he had learned or not. It is through this, you can see where your students lack understanding or if any of those concepts that you’ve teach to them is unclear.

Module 2: ESTABLISHING THE LEARNING TARGETS
           In this module, we've learned that before conducting assessments, the teacher must first ask him/herself about how effective will the lessons' objectives are, so it can cover the learning domains: COGNITIVE, AFFETIVE & PSYCHOMOTOR responses of the students. 
          The first thing students need to learn is what they're supposed to be learning. Learning target is important to describe what the student should know or able to do at the end of the unit. The goal is to make majority if not all the student understand what you want them to understand.  We, as a future teachers should use strategies that help assess students' comprehension of the meaning of learning goals and their comprehension of what good work looks like. Teachers should use this information to affirm understanding and clarify misconceptions.
          As subject matter experts in their field, faculty know almost intuitively what the most important things are that students must master. In order to develop learning goals, faculty should answer the question, “What do I want my students to know or be able to do by the end of this course?”
          Developing a set of learning goals for a course takes what faculty know but don’t always state and puts it into a short list of real concepts that can guide students and add clarity to teaching and learning. The overall goal for teaching should be learning. When students know what they should be able to do by the end of a course it will be less of a challenge for them to meet that goal. Learning goals can add to student's sense of ownership in the learning process helping them feel like they are on the inside logic of the course instead of the outside. It is also a useful  communication tool. Faculty can describe their goals to colleagues and students by beginning with their goals or targets.

Module 3: KEYS TO EFFECTIVE TESTING
           In this module, we've found out that there are guides in making effective tests and there are factors to consider. I've also learned that teachers should make a Table of Specifications to see if their desired test will affect their students cognitive, dispositional and psychomotor domains.
           The ongoing developments in the society and work life as well as the recent shift in the conceptions of man and learning suggest the need to work towards self- regulated learning in foreign and second language in education. Such aims in language learning are part of the general education goals and supporting learner autonomy and learning to learn. Being a future teacher, the responsibility lies on our hand. We are willing to accept the challenge, shared what we’ve learned and help them to become a better person.
          Testing is a usually a key component in a teacher’s overall assessment strategy. The quality of the tests given is closely linked with their ability to provide the kind of information you need regarding student performance. A well-written test allows you to accurately and consistently measure students’ mastery of specific content taught in class. Results of well-written tests also allow teachers to measure, to some degree, how effective their instruction has been.

Module 4: DEVELOPMENT OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS
            We know that there are common types of tests but we've learned that each test type has its own advantages and disadvantages, there are pointers in making it, factors to consider, how they are used, and there are suggestions in writing and making such assessment tools.
          Assessment tools help the teachers to identify the weaknesses and strengths of every student. Testing is one of the techniques on how we can rate or on how we can measure their performances. Teachers need to know about their pupils' progress and difficulties with learning so that they can adapt their own work to meet the students' needs -- needs that are often unpredictable and that vary from one student to another. So, therefore, as a future teacher, we must believe on self-evident proposition that teaching and learning must be interactive.
          Through evaluation we could get new ideas on the next activity we want our pupils to perform. We could also change our styles in teaching by thinking of another way to deliver the lesson.  Evaluation is not only important for the learner and for the teacher but also for the parents. Through this, the parents could evaluate the performance of their child in school, since parents are more responsible in the progress of their child.

Module 5: CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEST
           In this Module, we've learned a lot about tests. One of the most important characteristic of a good test is the Validity. It refers to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure. We've learned that not all reliable tests are valid because a test might not measure what it is supposed to. And there are lots of factors that affects the reliability of the test. The results of a test may vary because of the condition of examination rooms, time duration given in administering the test and the difficulty level of the test. To avoid bias judgement in scoring, the test should be an objective test.
            We were able to recognize the importance of Validity in Educational Measurement. First is that the Validity isn't determined by a single statistic but by a body of research that demonstrates the relationship between the test and the behavior of a test, it is important to study the test results in the setting in which they are used.
          Testing should create a positive wash-back effect, i.e., the test should positively affect teaching. This is achieved by making sure that the test actually tests what has been taught, and does not omit to test anything important.
          Among the characteristics of a good test is that it must have a validity, in which a  test is considered as valid when it measures what it is supposed to measure. Then, it must have reliability, in which, a test is considered reliable if it is taken again by the same students under the same circumstances and the score average is almost the constant , taking into consideration that the time between the test and the retest is of reasonable length. And then, objectivity which means that if the test is marked by different people, the score will be the same . In other words, marking process should not be affected by the marking person's personality. And then comprehensiveness, which good test should include items from different areas of material assigned for the test. Then scorability and the simplicity.

Module 6: ANALYZING AND USING OF TEST ITEM DATA
           In this Module, we've learned to analyze and use test item data to assess the students' learning. We've done computations to solve the Index of Difficulty and Index of Discrimination. There are methods in solving the test reliability, it is the test-retest method and parallel method.
            We not only learned its importance but we also learned to compute using different methods for gaining the right answer. The importance of knowing how to solve for the Df (Index of Difficulty) which means the percentage of students who got the right item and Di (Index of  Discrimination) which means the degree to which a test item differentiates high from low achievers.
          The difficulty level of an item is known as index of difficulty . Index of difficulty is the percentage of students answering correctly each item in the test Index of discrimination refers to the percentage of high-scoring individuals responding correctly versus the number of low-scoring individuals responding correctly to an item. This numeric index indicates how effectively an item differentiates between the students who did well and those who did poorly on the test. Using Information about Index of Difficulty The difficulty index of a test item tells a teacher about the comprehension of or performance on material or task contained in an item. Using Information about Index of Discrimination The index of discrimination tells a teacher the degree to which a test item differentiates the high achievers from the low achievers in his class. A test item may have positive or negative discriminating power. An item has a positive discriminating power when more students from the upper group got the right answer than those from the lower group When more students from the lower group got the correct answer on an item than those from the upper group, the item has a negative discriminating power.

 Module 7: EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS
           In this module, we'd learned the importance of Educational Statistics in assessing students' learning. There are two types of Statistics, the Descriptive and Inferential Statistics. Descriptive Statistics draw complete surveys of the data set to summarize a state or give a conclusion and the Inferential Statistics draw information with the use of a sample population to represent as a whole population. Inferential Statistics require techniques to evaluate the value of such conclusions drawn from the sample. These two are important in getting the probability with the use of experimentation. It requires analytical thinking to evaluate the data you have gathered.
            We had also learned that there are different measures of Central Tendency: the mean, median and mode. And we know how to solve the mean, median and mode to get the Central Tendency which is a great help for the teachers to locate the distribution and is known as the most reliable, stable and is easy to compute. It is the most widely used and can be subjected to Mathematical computations. Median is used to measure for skewed distributions. It is in the middle value in your list. It is easy to calculate, while also giving a measure that is more robust in the presence of outlier values than is the mean. Mode is the number that is repeated more often than any other. Sometimes it may exist and may not. We learned to compute the Quartile Deviation is half the difference between the Upper and Lower Quartiles in a Distribution. It is a measure of the spread through the middle half of Distribution. It can be useful because it is not influenced by extremely low scores.
            We also learned about the different measures of Variability: the Range, Variance and Standard Deviation. The Standard Deviation is the most useful measure of Variation, it is the square root of the variance. It is the average of the degree to which each set of scores in the distribution deviates from the mean value.

Module 8: RUBRICS, PORTFOLIO AND PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT

         We learned from this Module about the Rubrics, Portfolio and Performance-Based Assessment. We learned how teachers assessed students learning using Rubrics. It is a scoring tool teachers use to assess students learning after a lesson . Using a set of criteria and standards, educators can assess each student's performance on a wide variety of work. It is helpful to have more than one evaluator grade each piece of work. Then the Rubric scores can either be averaged or added together for a final score. We learned the different types of Rubrics and these are the Analytical and the Holistic. A Holistic Rubric is consists of a single Scale-all factors that are to be evaluated are identified together for each level of performance. It might be a Checklist or a description of each attainable level of performance. Holistic Rubrics are quicker to develop and learn, quicker to score and quicker to find agreement among various evaluators than are Analytical Rubrics because they produce a single score, they are most effective when the elements being assessed are closely related. However, they do not give as much feedback to students and so they are more difficult to use as a learning tool than Analytical Rubrics. Analytical Rubrics are excellent tools for teaching as well as for assessment. It consists of multiple,separate scales and therefore provides a set of scores rather than just one. The multiple scales enable students to pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses related each criterion.

          And we also learned that Portfolio is a collection of student work that exhibits the student's best work or best efforts, his or her progress and achievements in one or more areas of the Curriculum. It should represent a collection of students' samples of work experienced related to the outcomes being assesses.

Module 9: GRADING AND REPORTING PRACTICES
          We learned the types of grades and marks, the advantages and disadvantages of it, the common grading-related problems and guidelines for effective grading like the student's behavior vs. the student's mastery of the content. There are different types of Grading- Product criteria, Process criteria and Progress criteria. Product criteria are favored advocates of standards-based approaches to teaching and learning. For they that believe the primary purpose of Grading and Reporting is to communicate a Summative Evaluation of student's achievement and performance. They focus on what students know and are able to do at a particular point in time. Process criteria are emphasized by teachers who believe that Product criteria do not provide a complete picture of student learning. From this perspective, Grading and Reporting should reflect not just the final results but also how students got there. Teachers who consider effort or work habits when reporting on students learning are using a Process criteria.
          So are teachers who count regular classroom quizzes, homework, class participation or attendance. Progress criteria referred to as improvement scoring, learning gain o0r value-added grading, consider how much students have gained from their learning experiences. Teachers who use Process criteria look at how far students have come over a particular period of time, rather than just where they are.
          As a result, Grading criteria may be highly individuali9zed. Most of the research evidence on Progress criteria in Grading and Reporting comes from studies of differentially paced instructional programs and special education programs.
          Effective Grading shows you how to choose the proper Grading model for a class, how to motivate students through properly communicating your Grading system, and how to structure your assignments to increase student learning.

          For Effective Grading, teachers should develop good criteria that assess the students' performance and achievement. The Grades or Marks reflect students' accomplishments.

          The primary purpose of Grading and Reporting is other than facilitation of teaching or learning but serves a variety of purposes, but no one method serves all purposes well. The purposes of these Grading and Reporting are- to be able to tell or show the parents and other interested people what is the student's performance and achievements, to give information to the students for their self-evaluation, to document student performance for the evaluation of the effectiveness of instructional programs, to identify students for a certain Educational paths or programs.

          Through Grading, students are motivate to learn more for they know their advantages and disadvantages. Marking is very useful for the purpose of expressing the measurement of learning outcomes or performance in numerical indices or scores and for easy comparison of the scores of a number of students helps the Educational Authorities to select and admit them into various courses.

Trivias and Games on ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

TRIVIAS

Graphite can be transformed into diamond by applying a temperature of 3000°C and pressure of 100,000 atm.

A dwarf star is so dense that it would take 8 men to lift a teaspoon full of its matter.

The implicit curve equation (x²+y²-1)³-x²y³=0 produces the heart shape. 

The Reuleaux Triangle is a shape of constant width other than a circle.

A rubber band shrinks when heated and expands when cooled because of the change in its Entropy state.

Due to the effect of Thermal Expansion, the Eiffel Tower is upto 15cm taller in summer.

Corneas are the only tissues that don't require blood.

A kind of jellyfish (Turritopsis nutricula) upon reaching adulthood can transform itself back to childhood by converting its cells. It may repeat this to live forever.

The Pistol Star is the most luminous star known - 10 million times the power of the Sun and as big as the size of Earth's entire orbit around the Sun.

You can remember the value of Pi (3.1415926) by counting each word's letters in "May I have a large container of coffee?"

BRAIN GAMES

Game 1- Air typer

http://www.memory-improvement-tips.com/air-typer.html

Game 2- Wheel of Fortune

http://www.memory-improvement-tips.com/play-wheel-of-fortune-online.html

Game 3- Spiderman Web of Words

http://www.memory-improvement-tips.com/spiderman-flash-game.html