W03-3: Assessment

In this lesson we focus on a further element in the constructive Alignment process: Assessment. We build on last lessons ILOs and will identify ways in which we can assess whether the ILOs have been met by the students. To get an idea of what assessment formats there are:

1. Think about the different forms of assessment you have encountered in your life, both from learner and teacher perspective (from primary school to drivers license through language testes etc.). What testing-formats did you encounter? How were the questions designed? When and in which contexts were the assessments taken? etc. Take notes.

2. Look at the following videos which introduce the most frequently used types of assessment. Compare them to your own assessment history. What assessments did you experience most/are you most familiar with? Which ones are new to you?

• What is Assessment?

• Formative, Summative & Diagnostic

• Formal & Informal Assessment

3. Considering the different assessment types: Discuss with your partner what the purpose of assessment is, in your opinion. Now that you know about assessment types and their purpose, let’s find out how we can design appropriate assessment tasks and assessment rubrics. So have a look at this Google Presentation.

4. Before we start with applying this knowledge of designing assessment tasks and assessment rubrics ourselves, we focus on a specific examination method: the Portfolio.

5. Discuss with your partner how a portfolio is different from the examination method you are most familiar with (e.g. term paper, essay, multiple choice test etc.), considering the following guiding questions: • What can be assessed in each of the examination methods, what cannot be assessed?

• What role does the student have in the assessment process?

• What role does the teacher have in the assessment process?

• What advantages and disadvantages does a portfolio have in comparison to your familiar examination method?

Let’s apply portfolio assessment to your own teaching.

6. Please use this worksheet My Assessment & Rubric to design your portfolio assessment tasks and rubric. As a genereal guideline: Good portfolio tasks allow more than one solution, motivate and require creativity and inspire reflection!