The benefits and challenges of constructivist assessment
When assessment is well designed, it provides a potent motivation for students and fosters study habits correlated with the educational goals of the course. Other advantages of constructivist assessment instrumentation consist in valuing personal knowledge construction; acknowledging proficiency gained with peer support; and appreciating the relationship between the learner and the teacher. Assessment is therefore a “mutual monitoring system” cultivating enthusiasm for learning (Roos & Hamilton, 2004, p.9).
Conversely, without referring to the assessment parameters of the syllabus, teachers in a constructivist educational context may end up trapped in past transmission models of teaching using excessive rote learning strategies in order to cover the mandated curriculum.
| Table 1: Advantages and Disadvantages: Traditional and Alternative Assessment Type of Assessment | Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Traditional | Easy to administer and grade; used heavily in past years | Focuses on factual recall; promote only simple application of knowledge; some forms have been found to be teacher-biased |
| Alternative | Student-oriented; promotes learning, involvement, and motivation; allows for consideration of human characteristics such as prior knowledge, culture, and language | Requires extensive knowledge and skills teachers may not possess; requires more time to develop and implement than traditional forms; could be ambiguous to some learners; if used alone, could result in students not acquiring necessary academic skills |
One of the biggest challenge facing constructivist practitioners is to insure the correspondence between the way they teach and the validity of the evaluation procedures they design. The situated learning theory is a defensible educational model as long as the assessment criteria effectively measure the learner’s competence in relation to instructional processes and outcomes.
References
Anderson, T. (2008a). Towards a Theory of Online Learning. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University.
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