Formative Assessments & Technology
Assignment Three
Milda Theodule-Willix
ETEC 565A
University of British Columbia
Introduction
In this paper you will be presented with the Content Module: Formative Assessments & Technology in the Formative Assessments for K-12 educators course. This module is found in Week 5 on the course structure and will run completely online for two weeks on Moodle’s LMS platform.It will focus on how technology can make formative assessments a seamless part of everyday classroom activities.Participants will learn how to use digital tools and apps to identify areas where their students are excelling and struggling so that they can best alter their instruction to meet their students’ needs. The content module is accessible here.
Structure
The Content Module for this module Formative Assessment &Technology is structured as follows;
1.Module Introduction
In this section participants are introduced to the module. They are briefed about the learner outcomes and learning objectives of this module. They will also learn how this course will be beneficial to them.
2. Checklist
In this section, a list of all the tasks and activities that must be completed during the week is listed.
3. Learning Objectives
The learning objectives for this module are listed here.
4. Module Activities
A list of all the activities and assignments for this module is listed here. These include weekly presentations, PDF files, quizzes, discussions and group assignment. Participants will use navigation links to move seamlessly among the activities.
Pedagogy & Community of Practice
“Every assessment, regardless of its purpose, rests on three pillars: a model of how students represent knowledge and develop competence in the domain, tasks or situations that allow one to observe students’ performance, and an interpretation method for drawing inferences from the performance” (NRC, 2001, p. 2). Instructors, throughout the years have relied on the use of technology to support their assessment practices. Unfortunately, most have relied heavily on summative, online objective type based tests and other simulations instead of formative assessments to assess their students’ learning. Moodle’s LMS platform supports both instructor and peer dialogical feedback. Feedback allows the instructor to access cumulative, quantitative and qualitative information about students’ knowledge and skills so that instructors can alter their teaching practices.
Formative assessments and digital tools have changed the classroom dynamics and the pedagogy behind 21st century learning, by using a myriad of educational tools to enhance learning and assessment practices.This amalgamation has positioned educators to gain insightful feedback on students’ performance and how they can cultivate a culture of self-regulation among their students. “Formative assessment is concerned with how judgments about the quality of student responses (performances, pieces, or works) can be used to shape and improve the student’s competence by short-circuiting the randomness and inefficiency of trial and error learning” (Sadler, 1989, p.120). Digital tools and apps such as those in this module has potentially equipped educators with innovative ways of enhancing current assessments practices and how to promote self-assessment activities that encourages metacognition.
According to Sadler, (1989) a key premise of formative assessments is that for students to be able to improve, they must develop the capacity to monitor the quality of their own work during actual production. Similarly, Von Glasserfeld ( 2008) states “ To see it and gain satisfaction from it; one must reflect on one’s own constructs and in the way in which one has put them together”(p.48). Simply put, students must have an opportunity to engage in deeper thinking and as Fosnot (2005) suggested become active participants in their own learning with the instructor facilitating the active construction of knowledge and activities in the classroom.
Perhaps two of the most striking peculiarities of constructivism in education are in its ability to provide situated learning experiences to students by ensuring that they are ultimately responsible for acquiring their own knowledge and highlighting how knowledge and learning enable learners to engage in new practices.”A fundamental aspect of this framework is knowing and learning as participation in specific communities of practice.”Sadler (2009, p.6).One of the tenets of Situated Learning according to Brown et al (1989) is that meaningful learning will only take place if it is embedded in the social and physical context within which it will be used. Simply put, learning must be authentic, meaningful, reflective, articulate skills acquisition, apprenticeship, promote a “community of practice” through social and physical activities. This will lead to the transformation of students from being passive recipients to active participants in their own learning. Lave and Wenger (1991) states “ to be able to participate in a legitimately peripheral way entails that newcomers have broad access to arenas of mature practice” p.10.For example, in this module participants must work collaboratively to create a lesson plan fused with digital tools used for formative assessments , which they can use later on in their classrooms. According to Klopfer & Sheldon, (2010), this enables students to see the world around them in new ways and engage with realistic issues in a context with which the students are already connected.
In essence, educators are challenged to reflect on the goals of formative assessments , its context in education, how these contexts contribute to knowing and learning within communities of practice. According to Sadler (2009) , educators are encouraged to look beyond discrete learning objectives, such as acquisition of content knowledge, and consider how the educative experiences of students make sense in the context of their lives (p.34). When students are given situated learning opportunities within these communities learning becomes more relevant, they become more knowledgeable,engage in meaning making and experience a culture that ultimately shapes the way they learn.
Moodle’ s LMS
Moodle’s LMS platform allows educators to address one of the many deficiencies of traditional classrooms, namely formative assessments. Participants can access course materials, assignments and assessment activities at their convince or use the course calendar to plan their schedule. This promotes self regulation among students and transforming them to autonomous learners.Instructors can design formative assessments that caters to the various learning styles of each participants and use the qualitative feedback to not improve their instructional practices but the participants’ learning needs. For example, most quizzes has a built in automatic grading feature that allows the instructor to provide immediate feedback to participants and allows participants to check on their overall progress. Moodle provides an excellent platform for promoting digital collaboration and communication, thereby allowing students to collaborate in synchronously discussion forums, wikis or chatrooms. Moodle has shown to be an excellent tool for improving communication between classmates and instructors and to enhance learner interactions (Chao, 2008).
Activities
In order to achieve the objectives of this course, participants will be engaged in a series of activities. These activities will help participants to deepen and extend their understanding of formative assessments and understand the changes that they must make to their instructional practices to improve students’ performance and understanding.
Activity 1: Weebly Presentation
Participants will visit a Weebly website based on Formative Assessments. There they will be introduced to formative assessments which incorporates both non-digital and digital tools used in the classroom.The website contains the content material for the module along with additional resources including videos research article and numerous tools and apps for carrying out formative assessments. There is a PDF document to supplement this Weebly presentation.
Activity 2: Quiz
After participants have gone through the website and the pdf document, they will take a short quiz on Formative Assessments & Technology.There are eight multiple choice questions based on formative assessments and technology.
Activity 3: Class Discussion
Participants will engage in a class discussion about Formative Assessments and Technology. This will allow participants to share their views, knowledge or concerns about formative assessments & technology.
Activity 4: Group Assignment
For this activity participants will prepare a lesson plan for teaching a curricular topic of their choice to students which heavily incorporates the use of digital formative assessment tools and apps. The lesson plan must contain a short quiz containing five to ten items using a digital tool used for formative assessments in the classroom.The purpose of this assignment is to allow participants to synthesize their understanding of using digital tools for formative assessments. This assignment will be completed in groups of 2 to 3.It will be evaluated based on the criteria listed in this rubric. Participants will also assess their peers during this activity.
Activity 5: Self -Assessment Participation test.
In this final activity, participants will be engaged in a Self -Assessment Participation test. This will provide participants with a structured opportunity for self-monitoring.
Instructors’ role
From the onset, it will be the instructor’s responsibility to guide participants through the content and activities of the module.This will assist participants in building a common understanding and to integrate formative assessments and technology into their instructional practice. Participants will be guided through discussions and reflections to ensure that their own understanding of formative assessments & technology is deepen. This will allow them to form linkages between their own learning to their instructional practices.The instructor will keep track of participants’ learning and update them on their progress during the course. The instructor will provide participants with compelling evidence along with other resources supporting the impact of formative assessment and technology on student performance. Additionally, the instructor will clarify any areas of misunderstanding that participants may or may not have about the content module.
Feedback
One of the driving impulses of formative assessment is feedback. Constructive, timely and quality feedback helps participants to become self-regulated learners. Self regulated learners according to Zimmerman and Schunk, (2001; Pintrich,(1995) is the active control by students of some aspects of their own learning; for example, the setting of learning goals, the monitoring and regulating of progress towards the attainment of these goals. The instructor will deliver timely, constructive, quality and personalized feedback to each participant which will allow them to gain a clearer understanding of their progress, learning goals and to encourage them to \engage in self-correction when necessary. For some of the activities in this course, the instructor will use rubric to assess participants’ work and to provide feedback to them.
Participants will have an opportunity to assess and provide feedback on each other’s work. Participants will use rubrics to carry out the peer assessments. Gibbs (1999) states that peer processes help develop the skills needed to make objective judgements against standards, skills which are often transferred when students turn to regulating their own work. Feedback from both the instructor and their peers will facilitate their scaffolding towards greater self-regulation in learning.
References
Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998), Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education,5(1), 7-74.
Brown, J.S., Collins, A. & Duguid, S. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18, 32-42. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://edr.sagepub.com/content/18/1/32
Chao, I. T. (2008).Moving to Moodle:Reflections two years later. Educause Quarterly, 3, 46-52.
Fosnot, C. T. (2005). Constructivism: Theory, Perspectives, and Practice, Second Edition (Kindle Locations 89-91).Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition.
Gibbs, G. (1999) Using assessment strategically to change the way students learn, in: S. Brownand A. Glasner (eds) Assessment Matters in Higher Education: Choosing and UsingDiverse Approaches Buckingham: SRHE/Open University Press.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Education Research, 77,81-112.
Klopfer, E. and Sheldon, J. (2010), Augmenting your own reality: Student authoring of science-based augmented reality games.New Directions for Youth Development, 2010: 85–94.doi:10.1002/yd.378
Kluger, A.N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory.Psychological Bulletin, 119, 254-284.
Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) . Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral particpation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
National Research Council. 2001. Knowing what students know: The science and design of educational assessment. Committee on the Foundations of Assessment. Pelligrino, J.,Chudowsky, N., and Glaser, R., eds. Board on Testing and Assessment, Center forEducation. Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC:National Academy Press.
Nicol, D. J. & Milligan, C. (2006), Rethinking technology-supported assessment in terms of the seven principles of good feedback practice. In C. Bryan and K. Clegg (Eds), InnovativeAssessment in Higher Education, Taylor and Francis Group Ltd, London
Sadler, D.R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. InstructionalScience, 18, 119-144.
Von Glasersfeld, E. (2008). Learning as a Constructive Activity. AntiMatters, 2(3), 33-49.Retrieved November 9, 2016, from http://antimatters.org/articles/73/public/73-66-1-PB.pdf
Zimmerman, B.J. and Schunk, D.H. (2001) Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: theoretical perspectives, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Reference : Images
Checklist.Online image. (Aug. 30, 2015) Retrieved October 20,2016 from https://pixabay.com/en/checklist-list-check-check-list-911841/
Classroom . Calico Spanish. Online Image. (February 25, 2014 ) Retrieved October 20,2016 from http://calicospanish.com/using-centers-and-stations-to-teach-world-language/
Classroom discussion .Online Image. (October 21, 2013) Retrieved October 20,2016 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/116952757@N08/14161914543
Objectives. Online image. (June 2016). Retrieved October 20, 2016 from http://thebluediamondgallery.com/o/objectives.html
Plain Vanilla Games. ( 29 November 2013) Quiz logo.( Online image) Retrieved October 20, 2016 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:QuizUp_Logo.png
Willix-Theodule. M. ( June, 2016) Grade two students smiling. ( Personal image).
Willix-Theodule. M. ( November, 2016) Weebly presentation ( Personal image). Retrieved November 01, 2016 from http://formativeassessmentetec565a.weebly.com/