I’m confused by the assessment assignment.
Confused, because I find it difficult to reconcile ePortfolio Assignment #4 with the Gibbs and Simpson article, which was the required reading for this week.
Gibbs and Simpson looked at the relationship between assessment and learning, in particular focusing on how to design assessment to support worthwhile learning.
I believe I’ve followed the directions for this assignment to the letter, but I don’t believe a reliance on tests like the one I’ve produced is likely to lead to in-depth and long-term learning. In particular, ePortfolio Assignment #4 seemed to focus solely on the technical form of the test, without considering its pedagogical purpose.
This is not to say that I think that computer-graded quizzes should never be used. I think a test like this can be useful, primarily to motivate students to keep up with assigned work, and to provide a teacher with insight into students’ progress.
How would I use a quiz such as the one I prepared for this assignment?
- It would be useful for student self-assessment, so students could assure themselves that they understood key definitions and relationships before proceeding. (For example, Moodle lessons can be constructed so that students have to “pass” a quiz to proceed to the next page.)
- I could use a quiz as formative assessment, to determine what students had understood from a module.
- I could use it as a portion of a summative assessment, in conjunction with other assignments which assessed students’ abilities to apply scientific investigation skills, and apply the concepts to real-world problems.
Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2005). “Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.” Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Accessed online 11 March 2009 http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf