Assignment

Please note: 

No assignment is ever perfect. What follows is a very good assignment that has many strengths and some weaknesses. As you read it try to identify five strengths and three areas for improvement. 

  

We would like to thank Laura Aston for permission to use her assignment as part of these web resources.

NB This essay was written in 2010 and the references used at that time were relevant and up to date. If possible do not use references that are older than 5 years, except for seminal works.

Investigate a typical assessment strategy used in your own curriculum area. Use the strategy with a small group of learners and reflect on the experience. Draw on some of the key concepts from the appropriate literature to inform your reflection (2000 words) by Laura Aston

Coles (2004, 41) states that, “teaching, learning and assessment are the three pillars of the teaching triangle and assessment permeates all of them”. It would appear that assessment (initial, formative, summative or diagnostic) is integral to the learning process; ‘the engine that drives learning’ (John Cowan) (Race 2001, 86). It is a “measure of how effectively the students have learned, usually measured against stated learning outcomes” (Reece and Walker 2007, 443). The main use of assessment for teachers is the ongoing or ‘formative assessment’. According to Reece and Walker (2007, 323) formative assessment “takes place during the course and is useful in telling the student how the learning is proceeding as well as telling the teacher about the success of the teaching”. Thus, I used formative assessment to form judgements on whether, and to what extent, learning has been successful; and to pinpoint difficulties so that remedial action can be taken. Upon reflection I will be able to improve or amend methods of instruction. I will do this using Gibbs’ reflective cycle (1988) (see figure 1) and/or Stephen Brookfield’s four lenses to support my reflection of the experience of using the assessment tool.

The cycle encourages systematic thinking of the phases of an experience/activity. Coles (2004, 167) concludes that it ‘emphasises the need to continue to reflect on actions, in order to develop profess

However, “…description is merely the recall and is the lowest level of learning in the cognitive domain. The remaining five steps cause us to think more deeply about the issues and can lead to valuable insights” (Reece and Walker 2007, 422).

Alternatively, Brookfield (1995) suggests four ‘critical lenses’ that teachers could use for reflection. These are:

• Their autobiographies as teachers and learners,
• Through their students’ eyes,
• Their colleagues’ perceptions,
• The theoretical literature.

(Coles 2004, 165)

These lenses can be used to develop a framework for thinking about how the students experienced learning, as well as what impact the assessment tool has had on their experience. 

The first lens considers our experiences as teachers and learners. ‘This process unveils the assumptions and reasoning that shape and influence our teaching’ (Teaching Concern 1997). These assumptions may then be verified through the remaining three lenses. As a college student I had studied modules of sport psychology on the BTEC national diploma course and as an undergraduate on the Bsc Sport and Exercise Science degree course. Thus I had gone into the lesson with a good understanding of sport leadership. Further, I have completed coaching badges in hockey and athletics thus I was able to relate to the leadership styles from my own experiences. The learners’ however, had mixed experiences. All learners’ attend the sports coaching module, few had coaching badges and others had heard of the various types of leadership styles.

The second lens is viewed through the eyes of our learners, those who see and experience us as professional teachers and adults. ‘Assessment of student perceptions reveals to what extent our assumptions about teaching or classroom management correspond with those of our students’ (Teaching Concerns 1997). I encouraged the learners’ to give feedback on their progress and performance. I found a good way was to ask them to reflect on their experiences as the learner and provide thoughts on the assessment tool.

When deciding upon the type of formative assessment, I took into account the various types including; question and answer (Q&A), supply type questions, selection type questions, projects, assignments, essays and practical tests. However, I also used Q&A and a worksheet (the primary assessment tool).

Petty (2009, 202) suggests, ‘for elements of learning, questioning can be used to provide students with an explanation, to let them use the knowledge you are teaching, and of course to check and correct and indeed to evaluate their learning’. Thus, I used Q&A for the recall of information and to promote thinking and understanding (see appendix A). This type of informal assessment also provided a means of ascertaining the existing level of learning/entry behaviour and was used to asses the learning that had taken place during and/or at the end of the lesson.

However, according to Reece and Walker (2007, 42), short answer/completion assessment is useful ‘when the learning outcome is to ‘recall’ rather than to recognise information, for simple computational problems or when a selection type is too obvious’. Thus, before the lesson ended, I handed out a worksheet on leadership to provide a student activity (see appendix B). The worksheet was aimed at testing their understanding of the material covered within the lesson (i.e. leadership styles and theories). The worksheet was a type of ‘assignment sheet,’ consisting of a number of questions to be answered (Reece and Walker 2007, 174). The worksheet was clear, logical, straightforward, concise and written at a vocabulary level the learners’ would understand. The learners’ were told that they could refer to class notes to help them to answer the questions. When the learners’ were completing the worksheet I walked round to check their understanding, allowing for ‘one-on-one’ tuition. This facilitated with individual attention, an opportunity to observe individual problems and a chance for the learners to question me about their concerns, which Petty (2009) suggests is good practice. 

By using Q&A and worksheets, I was able to provide feedback to the learners’. Feedback is ‘one of the five principal factors underpinning successful learning’ (Race 2005, 08). The feedback was provided immediately upon completion of the worksheet. Immediate feedback being most effective, as learners’ can still remember exactly what they were thinking as they address each task (Race 2001, 85). The feedback concentrated upon ways in which improvements might be made as opposed to giving a mark for the work learnt in the class. Minton (2005, 111) states that ‘feedback enables learning to take place’, thus I felt that numerical/letter grades alone would not have provided useful information for evaluation or appraisal process. Grades can also demotivate low attainers and often fail to challenge high attainers. Feedback is meant to accelerate progress towards achieving goals in skills and knowledge, together with behavioural and attitudinal changes. It should identify goals that still have to be addressed and achieved, so that learners and teachers can decide what to do now, what still has to be learned, and what still has to change.

Thus, I went through the answers with the learners, allowing for correction and additional support. I took the opportunity to show, correct and congratulate the learners, praising the parts that were answered well to ensure the learners were kept motivated. The aspects that were done less well were highlighted, as opposed to being condemned, and suggestions were provided as to how they may have corrected the aspects. Petty (2009, 67), suggests to ‘mix praise with criticism’, a similar approach to the feedback sandwich (good news, bad news, good news). Thus I used the feedback sandwich to ensure that the learners’ were able to take the criticism positively. For example;

“You all seemed to be able to complete the worksheet well. Be careful, the autocratic style takes on a command approach, whereas the democratic style takes on a cooperative approach. All answers are complete and correct, well done!”

I had mixed praise and criticism, and gave criticism in a forward-looking and positive manner rather than in a backward-looking and negative one. For example: ‘Next time, try to relate the leadership styles to both a sport and real life situation’, not ‘You didn’t relate the leadership styles to enough examples’.

Further, before designing and implementing the assessment instrument, I had considered the following:

Validity – ‘How well a test measures what it is supposed to measure?’

(Reece and Walker 2006, 452)

The assessment tool assessed a sample of abilities that are required in the curriculum. The tool was based on the objectives in the curriculum. For example, as part of their assessment the learners’ are required to understand the leadership styles (autocratic, democratic and Laissez-faire), Fielders Contingency model, the Trait and Great Man theory. The assessment tool was designed to test the aims and objectives stated at the beginning of the lesson. It consisted of short answer questions regarding the topics discussed within the class. In effect, it integrated clearly with the learning process.

Reliability – ‘for research to be reliable it must demonstrate that if it were to be carried out on a similar group of respondents in a similar context, then similar results would be found’ (Cohen, Manioin and Morrison 2000, 117). 

This means that if a test and a re-test were undertaken within an appropriate time span, then similar results would be obtained. However, according to Cohen et al (2000, 117),

‘…The researcher has to decide what an appropriate length of time is; too short and respondents may remember what they said or what they did in the first test situation, too long a time and there may be extraneous effects operating to distort the date (for example, maturation in students, outside influences on the students).’

As well as valid and reliable, the assessment tool had to be authentic, current and reliable. These make up the components of VACSAR (valid, authentic, current, sufficient and reliable), which correspond to the functionality of the tool i.e. does the assessment methodology work effectively? (Petty 2009, 502). Was it cost effective? 

The assessment tool did not take long to construct because the questions were based upon content covered within the lesson. For that reason I was able to pull out key points which reflected content that needed to be covered in their assignment. 

Authentic – since the worksheet required the learners to describe and explain the various theories I did not expect the learners’ to complete the task in five minutes. I gave 15 minutes to complete the worksheet, with time at the end to go over the answers. It was clear that some students worked at different speeds and struggled to come up with examples. For that reason, in the future I will adapt the assessment tool (see appendix c). I feel that perhaps if I had put in some sentences which required filling in the blanks this might have been easier. I then could have concentrated of structured answers for those learners’ who worked faster and understood it more fully. I could have also changed the terminology from ‘explain’ to ‘describe’ or from ‘describe’ to ‘identify’ referring to Blooms Taxonomy of verbs.

Current – the questions were up-to-date with current sporting examples. The questions were based upon the specification for the learners’ sports psychology module.

Sufficient – each question required three examples; one from the class activity, one from a real life situation and one from a high profile team. This enabled me to make judgements on their ability to apply the theories to different situations. Some learners’ were able to provide all three examples, whereas others needed encouragement. Through feedback, it was clear that some learners’ felt it was too much and preferred sporting examples only. 

When deciding upon the type of assessment tool, I also considered the significance of preferences that students have with teaching strategies. The underpinning concepts are:

Students are intrinsically different and have different preferred learning styles. 

Teaching is a purposeful activity, which aims to promote learning and cause learning to take place. (Reece and Walker 2007, 141)

The ‘visual, auditory and kinaesthetic’ (VAK) system suggests three teaching approaches. The visual approach includes diagrams called ‘graphic organisers.’ When using Q&A I used pictures on the PowerPoint presentation to support my ideas. From evaluation, it is clear that the learners’ would have liked some visuals to support theory questions on the assessment tool. 

Second is the auditory approach, with teacher explanations. I had used this when discussing theories and providing examples to the learners. Third is the kinaesthetic approach. Students encounter ideas through action. Unfortunately the assessment tool did not encourage kinaesthetic learning, although many of the individuals would have experienced this in their practical coaching class. In the future, to enhance the assessment tool, I could encourage kinaesthetic learning through role-play or simulated exercise. 

Role-play is when; ‘student acts a part or a role in events before a situation, during the situation and after the situation,’ (Reece and Walker 2007, 127). This would be beneficial in helping the students feel the influences and pressures of the different types of leadership styles.  For this to be effective I could have laminated pre-planned role cards for participants or set up the classroom to enhance realism. The learners would be asked to act out certain leadership styles. They could then be assessed on how well they associated each leadership style to certain situations.

In general, by implementing the assessment tool and through receiving feedback from my peers and learners, I would amend or change aspects of the assessment tool. It became apparent that learners’ do learn differently and require various aids to encourage and promote learning. The association of existing knowledge and new material seems to be most effective with the recall of information. Thus in the future I would try and make the tool more specific to the individual needs of the learner experiences and/or encourage role-play to stimulate effective learning and enhance realism.

References

Coles, A., (2004). Teaching in Post-compulsory Education; Policy, Practice and Values. 1st ed. London: David Fulton. OxfordBrookesUniversity(2009)AboutGibbsReflectivecyclehttp://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/upgrade/a-z/reflective_gibbs.htmlAcessed 27 October 2009

Petty, G., (2009). Teaching Today: A Practical Guide. 4th ed. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd. 

Race, P. (2001) The Lecturer’s toolkit. A practical guide to Learning, Teaching & Assessment. 2nd ed. Abingdon:Kogan Press Ltd.

Race, P. (2005) Making Learning Happen. A Guide for Post Compulsory Education. 1st ed. London:SAGE Publications Ltd. 

Reece, I. & Walker, S., (2007). Teaching, training & learning. A practical guide. 6th ed revised. Tyne and Wear: Business Education Publishers Ltd.

University of Virginia. Newsletter. (1997) Teaching Concerns. [online] Virginia, University of Virginia. Available from: http://trc.virginia.edu/Publications/Teaching_Concerns/Fall_1997/TC_Fall_1997_Lasser.pdf [Accessed 25th October 2009]