General
Making the grade - assessments
Assessing and Marking are two of the most demanding areas of teaching. It is important you follow some basic guideliness and apply the KISS principle until you become more knowledgable
Assessing and Marking
Assessing, testing, examining...call it what you will this is a cruicial part of your student engagement and the reason students have enrolled and participate - to gain a good pass mark.
If for some reason the course you are tutoring does not have assessments already written speak to your line manager. At this early stage you shou7ld not be trying to develop assessments.
They should be included as part of the course materials and you shuld become very familar with them early in the piece.
If you are teaching to unit standrds the assessments will be quite presciptive and you will be assessing students again perfomrnace rtieria across range statements.
Lost already - not surprising, you need your programme meader or lead ytutor to spend some time with you on assessing unit standards. Ask for this as soon as possible.
Marking assessments is also daunting first time around.
You should have a "marking schedule" with each assessment. There are examples added to the resources. Simply put this tells you and yout students how many marks are attached to everything in the assessment, for example spelling and punctuation, correct bolts used on a structure, ingredients measured carfully, etc.
In the case of each assessment you mark against those criteria and enter the mark on the schedule eg 6/10, or 2/5, plus add comments if you wish.
OR if you are assessing unit standards you mark the student either "competent" or not competent".
There is a resource attached to this module which explains this in more detail.
Consistency
You will become familiar with the term "moderation". It is a method by which tutors compare student work done by others to ensure that makring is consistent and accurate.
Students pick up very quyickly if consistency is not being applied to their learning and their assessments. You need to continually check yourself, and in the early days ask other to check your marking.
Formative and summative:
There are two forms of assessment formative and summative.
A formative assessment is one you can use to let you, and yout stufdents, know how you are all doing.
For example a 10 question test on how to boil an egg would tell you if you have taught the students the correct techqnue, and tell them both and you if they have learned the technique correctly.
A summative assessment the the 'real one'. One which counts towards final marks.
You must always be very clear with your students whether a test/quiz/assesment or activity you set them is just a snapshot of where they are with their learning (formative), or formal and will be marked in accordance wirth Programme Regulations ( summative).
Reflection:
The phrase "never look back" was not made up for tutors.
It is imortant that you look back in every tutorial/lesson/session you deliver and think about how you could do better:
- Was the session to full of information or too lightwright and boring
- Was it paced quickly enough or did it drag?
- Did the resources work?
- What could liven it up - more groupwork?
Improvement:
When you have thought about the lesson adjust your lesson plan accordingly for next time.
A tip: When you are new to teaching check how you are doing regulary with the students. One way is via "sticky feedback", another is with a qhort questionnaire.
Examples of both are attached as a resource.
8 minute Video on assessment
A good overview of the precepts of assessment for learning. Covers the ways teachers can help students to take ownership of their own learning.
Think About
What does the term ' assessment for learning' mean?
What is your concept of the role of assessment in the programme you currently teach?
Watch For
Are the six ways recommended to help students become engaged in their own learning realistic?
Reflect
How can I introduce and model 'assessment for learning' practices in my current teaching practice?