Effective Ways to Assess Student Learning
Assessing Student Learning for the Business Accounting and Financial
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Contents
Introduction Strategies to Assess Student
Learning
Good Practices
on Assessment Conclusion
1、Introduction
To clarify
Of the Aims course
To Understand
X examination tips X examination skills
strategies to assess student learning
good practices in assessing student learning
2、Strategies to Assess
Student Learning
Student Learning
Major types of Assessment
Individual vs Collective
High vs
Low-stake Formal
vs Informal
Formative vs
Summative
Formal vs Informal
Formal Assessments
• They are formal ways of finding out how much a student has learnt or improved during the instructional period. They evaluate the performance of students on the basis of grades/criteria in standardized tests. Examples of which include exams, achievement tests, screening, intelligence tests etc
Informal Assessments
• They are tools that can judge and evaluate students’ performance and skill levels without making use of standardized tests and scoring patterns. Examples of which includes projects, experiments or presentations given by students, or even
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High vs Low-stake
High-stake Assessments
• They are used to make important decisions about students, most commonly for the purpose of grading and selection. Examples of which include HKDSE exam, IELTS, CRE etc
Low-stake Assessments
• They are also used to measure academic achievement, identify learning problems, or inform instructional adjustments but in the sense that the results generally
carry no significant or public consequences. Examples of which include school exams, entrance test etc
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Individual vs Collective
Individual Assessments
• They are designed to evaluate students capabilities and progress of learning individually. It has become more popular with the popularity of web-based learning.
Collective Assessments
• They are designed to evaluate students capabilities and progress of learning
collectively, without single out the performance of a specific student. Examples of which include group work and presentations with performance evaluated on a group basis.
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Summative vs Formative
Summative Assessments
• They are given periodically to determine what students know and what they do not know at a particular point of time. As they help in evaluation of certain learning aspects at a particular point of time only that do not allow for
instructional adjustments and interventions during the learning process, formative assessment comes into picture
Formative Assessments
• They usually take place during day to day learning experiences and involve
ongoing, informal observations throughout the term or unit of study. Purposes of which are to build a cumulative record of student achievement, and assist teachers in monitoring student’s progress and modifying teaching programs to adapting learning.
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Purpose of Assessing Student Learning
To inform teaching
To improve learning
To grade performance
Strategies to Assess Student Learning
Homework Assignment
Tests / Exams
Group Work
?
?
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Problem
• Unhappy are moments when we discover – often while grading the test or exam – that what our students have learned is not at all what we thought we were teaching.
What are students learning?
Purpose of Assessing Student Learning To inform teaching
To improve learning
To grade performance
Think – Pair – Share
• Think one assessment that you can use in the classroom to improve pedagogical practices and integrative assignment
• Pair up with one classmate
• Share your assessment
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Strategies to Assess Student Learning
Homework Assignment
Tests / Exams
Group Work
CATs
JiTT
Concept
map
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
Purpose:
It is a set of ungraded activities conducted in the classroom setting for teacher’s use to
• quickly gauge students’ comprehension over a topic/concept
• provide the teachers feedback on whether or not students understand course material so that adjustments can be made before the end of the term
• Guide students in a self-analysis of their own learning process
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Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
Examples:
• Minutes paper
• Chain notes
• Memory matrix
• Directed paraphrasing
• One-sentence summary
• Exam evaluations
• Application cards
• Student-generated test questions · · ·
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
Tips:
• Start off simple by choosing a technique that easily fits your teaching style and classroom time limits.
• Conduct at least one CAT before the first major assignment, so that you can intercept any problems or questions before the fact.
• Don't feel obligated to do a CAT every day or every week. You'll create information overload for yourself and "survey overload" for your students.
• When you do any CAT, explain its purpose and your goal clearly to students.
• Report your findings to your students and let them know what you plan to
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Just in Time Teaching (JiTT)
Purpose:
It is a teaching and learning strategy based on the interaction between web-based study assignments and an active learner classroom that aims to
• promote active student engagement to facilitate learning and teaching
• maximize the efficacy of the classroom session
• better structure the out-of-class time Methodology:
• Students respond electronically to carefully constructed web-based assignments which are due before class, and the teacher reads the submissions "just-in-time"
to adjust the classroom lesson to suit students' learning needs , so that a
"feedback loop" is formed by students’ outside-of-class preparation that
fundamentally affects what happens during the subsequent in-class time together.
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Just in Time Teaching (JiTT)
Examples:
• WarmUps are short, web-based assignments, prompting the student to think about and answer prior to class. Teachers, who review the
submissions "just-in-time“, will use them to form the framework for the classroom activities that follow. The answers do not have to be complete, or even correct. In fact, partially correct responses are particularly useful as classroom discussion fodder.
• Puzzle exercises are assigned to students after they have received formal instruction on a particular topic, and serve as the framework for a wrap-up session on a particular topic.
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Concept Map
Purpose:
They are graphical representation of students’ knowledge which could
• provide teacher with insights into how students organize and represent knowledge.
• serve as a useful strategy for assessing both the knowledge students have coming into a program or course and their developing knowledge of course material.
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Concept Map
How it works:
• A concept map typically represents ideas and information as boxes or circles, which it connects with labeled arrows in a downward-
branching hierarchical structure. The relationship between concepts can be articulated in linking phrases such as causes, requires, or
contributes to. The back and forth of such process facilitate the generation of ideas and consolidation of knowledge.
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Concept Map
Tips:
• starts with creating a fill-in-the-blank concept map in which some circles are blank or some lines are unlabeled.
• Assign the same concept map activity several times over the unit of learning
• Allow students the opportunity to revise
• Used at different points throughout the semester to gauge
students’ knowledge, assumptions and misconceptions they bring
with them · · ·
on Assessing Student Learning
• Make sure the assessment tasks align with the learning objectives
• Consider the context of the assessment, make reference to the current progress in student learning
• Cater for the range of student ability and learning style
• Enable tracking of progress over time
• Provide timely feedback on the assessment information
• Allow feedback from peers and from the students themselves
Principles
3、Good Practices on
Assessment for Learning
Good
Practices in Assessment for Learning
• Be encouraged and integral to learning
• Can measure student achievement at an appropriate standard
• Be fair, inclusive and equitable for all students
• Be developmental and responsive
• Entails reasonable workloads for teachers and
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Illustrations on Good Practices
Designing Assessment Items 1
Designing Assessment Items
Good Practices:
• Name assessment accurately
• Articulate the task description clearly
• Consider the learning objective
• Check feasibility
• Be interesting and challenging
• Consider sequencing
• Establish clear performance criteria
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1
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Illustrations on Good Practices
2 Using Concept Maps
Using Concept Maps
Good practices:
• To be applied on “concept” only
• Create a focus question that clearly specifies the issue that the concept map should address
• Employ a hierarchical structure that distinguishes concepts and facts at different levels of specificity
• Draw connections, or cross-links, that illustrate how ideas in different domains are related
• Make use of “causes”, “requires”, or “contributes to” in construction
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2
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Illustrations on Good Practices
Creating and Using Rubrics 3
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Illustrations on Good Practices
4 Using Five-part Assessment Checklist
