Category: EDCI565

Link to resource: Assessment Research, Resources and Rationale

 

Assessment is a crucial component of learning used in both K-12 and post-secondary education.  In order to support other educators, we wanted to examine assessment through the lens of an online learning environment.  Assessment is meant to focus on “student involvement and authentic, meaningful assessment, leading to the development of a variety of assessment forms” (Weurlanderet al., 2012).  Quality assessment requires knowledge of provincial curriculum frameworks, district vision and goals, as well as teachers’ expertise with traditional and online tools to support it. Furthermore, there is an emphasis on competence-based curriculum focusing on “capability rather than factual knowledge” (Weurlanderet al., 2012).  The resources we curated as well as the resources we created are supported by research and support our learning outcomes. 

Formative and summative assessment are vital aspects of all learning environments. Formative assessment informs teachers of students ongoing learning and understanding, whereas summative is a final capturing of students overall learning. According to Weurlander et al. (2012) formative assessment can influence “students’ learning in a number of ways. It sends messages about what counts as important knowledge; it has an impact on students’ approach to learning and gives feedback to students about their learning” (p. 749). Additionally, they included research that found formative assessment “positive[ly] impact[s] student learning” (p. 749). When considering or creating assessment, it is important to include a variety of “assessment tasks [as they] have the potential to support student learning in different ways” (p.758). Moreover, a multitude of assessment strategies, including collaborative and blended learning approaches, increases student engagement (Vaughan, 2014). 

Summative assessment is meant to be a final snapshot of students learning.  However, it can exclude learners or create anxiety when the stakes are high for a singular assessment for both in-person and online learning environments states that, 

“[h]igh– stakes tests are inevitably designed to be as ‘objective’ as possible, since there is a premium on reliable marking in the interests of fairness. This has the effect of reducing what is assessed to what can be readily and reliably marked. Generally, this excludes many worthwhile outcomes of education such as problem-solving and critical thinking” (p. 209).  

Another concern about high-stakes summative assessments is that they may encourage cheating, a pressing concern for teachers, particularly in an online environment (Mellar et at.,2018).  Creating a variety of authentic summative assessments and giving students choice can help to ensure their validity (Mellar et al., 2018). Therefore, it is imperative that students are provided with a variety of summative assessments with low stakes when teaching online. 

When integrating formative and summative assessment strategies, teachers should consider the quantity, as creating too many assessments to track student progress can have a negative impact (Vaughan, 2014).  This also restricts teachers from providing timely feedback to their students, a key component of successful online learning (Gaytan and Mcewen, 2007). “Feedback is therefore a key component in formative assessment, and students need to understand and be able to act on the feedback they receive in order to improve their learning” (Black and Wiliam 1998; Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick 2006; Sadler 1989, 1998; as cited in Weurlander et al.,2012., p. 748).  Furthermore, Shea and Bidjerano (2010) discovered that teaching presence along with teaching students the technological skills they need to complete and navigate given tasks leads to “successful online learning” (p. 1727).  Thus, well planned online learning experiences along with feedback, help and encouragement also improves learning success for at risk learners (Hughes, 2007). 

In conclusion, when considering online or in-person teaching environments, summative and formative assessments are vital.  Formative assessment should be used to continually check in with students about their understanding of content, leading into a summative review of their learning. When assessing students, a variety of tools and strategies should be used in order to reach all learners for both types of assessments. Overall, the focus of this project was to provide teachers with a realistic and comprehensive overview of what assessment in classroom and online environments could entail.  

Co-Authored by Faune Nicholas, Jerry Chien, Leanne Huston, and Rochelle Smith

 

References 

• Gaytan, J., & Mcewen, B. C. (2007). Effective Online Instructional and Assessment Strategies. American Journal of Distance Education, 21(3), 117–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/08923640701341653
• Harlen, W. (2005). Teachers’ summative practices and assessment for learning – tensions and synergies. The Curriculum Journal, 16(2), 207–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585170500136093
• Hughes, G. (2007). Using blended learning to increase learner support and improve retention. Teaching in Higher Education, 12(3), 349-363. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13562510701278690 
• Mellar, H., Peytcheva-Forsyth, R., Kocdar, S., Karadeniz, A., & Yovkova, B. (2018). Addressing cheating in e-assessment using student authentication and authorship checking systems: teachers’ perspectives. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-018-0025-x 
• Shea, P., & Bidjerano, T. (2010). Learning presence: Towards a theory of self-efficacy, self-regulation, and the development of a communities of inquiry in online and blended learning environments. Computers & Education, 55(4), 1721–1731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.07.017 
• Vaughan, N. (2014). Student Engagement and Blended Learning: Making the Assessment Connection. Education Sciences, 4(4), 247–264. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci4040247 
• Weurlander, W., & Soderberg, M., & Scheja, M., & Hakan, H., & Wernerson, A., (2012). Exploring formative assessment as a tool for learning: students’ experiences of different methods of formative assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 37.(6). 747-760, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2011.572153

As educators, assessment is a large part of our job and there are a vast number of tools and pedagogies available. Therefore, as a group we chose to look at the specific aspects of assessment and online assessment tools for the current time we are in, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We first created a set of learning outcomes for assessment (see below), then our curated list and finally we collaborated on a blog post. The Key to Unlocking Assessment seeks to provide educators with ideas of how to transition into the blended and online learning environment that will likely be our reality in the fall. These sources, strategies, and tools were chosen with a critical lens in order to provide practical resources for the everyday educator. The remainder of this post provides our rationale behind this curation. We focused on a range of resources from connections to ministry curriculum, different types and formats of assessments, tools to conduct them, and opportunities for professional development. To achieve this, we examined government and university articles, commercial enterprises, as well as public/private blogs. The CRAAP test was applied to each entry, to evaluate whether they were: Current, Relevant, Accredited, Accurate, and Purposeful. There were only a few resources in our curated list that did not meet every aspect of the test, however they were included for the following reasons.  

1. Old ministry document: This document is not considered current as it was created in 1994. However, the PDFs are still useful as a starting point for educators; although some adjustments will need to be made in order to address updated curriculum. Included in the list are the updated curriculum resources. 

1. Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment: A 2001 summary of a 1998 literature review that provides a detailed outline of the important building blocks of assessment by answering the questions of why assessment is important and how it aids learners. It focuses specifically on formative assessment for learning. Although the literature review was written over 20 years ago the information provided is still applicable to today’s learners and educators.  

1. Assessing the Online Learner: Does not contain a specific date but does contain referenced work from 2007, therefore we can reasonably conclude that it was written sometime after this. The information shared is applicable, purposeful, reliable, accurate and could be a very useful resource for teachers.  

Learning Outcomes for Assessment: 

• Identify self-assessment tools that allow students to engage with content through:  
  • Explanation 
  • Justification 
  • Personal connection  

• Build and apply rubrics and scales to assess curricular competencies.  
• Investigate and utilize various forms of formative and summative assessment for online learning environments.  
• Develop a variety of assessment methods to engage students in a subject area using technology. 
  • Consider teaching/learning environment (online vs blended) 
  • Personalized to consider student needs.  
  • Voice and choice 
  • Use assessment to inform instruction 

• Construct timely assessment or appropriate support to ensure student success.  
  • Check-ins 
  • Support Blocks 
  • Office Hours  
  • Communication Home 

 What’s Next? 

Our next step is to create resources and evidence informed content that will authentically assess student understanding, in our new learning context. Additionally, we aim to aid educators in developing their own assessment skills, strategies, and tools, that will fit both in-class, blended and online environments.  

 

Co-Authors: Faune, Jerry, Leanne, Rhyanon and Rochelle.  

 

With the majority of districts shifting towards distance learning thanks to Covid, there have been plenty of interest and questions around how we implemented our Blended and Online program. The quick answer is – it’s a work in progress. The framework or platform (Learning Management System, or LMS) may be in place, but it is not ideal. The simple solution to all would be providing the association which we get our pre-made courses from (it’s Western Canadian Learning Network, aka WCLN) and offering troubleshooting support for those learning to operate Moodle as an LMS. This “here is the resource, good luck figuring it out” is basically the same treatment given to us when we started.  I always wonder why some teachers think we’re better off because “we have everything online already”. There is nothing stopping them from simply scanning and uploading their worksheets, nothing fancy about rotating the camera on your phone to record your lectures, and nothing different about recommending Youtube videos for students to watch. If they’re not interested, then they too can access the same readily available online courses we do and join us in suffering the same issues: restrictions to content customization, broken links, random updates, missing/incorrect (teacher) resources, and of course, good intention for changes which lead to unintended catastrophic failures. It reminds me of a Reddit joke:

99 little bugs in the code,
99 little bugs in the code.
Take one down, patch it around,
123 little bugs in the code.

We’re not even that well versed in synchronous online meetings. Our blended program has mandatory face-to-face instruction so students who are struggling with learning at home still come in-person every week for help. I imagine this is the same issue that most brick & mortar teachers face; students who don’t do any work at home so that 70-80min block every day is the only time they make any progress. We have it worse – that one block once a week is the only time we connect with them. With Covid moving these supports online, these students lose out even more because they never engaged in at-home learning in the first place. Our district also recommends teachers to use Microsoft Teams of BlueJeans or Zoom for these online meetings. Not only are we unable to help you operate those proficiently, we also can’t help with Teams because we were introduced to it at the same time as everyone else.

Then there is the myth that our students are somehow better equipped to deal with distance learning because they’re already doing it. Students who enroll in these program are not all tech wizards. Like all other students, they exhibit a diverse spectrum of technological literacy. We have students who download, print, and submit hardcopies despite our marking being done online. We have students who swears by Apple devices and struggle to hand in assignments because they don’t know how to convert it to Word files; even though our school provides 1:1 Microsoft device. They also complain that resource links are broken despite repeated reminders of DON’T USE SAFARI. I even had a student who came in late-May and asked why I was surprised they didn’t  Teams setup; they thought everyone was just going to pass thanks to Covid.