Self and Peers Assessment in Education - Speech or Presentation Example

u Introduction In computing, assessment or evaluation is defined as the determination of the value of an expression or variable (English Dictionary, 2013). To apply this definition to what we would intend to say when we use this word in relation to education; in assessment, we try to determine the value of our students, their teachers, our curricula, and our education systems using the test scores obtained in the process. This is usually done through routine practical, theoretical and oral examinations. Even though it is difficult to ensure validity in self and peer assessment because of the myriad of factors influencing such processes, self and peer assessment is essential in maintaining the relevance of education in the 21st century and beyond because it serves not only to assess, but also to educate students and they help to save time and resources as lecturers have a lesser workload. This paper will discuss assessment along the following lines; types, blueprinting, self and peer assessment, and will zone in on the assessment of students on placement in nursing (Machado, 2008; Åkerlind & Pettigrove, 1996). Boss (2008). Assessment in the 21st Century Testing has formed the foundation for assessment of educational sufficiency, and represents high commitment to school accountability and high academic standards. It has been said that we cannot know where we are going unless we know where we are. Often times though, the emotional and financial stakes with which standardized tests are associated may be disproportionately high, causing this commendable goal to be distorted in the process. These same stakes distort the purpose and process of teaching as it becomes about passing exams and nothing else matters; the classes are tailored to the exams, hints are dropped here and there about what may be tested in the next paper, and this is often done at the expense of learning activities which may be more meaningful (Edutopia, 2012). Beyond the stakes of testing, the relevance of testing sometimes also comes into question. Given the stakes that they represent, if tests are too narrowly set within the syllabus or aren’t properly standardized, they provide little to no concrete information that can be used by teachers or schools to improve the learning of individual students (Liu, 2002). Students in Poudre High School's robotics program compete to build a better robot. (Edutopia, 2012). In the 21st Century, the demands of the world today require many skills to be learnt by students. They are required to master thinking skills of high order, and to be able to discern relationships among a wide range of diverse concepts. The abilities analyzed include recall, comparison, analysis, evaluation, and inference. These will be the skills that a literate 21st Century citizen will be required to possess, and they are exactly the types of skills not measured at present by the high-stakes tests. In addition, such skills as collaboration, teamwork, and moral character – more which aren’t measured by our typical standardized tests – are growing ever more important. Organizations require employees with good people skills and the ability to do well in teams (Reiter et al, 2002). Types of assessments There are many different types of assessment used in the education process. These include formative, diagnostic, summative, criterion-referenced, norm-referenced, and interim/benchmarked to mention the most common types. All these are time specific as they assess different measures at different levels. Some of these assessment types have been in existence for a while, and continue to evolve while others are continually invented and developed even still. Diagnostic assessments are carried out prior to beginning the education process. They are done to assess the students’ strengths, weaknesses, skill, and knowledge levels of the students. They are a good measure of what the students already know and give a good indication of what should be stressed upon by the instructor. They help in avoiding repetition- to which teachers are quite often prone. Once the instructor already knows what his students know, he focuses on what they don’t, and more importantly, what they need to know. Diagnostic assessments help instructors to make their learning authentic, and relevant as opposed to being moot (Lepi, 2013). Formative assessments are done to assess the students’ learning progress during the entire instruction process. It is done regularly in many different forms known under the umbrella name ‘continuous assessment tests’. They provide feedback useful in the improvement of teaching methods by teachers and the improvement of learning by students. Formative assessments are usually low stakes meaning they have low to no point value (Lepi, 2013). Examples of these assessments may include those in which students are asked to; submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture turn in a research proposal for early feedback draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic In Eeva Reeder's class, students must develop a site plan and a written proposal. They must then make an oral presentation to local school architects who judge the projects. (Boss, 2008) Summative assessments are used to measure the achievement of a student at the end of an instruction period. The results are majorly for the school’s and the teacher’s use. Because results are given back to the students or parents after a long time period, summative tests usually have no bearing on student learning. Moreover, students have no further opportunity to be assessed beyond these tests. However, information obtained from summative tests can be used formatively if it is used to guide the subsequent learning activities and teaching methods. (Edutopia, 2012; Lepi, 2013). Student learning is evaluated by being measured against a standard benchmark. These assessments are usually high stakes meaning that they have a high point value. Summative tests examples include; a final project a midterm exam a senior recital a paper The three other types of assessments are minor types. Norm-referenced assessments are those that compare a student’s performance against a norm- which could be a national standard or otherwise. Criterion-referenced assessment compares student performance against a standard, set objective or goal. The final assessment type, interim/benchmarked assessments evaluate student performance periodically, and are usually done at the end of the grading period. They are used to predict student performance on subsequent end- year summative tests (Lepi, 2013). Tests/assessments contain questions of which there are five main types including; multiple choice, extended constructed response, constructed response, performance task, and technology enhanced. The three main methods of delivery of assessment are pencil and paper, online, or computer adaptive testing (these use algorithms to adapt tests to user responses). Scoring of the tests is done either by computer, by hand, or distributed scoring. It is important to note that all these different variables in testing may also affect test results thus giving flawed outcomes to assessments (Lepi, 2013). Blueprinting Merriam-Webster defines a blueprint as “a photographic print that shows how something (such as a building) will be made”. It may also be defined informally as a detailed plan; whether figurative or literal. Blueprinting is being used in Health Science education in a bid to improve upon outcomes of the educative process (Hamdy, 2006). According to the MBBS Curriculum Review Forum (2008), there is a discrepancy between the perspectives of teachers and students on curriculum especially when from the point of view of assessments. Teachers often give priority to content and outcomes; these are the objectives of their teaching sessions. Students on the other hand tend to prioritize assessment tasks- whether they will pass or fail. The result therefore is a serious mismatch between assessment and outcomes and this confuses both the learning and the teaching enterprises. Teacher: Outcomes –> objectives –> activities -> assessment Student: Assessment -> activities ->? Objectives ->? Outcomes The aim of blueprinting is to improve assessment validity, and it does this through a number of different ways; It gives information that can be used in the development of assessment tasks that are more appropriate to the learning objectives. It provides a framework through which the assessment process can be aligned with desired learning outcomes through deciding what will be assessed and how. It may be used to make sure that the appropriate content, objectives range, and weightings are addressed in the designing of instruments of examination. It permits communication and sharing with others since it is a document. It avails evidence which can be used in the development and planning for assessments. It makes planning easier and assessment methods more consistent over time. It provides information that can be used in auditing; how assessment strategies and outcomes are aligned (Hamdy, 2006). Validity of content is established through demonstrating that a test adequately covers the areas under assessment. Blueprints categorically show relationships between learner outcomes and how these are assessed at every level. Blueprinting is based on the idea that the ways in which curricula are set directly affect the ways in which assessment is done. Thus if the curriculum is poorly set, the assessments used will not measure what we intend them to measure, in which case they are not a good indicator for student learning- the entire purpose of education (Hamdy, 2006). Self and peer assessment Self and peer assessment are some of the ways used by assessors to help students internalize the characteristics of quality work. Self assessment on the other hand helps students to manage their learning progress and modify their learning strategies. In self assessment, students learn to examine the things they are learning and how they are learning them. Both of these types of assessments have their own advantages and a fair share of disadvantages at the same time (Hanrahan, & Isaacs, 2001; Matsuno, 2009). Students usually assess one another individually using a criteria list that is already predetermined. The marks assigned by group members are then averaged to form an aggregate mark. Peer assessments have many advantages including the following; Since the marking criteria have been agreed upon, there is little room for confusion about assignment expectations and outcomes. They encourage students to become responsible and involved in their learning processes. They encourage students to consider carefully their roles and contributions to group work tasks. They help students to develop and sharpen their judgment skills. Since the students are involved, they are able to take partial ownership for the process. The feedback they generate is more relevant to students as it comes from their peers. When they operate successfully, peer reviews may help reduce the lecturer’s workload, leaving more time for other relevant learning activities. They encourage autonomy, authenticity, and improve students’ will to learn (Sadler, & Good, 2006). Peer assessment disadvantages include; There is a degree of risk of the integrity of the process as it may be affected by peer pressure, and judgment may be clouded by lack of objectivity due to the preexisting relationships among peers. This may happen despite the guidelines provided. Students may tend toward awarding the same mark to everyone. Students generally feel ill equipped to undertake the task. Students may also be reluctant to pass judgments on their peers, and doing so may cause discrimination or victimization by the others (Sadler, & Good, 2006). Self assessments are done when students assess their own works based on a set of guidelines. According to Kruger and Dunning (1999), over the four studies conducted, it was proven that humans tend to rate their own abilities more highly than they actually are. In self assessment, it is important to be aware of this fact and to follow the marking criteria truthfully. Some people tend to be overly critical of themselves while conversely, others tend to be overly lenient. It is a proven fact that it is quite difficult to be or even remain subjective when assessing one’s own work (Scrocco, 2012). Nevertheless, self assessment does have some advantages of its own. These include; It encourages students to be involved and develop responsibility. It allows students to consider the assessment of their peers on their work. They help to develop the judgment skills of students. Teacher Beverly Hoeltke goes over Key Learning's unconventional progress report -- which includes self-assessment -- with a student and his mother. (Edutopia, 2012) Assessment of Clinical skills Clinical skill assessments are done in a variety of ways. These are learned in a variety of settings, such as PEP (Professional Experience Placement) for nursing students. In Australia, clinical skills learned on PEP (an 80 hour placement in acute care nursing supervised by a facilitator/preceptor) are assessed along a set of guidelines. The aim of PEP’s learning experience is to provide students on clinical nursing practice a chance to integrate their theoretical knowledge with actual practice in a clinical context (James Cook University, 2013). Students gain confidence and experience in using nursing skills such as assessment skills, interpersonal skills, among others. In order to pass PEP, 1. Students must gain a satisfactory (S) grade on the Record of clinical assessment which must be completed only by the facilitator. 2. Meet the 100% attendance requirement on PEP. 3. Gain an overall S grade on the assessment of clinical skills; this is completed by the student and finally signed by the facilitator. Failure to meet the above requirements earns the students a FAIL (N) grade for this subject. PEP, just like many other clinical skill assessment tests such as OSCEs are observational. This presents a challenge to the facilitator/examiner in terms of maintain objectivity over the assessment process. One of the ways in which they try to combat this problem is by ensuring that there are at least two facilitators conducting the process. They also try to ensure that there is gender balance in the facilitator panel and that students get to be assessed by different facilitators. The group of facilitators then averages the results of individual students in a bid to achieve a fairly standardized result (Levett-Jones, & Bourgeois, 2007). Peer and self assessment is however not common practice in nursing and the medical field in general. Even when it is done, it is usually categorized as a formative assessment and will count for very little if at all toward the students’ end result. Such assessment is very rare in the learning phase but may be represented in the form of Continuing Medical Education (CMEs) where one makes a presentation on a certain topic to their peers. These presentations are then assessed by peers, but there are usually no guidelines along which this is done, and the feedback is only verbal and therefore not very helpful if at all (Machado, 2008; Scrocco, 2012). Conclusion Self and peer assessment is an important albeit underutilized channel of education. It has numerous benefits when well applied and could potentially transform the way in which education is done. Self and peer assessment are important if each student’s learning needs are to be catered to at the individual level. Moreover, they help students become personally vested in their education process, transferring the responsibility of ensuring that they have learned the skill from the lecturer to the student. In this way, students and teachers work toward the common goal of outcomes instead of passing assessments. If education should improve, we must get the students to care about what they learn, and using self and peer assessments could begin to achieve this (Pope, 2005; Shore, Shore, & Thornton, 1992). References Åkerlind, G. S., Pettigrove, M. G. (1996). Peer review and self-evaluation: a toolkit resource booklet for the improvement of teaching and learning. Canberra, Australia. CEDAM Publishers. Hamdy, H. (2006), Blueprinting for the assessment of health care professionals. The Clinical Teacher, 3: 175–179. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-498X.2006.00101.x Hanrahan, S. J., & Isaacs, G. (2001). Assessing Self- And Peer-assessment: The Students' Views. Higher Education Research & Development, 20(1), 53-70. How Should We Measure Student Learning? The Many Forms of Assessment | Edutopia. (2012). Edutopia | K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work. Retrieved September 20, 2013, from http://www.edutopia.org/comprehensive-assessment-introduction James Cook University (2013). professional experience placement (pep) information & assessment booklet. Study Period 2. Retrieved from http://www.jcu.edu.au/nursing/public/groups/everyone/documents/standard/jcuprd1_058753.pdf Kruger J, Dunning D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Social Psychology. 77(6):1121-34. Liu, E. Z. (2002). Alternatives to Instructor Assessment: A Case Study of Comparing Self and Peer Assessment with Instructor Assessment under a Networked Innovative Assessment Procedures. International Journal of Instructional Media, 61, 13. Levett-Jones, T., & Bourgeois, S. (2007). The clinical placement: An essential guide for nursing students, Marrickville: Elsevier Lepi, K. (2013). The 6 Types Of Assessments (And How They’re Changing). Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/the-6-types-of-assessments-and-how-theyre-changing/ Machado, J. L. (2008). Self- and peer assessment may not be an accurate measure of PBL tutorial process.(Research article)(Report). BMC Medical Education, 19, 23-24. Matsuno, S. (2009). Self-, Peer-, And Teacher-assessments In Japanese University EFL Writing Classrooms. Language Testing, 26(1), 075-100. Pope, N. K. (2005). The Impact Of Stress In Self‐ And Peer Assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(1), 51-63. Reiter, H. I., Eva, K. W., Hatala, R. M., & Norman, G. R. (2002). Self And Peer Assessment In Tutorials. academic medicine, 77(11), 1134???1139. Sadler, P., & Good, E. (2006). The Impact Of Self- And Peer-Grading On Student Learning. Educational Assessment, 11(1), 1-31. Scrocco, D. A. (2012). How do you think you did? Involving tutors in self-assessment and peer-assessment during OWL training.(online writing lab). Writing Lab Newsletter, 23, 15-16. Shore, T. H., Shore, L. M., & Thornton, G. C. (1992). Construct Validity Of Self- And Peer Evaluations Of Performance Dimensions In An Assessment Center. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77(1), 42-54. Read More