MODULE 3 - Trends in Methodology, Pedagogy and Evaluation

MODULE 3 - Trends in Methodology, Pedagogy and Evaluation

Prepared by

SABARISH-P

M.Sc., M.Ed., JRF & NET

Assistant Professor in Physical Science, Arafa Institute for Teacher Education

Attur, Thrissur.

Contact me : pklsabarish@gmail.com

Methodological paradigm shifts in knowledge construction

·         Knowledge construction involves the gathering of information and experiencing the world by the knowledge seeker.

·         Educational systems are aiming to provide students with the social values, attitudes and constructive experiences to enable them to contribute actively to the new spaces of social life and work.

·         There are three main philosophical frameworks under which learning theories fall namely behaviourism, cognition and constructivism.

·         Behaviourism focuses onobjectively observable aspects of learning.

·         Cognitive theories look beyond behaviourto explain brain-based learning.

·         Both behaviourism and cognitive theories can be considered as approaches of realism.

·         Constructivism is a perspective in whichlearning is a process of understanding, which leads to modifications in thebehaviour of the learner due to experiences, a process of individually self-organisingknowledge.

·         Constructivism emphasises the importance of the knowledge, beliefs, and skills an individual brings to the experience of learning.

·         Learning in the constructivist perspective is a process of constantly adapting to situations, which consist of ever-changing relations between subject, object and context.

·         Education today is focused on breaking down complex phenomena into abstract parts. For example, subjects and different topics within subjects.

·         Aspects of knowledge are considered in their singularity, and distributed inductivelyto the student.

·         Constructivism recognises the construction of new understanding as a combination of prior learning, new information, and readiness to learn.

·         Individuals make choices about what new ideas to accept and how to fit them into their established views of the world.

·         Fundamental conceptual changes in perceptions of teaching show constructivist roots and perusal of school textbooks reveals the influence of constructivist views of learning.

·         Knowledge is believed to exist independently of the learner and then to become internalised as it is transferred from its external reality to an internal reality of the learner.

·         Constructivism proposes that learner conceptions of knowledge are derived from a meaning-making search in which learners engage in a process of constructing individual interpretations of their experiences.

·         The nature of social constructivism is social interaction in contrast to individual investigation of cognitive constructivism. Through the cognitive give and take of social interactions, personal knowledge is constructed.

·         There is important congruence among most constructivists with regard to four central characteristics believed to influence all learning :

·         Learners construct their own learning.

·         The dependence of new learning on students’ existing understanding.

·         The critical role of social interaction.

·         The necessity of authentic learning tasks for meaningful learning.

·         Students develop knowledge through an active construction process.

·         How information is presented and how learners are supported in the process of constructing knowledge are of major significance.

·         Students’ current understandings provide the immediate context for interpreting any new learning.

·         Understanding is facilitated by exchanges that occur through social interaction, through questioning and explaining, challenging and offering timely support and feedback.

·         Learning communities focus on helping group members learn, by supporting one another through respectful listening and encouragement.

·         Knowledge is conceived as being embedded in and connected to the situation where the learning occurs.

·         Thinking and knowledge that is constructed are inextricably tied to the immediate social and physical context of the learning experience.

·         Reciprocal teaching is a successful method for teaching reading comprehension in which metacognitive skills, including question generation, prediction and summary are taught through teacher modeling, followed by student enactment of the same metacognitive behaviors.

·         The goal is to encourage self-regulated learning, by helping learners develop effective learning strategies and knowledge of when to use them.

·         The constructivist teacher sets up problems and monitors student exploration, guides the direction of student inquiry, and promotes new patterns of thinking.

·         The constructivist teacher incorporates lessons of all types into classroom life depending upon the analysis of the needs of the learners.

·         Constructivists value asking big questions, giving students time to think, and providing opportunities to explore to find answers.

·         While this way of teaching requires more time, by ensuring sufficient time, students gain a better grasp of complex ideas.

·         It is of utmost importance for effective constructivist teaching that the conditions for learning be carefully structured, and that students’ learning activities and learning be carefully monitored.

·         Competent constructivist teaching demands not only full engagement by students, but also meaningful engagement and accountability by teachers.

Ethnographicmethods

·         Ethnography is the study of social interactions, behaviours, and perceptions that occur within groups, teams, organisations, and communities.

·         The central aim of ethnography is to provide holistic insights into people’s views and actions, as well as the nature of the location they inhabit, through the collection of detailed observations and interviews.

·         Ethnographers typically gather participant observations, necessitating direct engagement and involvement with the world they are studying.

·         Ethnographers need to record a variety of elements in their field notes, due to the complex nature of social life.

·         During their observations, ethnographers routinely use informal or conversational interviews, which allow them to discuss, probe emerging issues, or ask questions about unusual events in a naturalistic manner.

·         Highly candid accounts from individuals can be elicited as the interview technique is casual in nature.

·         Reflexivity denotes the relationship the ethnographer shares with participants and is a central element of ethnographic work.

·         Ethnographic work commonly uses methodological triangulation - a technique designed to compare and contrast different types of methods to help provide more comprehensive insights into the phenomenon under study.

·         Triangulation can be very useful, as sometimes what people say about how their actions can contrast with their actual behaviour.

·         Ethnographers often draw upon social sciences theory to strengthen their research focus and analyses.

Advantages of ethnographic research

·         The use of participant observation enables ethnographers to generate a rich understanding of social action and its subtleties in different contexts.

·         Participant observation also gives ethnographers opportunities to gather empirical insights into social practices that are normally hidden from the public gaze.

·         Since it aims to generate holistic social accounts, ethnographic research can identify, explore, and link social phenomena which, on the surface, have little connection with each other.

Disadvantages of ethnographic research

·         Owing to the relatively long periods of time ethnographers spend talking to participants and observing actions, it can be difficult to secure repeated access.

·         Institutional gatekeepers would be concerned that the research may cast their organisation in a poor light, due to the difficulty in access of information.

·         Obtaining formal approval from research ethicscommittees can be complicated.

·         The direct interactionthat occurs between ethnographers and participants during fieldwork can beregarded with suspicion.

·         Comprehensivelyrecording the multifaceted nature of social actionis a difficult task.

·         The unpredictability of social life often means that ethnographers have to beflexible, patient, and persistent in their work, asdata collection activities can be disrupted or accesswithdrawn as local circumstances and politicschange.

·         Understanding the foundations of ethnography and itskey elements will help readers when they come acrossreports that use this methodology.

Grounded Theory

·         Grounded Theory is a research method that involves forming a theory based on the gathered data. The data could be either quantitative or qualitative and could be of any type.

·         Grounded Theory came into existence when there was a wave of criticism towards the fundamentalist and structural theories that were deductive and speculative in nature.

·         Sociologists and psychologists appreciated the grounded theory because of its explicit and systematic conceptualisation of the theory.

·         Grounded Theory combines two opposing traditions in sociology, positivism and symbolic interactionism.

·         Symbolic interactionism is considered to be one of the most important theories to have influenced grounded theory.

Data acquisition

·         In Grounded Theory methodology, qualitative and/or quantitative data is collected in the same ways, using the same techniques as in other research methodologies.

·         The analysis of data collected in research is often referred to as ‘coding’.

·         Data is coded differently depending on the purpose of the data and the stage of the project.

·         Three stages of data analysis are involved in Grounded Theory namely open coding, axial coding and selective coding. 

Open coding

·         Open coding is the process of selecting and naming categories from the analysis of the data.

·         Open coding is the initial stage in data acquisition and relates to describing overall features of the phenomenon under study.

·         Variables involved in the phenomenon are identified, labelled, categorised and related together in an outline form.

·         The properties of a category are described or dimensionalised at this stage, which involves placing or locating the property along a continuum within a range of possible values.

Axial coding

·         In the next stage of axial coding, data are put together in new ways by utilising a system of coding that seeks to identify causal relationships between categories.

·         The aim of the coding paradigm is to make explicit connections between categories and sub-categories.

·         This process involves explaining and understanding relationships between categories in order to understand the phenomenon to which they relate.

·         Selective coding

·         Selective coding involves the process of selecting and identifying the core category and systematically relating it to other categories.

·         A Grounded Theory is arrived at by the integration of validation ofrelationships of categories, filling in, refining and developing the categories.

Phenomenology

·         Phenomenology is a philosophical practice of observing, recording, and interpreting experience through vivid and detailed descriptions.

·         The practice of phenomenology seeks to expose, uncover, or reveal universal elements of human existence that structure the practical and particular empirical situations.

·         The practice of phenomenology is employed as a way of gathering and interpreting the lived experiences that need to be understood.

·         The phenomenological research tradition requires the researcher to acquire the essence of the research process as this is opened up in the philosophical literature.

·         The phenomenological researcher is required to seek the essence of the tradition, while also attuning his/her being towards the essence of a particular phenomenon.

·         In phenomenological research, the researcher points out the essential understanding of the research approach as well as essential understanding of the particular phenomenon of interest.

·         The lived experience of the teacher-student relationship was identified as the phenomenon of serious interest.

·         The phenomenon of the teacher-student relationship exists as part of the everyday experience in education and has been theorised over a long period of time.

Modern Pedagogy

·         Pedagogy is essentially a combination of knowledge and skills required for effective teaching and can be traditionally defined as the art of teaching that makes a difference in the intellectual and social development of students.

·         Modern pedagogies can be compactly defined as a new model of learning partnerships between and among students and teachers, aiming towards deep learning goals and enabled by pervasive digital access.

·         In the modern pedagogies, the foundation of teacher quality is a teacher’s pedagogical capacity comprising their repertoire of teaching strategies and their ability to form partnerships with students in mastering the process of learning.

·         Technology has unleashed learning, and the potential for students to apply knowledge in the world outside of school; modern pedagogies leverage all of this in the formal learning process.

·         Teaching shifts from focusing on covering all required content to focusing on the learning process, developing students’ ability to lead their own learning and to do things with their learning.

·         Teachers are partners with students in deep learning tasks characterised by exploration, connectedness and broader, real-world purposes.

·         Learning outcomes are measured in terms of students’

·         capacities to build new knowledge and to lead their own learning effectively,

·         proactive dispositions and their abilities to persevere through challenges, and

·         the development of citizens who are life-long learners.

·         Modern pedagogies have the potential to engage all students, not just those who are already highly motivated to learn within and outside the classroom.

·         The teacher’s role in this demands sophisticated pedagogical capacities, requiring expertise across a repertoire of different teaching strategies and continuous evaluation of where students are in their learning progressions.

·         Everyone becomes a teacher in the new pedagogies, and everyone becomes a learner.

·         Much more is expected and demanded of students; to build their confidence through personal feedback and encouragement, with the overall aim to unleash, indeed create, their awareness of their own potential.

·         Modern pedagogies foster a new kind of learning that is more engaging and more connected to real life and that better prepares young people for life and work in today’s world.

Pedagogical Transactions integrating ICT

·         Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can provide flexible and effective ways for professional development for teachers, improve pre-service and in-service teacher training, and connect teachers to the global teacher community.

·         As new concepts of learning have evolved, teachers are expected to facilitate learning and make it meaningful to individual learners rather than just to provide knowledge and skills.

·         Modern developments of innovative technologies have provided new possibilities to teaching professions, but at the same time have placed more demands on teachers to learn how to use these new technologies in their teaching.

·         ICT can be used as a core or a complementary means to the teacher training process.

·         There are many examples of ICT, particularly Internet and Web-based communication technologies, being used to support teachers' on-going professional development and networking.

·         Teachers’ ICT skills can be developed and ICT-pedagogy integration can be promoted in their teaching by providing ICT-based training environments.

·         The approach of using ICT to support teachers’ on-going professional development and networking can be very effective.

Cultural Integration

·         Culture is reflected in students’ multiple social identities and their ways of knowing and of being in the world.

·         In order to ensure that all students are inspired to succeed in a culture of high expectations for learning, schools and classrooms must be responsive to culture.

·         Culturally relevant teaching is a term used to describe teaching that integrates a student’s background knowledge and community experiences into the curriculum and the teaching and learning experiences that take place in the classroom.

·         There are three central tenets underpinning the pedagogy of culturally relevant teaching :

§  holding high expectations for all students,

§  assisting students in the development of cultural competence, and

§  guiding students to develop a critical cultural consciousness.

·         In the student-centred framework of culturally relevant teaching, the uniqueness of each student is not just acknowledged, but nurtured.

·         Theorists write about three dimensions which comprise culturally responsive pedagogy :

·         Institutional : The institutional dimension refers to the administration and leadership of school systems, including the values developed and reflected in school board policies and practices.

·         Personal : The personal dimension encompasses the mindset of culturally responsive educators and the practices they engage in, in order to support the development of all students.

·         Instructional : The instructional dimension includes knowing learners well and considering the classroom practices which lead to a culturally responsive classroom.

·         All three dimensions are foundational to the establishment of an inclusive school culture.

·         Culturally responsive educators hold positive and affirming views of their students and their ability to learn and achieve academic success.

·         Culturally relevant teachers build upon the varied lived experiences of all students in order to bring the curriculum to life.

Constructivist Approach

·         Constructivist approaches of education promote inquiry-based learning, as it supports the creation of new knowledge based on the students’ natural curiosity about their own experiences.

·         Knowledge building is reciprocal because students play an active role in crafting and developing learning experiences for themselves and their peers.

·         Learning is made relevant and accessible for all students in the classroom as they are able to see themselves in the curriculum.

Critical Pedagogy

·         Higher education teaching is particularly uncritical and under-theorised.

·         Most college educators, at both traditional and non-traditional institutions, do little direct pedagogical work to prepare themselves as teachers.

·         A commitment to teaching often goes unrewarded, and pedagogical writing is not counted as research.

·         The entire enterprise of education is too often engaged in teaching that is not pedagogical.

·         Pedagogy starts with learning as its centre, not students or teachers.

·         Critical Pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning based on empoweringlearners. 

·         Critical Pedagogy is concerned less with knowing and more with a big not-knowing and is an on-going and recursive process of discovery.

Reflective Teaching

·         Teaching is a complex and highly skilled activity, and teachers must exercise judgement in deciding how to act to support learning most effectively.

·         Reflective teaching is a process where teachers think over their teaching practices, analysing the teaching process and how the teaching practice might be improved or changed for better learning outcomes.

·         Open-minded consideration of evidence, about one’s own work or that of others, enriches the quality of such judgement in such a way that practice becomes evidence-informed.

·         The progress of high-quality teaching and learning is dependent on the existence of professional expertise of reflective teaching.

·         Reflective teaching practice enables the novice to progress towards expert leadership in their field.

·         Given the nature of teaching, professional development and learning should never stop.

·         Reflective teaching should be personally fulfilling for teachers, but will also lead to a steady increase in the quality of the education provided for learners.

·         Reflective teaching thus supports the improvement of outcomes and helps to satisfy accountability requirements whether in early, school, further, vocational or higher education. 

·         Reflective teaching draws particular attention to the aims, values and social consequences of education and to its contribution to the future.

·         Teachers can collect facts and information of students and other concerned people and then analyse the information to improve upon the shortcomings, if any.

·         Teachers can collect and analyse information by observing, recording lessons, taking students’ feedback and by using other interactive methods.

Process Oriented Approach

·         Process-oriented approaches concern the process of how ideas are developed and formulated in writing. Writing is considered a process through which meaning is created.

·         The process oriented approach refers to a teaching approach that focuses on the process a writer engages in when constructing meaning.

·         The process oriented teaching approach concludes with editing as a final stage in text creation, rather than an initial one as in a product oriented approach.

·         The process oriented approach may include identified stages of the writing process such as pre-writing, writing and re-writing.

·         Once the rough draft has been created, it is polished into subsequent drafts with the assistance of peer and teacher conferencing.

·         Final editing and publication can follow if the author chooses to publish their writing.

·         Students are asked to go through such writing processes and try to organise and express their ideas clearly.

·         The assumption is that what the student as a writer is going to say will become clearer through the writing processes.

·         Students are also taught writing devices used in making the general coherence clearer.

Mind Mapping

·         Mind mapping was firstly developed by Tony Buzan, a mathematician, psychologist and brain researcher, as a special technique for taking notes as briefly as possible whilst being interesting to the eye as possible.

·         Mind mapping turned out to be usable in many different ways other than just simple note taking.

·         Mind mapping is an effective pedagogical tool used in a variety of applications in teaching and learning processes.

·         The method of mind mapping takes into account that the two halves of the human brain are performing different tasks.

·         The left side of the brain is mainly responsible for logic, words, arithmetic, linearity, sequences, analysis, lists, while the right side of the brain mainly performs tasks like multidimensionality, imagination, emotion, colour, rhythm, shapes, geometry, synthesis.

·         Mind mapping uses both sides of the brain, letting them work together and thus increases productivity and memory retention.

·         Mind mapping is accomplished by representing logical structures using an artistic spatial image that the individual creates.

·         Thus mind mapping connects imagination with structure and pictures with logic.

·         Mind maps are hierarchically structured.

·         The structure of a mind map resembles a tree seen from the top representing the topic of the mind map, the lines for the ideas linked to the topic branch off like tree branches.

·         The special technique of mind mapping, which uses both sides of the brain and has them working together, is of benefit to mathematical thinking, which takes place in both sides of the brain.

Advantages of mind mapping

·         Mind maps help to organise information. The hierarchical structure of a mind map conforms to the general assumption that the cognitive representation of knowledge is hierarchically structured.

·         Mind mapping supports the natural thinking process, which goes on randomly and in a non-linear way.

·         As mind maps have an open structure, one may just let one's thoughts flow; every produced idea may be integrated in the mind map by relating it to already recorded ideas and this with virtually no mental effort.

·         Mind maps can be used as a memory aid. Each mind map has a unique appearance and a strong visual appeal.

·         Information may be memorised and recalled faster and the learning process is speeded up by using a mind map.

·         At the end of a teaching unit the subject matter of the treated topic can be repeated and structured by composing a mind map.

·         A mind map may summarise the ideas of several students.

·         A mind map may grow as the common task of an entire class in which the teacher and the students write and connect ideas linking to the main topic.

·         Due to the open structure of a mind map, each single contribution can be integrated.

·         The complete mind map should be redrawn by each student in his or her own personal style.

·         Mind maps help meaningfully connect new information with given knowledge.

·         New information can be integrated into an existing mind map and related to previously learned concepts.

·         Such an activity with students has to be initialised by the teacher, who has the overview of already created mind maps and of how new concepts fit to old topics.

·         New concepts may be introduced by mind maps and the teacher may add additional components and form an extended mind map.

·         The visual representation of the mind map serves to help students relate unknown concepts to known concepts.

·         Mind maps drawn by students provide information about the students' knowledge.

·         A learner’s knowledge structure gets visible by means of mind maps for both the teacher and the learner.

·         The process of developing the student’s knowledge organisation might be enhanced by having the students construct mind maps in small groups.

·         Wrong connections in a students' knowledge become visible and can be corrected by the teacher.

·         Mind maps foster creativity. Everybody may develop a personal style for mind mapping.

Disadvantages of mind mapping

·         In spite of its well-structured and ordered contents, a mind map may sometimes appear confusing.

·         Mind maps are very individual graphic representations. As different people have different associations with the same topic they also draw different mind maps.

·         Any mind map that someone wants to use should be drawn by that particular individual or group to which the individual belongs.

·         Relations in a mind map are probably incomplete.

Critical appraisal of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation(CCE)

·         Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is aneducation system introduced by Central Board of Secondary Education in India, for students of sixth to tenth grades and twelfth in some schools.

·         The main aim of CCE is to evaluate every aspect of the child during their presence at the school.

·         The Ministry of Human Resource Development has recently brought in the scheme of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation as a part of Examination Reforms Programme with the aim of developing the holistic profile of the learner through CCE.

·         The scheme of CCE is an effective tool to enhance the quality of teaching learning processes in the school, as the emphasis is both on knowledge and performance.

·         The CCE scheme refers to a school-based evaluation ofstudents that covers all the aspects of a student’s development.

·         In CCE, the term Continuous is meant to emphasise the evaluation of identified aspects of students’ growth and development is a continuous process rather than an event, built into the total teaching-learning process and spread over the entire span of the academic session.

·         In CCE, the term Continuous means regularity of assessment, frequency of unit testing, diagnosis of learning gaps, use of corrective measures, retesting and feedback of evidence to teachers and students for their self-evaluation.

·         The second term Comprehensive means that the scheme attempts to cover both the scholastic and non-scholastic aspects of students’ growth and development.

·         Since abilities, attitudes and aptitudes can manifest themselves in forms other than written words, the term refers to the application of variety of tools and techniques (both testing and non-testing) and aims at assessing a learner’s development in the various areas of learning.

·         CCE not only counteracts the over emphasis on the development of intellectual abilities but also helps in removing the fear from the minds of the students which they otherwise feel in the annual examinations.

·         The teacher knows the progress of the students through CCE and evaluates the process and product of learning.

The objectives of the CCE scheme :

·         To help develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills.

·         To lay emphasis on thought process and de-emphasise memorization.

·         To make evaluation an integral part of teaching-learning process.

·         To use evaluation for improvement of students achievement and teaching-learning strategies on the basis of regular diagnosis followed by remedial instruction.

·         To use evaluation as a quality control devise to maintain desired standard of performance.

·         To determine social utility, desirability or effectiveness of a programme and take appropriate decisions about the learner, the process of learning and the learning environment.

·         To make the process of teaching and learning a learner-centered activity.

Advantages of CCE

·         CCE helps the students by :

·         Identifying learning progress of students at regular time intervals on small portions of content.

·         Employing a variety of remedial measures of teaching based on learning needs and potential of different students.

·         Desisting from using negative comments on the learner’s performance.

·         Encouraging learning through employment of a variety of teaching aids and techniques.

·         Involving learners actively in the learning process.

·         Recognising and encouraging specific abilities of students, who do not excel in academics but perform well in other co-curricular areas.

·         CCE helps a classroom teacher in the following ways :

·         To identify learning difficulties in mastering certain competencies and theintensity of such learning difficulties.

·         To improve students’ learning through diagnosis of their performance.

·         To plan appropriate remedial measures to enable the students who havelearning difficulties in mastering the competency.

·         To improve or alter instructional strategies to enhance the quality ofteaching.

·         To decide upon the selecting of various media and materials as a supportivesystem in mastering the competencies.

·         To strengthen evaluation procedure itself.

Disadvantages of CCE

·         The teachers find it difficult to execute CCE in large classes as they are not able to give individual attention in such classes.

·         Lack of appropriate training among the school teachers.

·         Lack of seriousness amongst the students regarding CCE as they are aware of the fact that they will pass without making enough efforts in academics.

·         CCE is time consuming and there are many financial constraints associated with it.

·         Lack of adequate infrastructural facilities and teaching materials, making it a difficult task in the classrooms.

·         Teachers are burdened with the increased volume of work that could affect their teaching in the classrooms.

Portfolio management

·         Portfolio management seeks to improve student outcomes in schools by addressing the structure of school governance.

·         The portfolio strategy is a problem-solving framework through which educational leaders develop a citywide system of high-quality, diverse, autonomous public schools.

·         The portfolio strategy puts educators directly in charge of their schools, empowers parents to choose the right schools for their children, and focuses school system leaders on overseeing the school success.

·         The essence of a portfolio strategy is the provision of public education by multiple means.

·         Districts pursuing a portfolio strategy are known as portfolio districts and sponsor some schools operated by district employees in the traditional way, and others operated by independent organisations and run under new rules.

·         Though portfolio strategies differ depending on local circumstances, most share several of the following characteristics:

·         Concentration of decision making at the school level.

·         Free movement of students, educators and money from less to more productive schools and instructional programmes.

·         Strategic use of educationally relevant community resources.

·         Rewards to educators for high performance.

·         Openness to promising ideas, people, and organisations, whether they belong to the school district or exist in independent organisations.

·         An environment of support for both new and existing schools.

·         A school district following a portfolio strategy can gain the ability to offer students instructional and student service designs.

·         A process of continuous improvement and educational opportunities should be made available to students who are always adapting to emerging needs.

·         A portfolio strategy requires school districts to judge the performance of individual schools and to assess the entire set of schools available locally to determine whether a different mix of schools might serve the community better.

·         In a portfolio district, schools need assistance with a range of issues, including finding facilities, recruiting a strong labour pool, training teachers in new skills, overhauling weak courses, serving special-needs students, developing high-functioning governing boards, and many other issues.

·         District leaders must both develop the capacity for portfolio management and divest themselves of functions that may distract from the core oversight mission.

·         A district portfolio management office needs guaranteed access to data about schools’ financial health and performance.

·         Portfolio management can be enriched by the performance data which includes student course passing rates, student persistence, credit accumulation, and students’ ability to pass courses at the next higher level of education.

Classroom Assessment Techniques (CAT)

·         Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are generally simple, non-graded, anonymous, in-class activities designed to give useful feedback to the teacher and the students on the ongoing teaching-learning process.

·         The purpose of CATs is to improve the quality of student learning by evaluating or grading students.

·         CATs provide faculties with feedback about their effectiveness as teachers, and it gives students a measure of their progress as learners.

·         The aim of classroom assessments is to provide faculty with information on what, how much, and how well students are learning. Such assessments are created, administered, and analysed by teachers themselves.

Uses of CATs

·         CATs can be used to improve the teaching and learning that occurs in a class.

·         More frequent use of CATs can :

§  Provide just-in-time feedback about the teaching-learning process

§  Provide information about student learning with less work than traditional assignments (tests, papers, etc.)

§  Encourage the view that teaching is an ongoing process of inquiry, experimentation, and reflection

§  Help students become better monitors of their own learning

§  Help students feel less anonymous, even in large courses

§  Provide concrete evidence that the instructor cares about learning

·         Results from CATs can guide teachers in fine-tuning their teaching strategies to better meet student needs.

·         Benefits to Faculty :

§  Classroom Assessment helps faculty to focus on student learning and by determining what students have learned and what is unclear, instructors can focus the class more effectively to meet the learning needs of that group.

§  Unlike student evaluation surveys which are typically given at the end of the semester, Classroom Assessment provides an on-going formative evaluation. The instructor can find out what can be changed immediately to help students to learn.

·         Benefits to Students :

§  Classroom Assessments give students opportunities to provide anonymous feedback to their instructor about their learning.

§  Students often discover, as the instructor reviews the feedback, that others in the class had similar questions.

§  Classroom assessment activities can be positive learning activities for students and can be developed both to promote writing skills or critical thinking skills.

§  Students may become more involved in their learning when they find that others in the class learned some interesting things that they had not picked up from the class session.

§  Through greater involvement, students are likely to become more self-directed learners, and may be more motivated to successfully complete the class.

Ways of using CATs

·         A teacher must assess the students’ learning from a CAT.

·         A teacher must choose a CAT that provides this feedback and is consistent with the teaching style, and which can be implemented easily in the class.

·         A teacher must explain the purpose of the activity to students and then conduct it.

·         After the class, a teacher must review the results, determine about the students’ learning and decide what changes to make, if any.

·         A teachers must let the students know what the teacher learned from the CAT and how to use this information.

·         The information of the teacher’s learning from the CAT must be passed on to students and the students must use that information to improve on their performance.

New Trends in Examination

·         Evaluation in educational context produces the data for cognitive, affective and psychomotor objective.

·         Examinations are traditionally confined to cognitive objectives only.

·         The education and examination system is based on equality, not on equity, as per the modern Indian educational system.

·         Universities, colleges and school typically conduct following types of examinations -

·         Semester Examinations: Universities typically follow a semester wherein an academic year is divided into two terms. The final assessment is on the  basis of :

§  Internal Assessments conducted by the respective colleges and university department/ schools through periodic tests, quizzes etc.

§  External/ University End semester examination typically conducted by the universities.

·         Different Universities have different weightages and patterns of internal & external Evaluation. Therefore, each university has a unique examination system process, which they have shaped on the basis of university ordinances, constraints, unique characteristics, resources available etc.

·         Annual Examinations : Annual Examinations are typically conducted by university at the end of an academic term. The purpose of these examinations is to make a final review of the topics covered and assessment of each student’s knowledge of the subject at end of the academic term.

·         Supplementary Examinations: Supplementary examinations are conducted to provide a second chance to students who did not qualify in the main exams due to failure to secure minimum pass marks in theory or practical examination of a paper or failure to appear in any theory or practical examination on any grounds, including medical.

·         Competitive and eligibility tested examination : Competitive examination is an examination where candidates are ranked according to their grades. Competitive examinations are used in many countries for university and college admissions or admissions to secondary schools or for positions in the civil service.

·         Universities today face challenges in various aspects of examination process. Some of the challenges faced by the universities are Administrative Challenges, Infrastructure Challenges, Resources Allocation, Security Challenges, etc.

Reforms in examination

·         The main aim of education is to enable all round development of the student and the education process should be designed to develop three main domains of student personality namely Cognitive domain, Affective domain and Psychomotor domain.

·         The extent to which these three domains of personality have been developed and at which level the aim of education is achieved can be evaluated means of examination.

·         The present system of examination is only cognitive based in which affective and psychomotor domains lag behind.

·         The reconcilement in present way of education is according to 7Rs which include Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Recreation, Responsibility, Relationship, Rights. The restructuring of the examination system should be done in a similar way.

·          Lack of time is also one of the problems of the examination systems.

·         The duration of three hours in semester and annual examination is not sufficient. Students must be allowed to opt for an examination time duration of two, three or four hours, thereby causing positive results.

·         The qualitative aspect of the examination and education system needs to be improved rather than the quantitative aspect.

·         The education system of colleges and universities should show association with the pattern of eligibility examinations as the questions asked in annual examinations are descriptive in nature whereas the questions asked in the eligibility examinations are objective type.

·         Either the pattern of annual examinations should be objective based or the pattern of eligibility examinations should be a descriptive one.

·         The most suitable and affective way to improve the quality of any examination system is where an objective pattern should be replaced with composition of objective, short answer, essay type, comprehensive types of questions.

·         An examination system should be designed in such a way that it should evaluate the complete quality and various domains of students which can result in better screening of capabilities and overhauling the system of education.

Open Book examination

·         An open book examination is one in which examinees are allowed to consult their class notes, textbooks, and other approved material while answering questions.

·         Open book examination is common in law examinations, but in other subjects, it is mostly no allowed.

·         Open book examination is ideally suited to teaching programmes that especially aim at developing the skills of critical and creative thinking.

·         The teacher's role is viewed as facilitating the transfer of information from the textbook to the students' minds.

·         What the student is expected to do is to understand this information, retain it, and retrieve it during the final examination.

·         Most conventional examinations test how much information the students have been able to store in their minds. In order to cope with this demand, students memorise the information in class notes and textbooks, and transfer it to answer books during the examination.

·         An alternative view is that teaching should not be transferring information from the library or textbooks to the students' minds.

·         Teaching should equip students with the ability to acquire knowledge, to modify existing knowledge on the basis of new experience, to build new knowledge, and to apply available knowledge to solve problems and make intelligent decisions.

·         In other words, the focus shifts from rote learning to the development of certain mental faculties.

·         The teacher's function then is not summarising the information in the textbook but ensuring an environment that triggers the development of these creative and critical faculties.

·         The teacher can activate learning through questions, exercises, projects, assignments, and so on, and sustaining and guiding it by providing comments, criticisms, and other forms of feedback.

·         Conventional memory testing examinations must give way to examinations that test the intellectual skills of the student.

·         If the purpose of an examination is to test the information that students have memorised, then open book examinations are inappropriate, since students can easily transfer the information in the textbook or lecture notes to the examination paper.

·         If students have to evaluate a conclusion that crucially involves their understanding of the concept of standard deviation, reproducing what the text book says would be pointless.

·         Open book examination attempts to eliminate the intermediate stage of memorisation which students normally follow in closed book examinations.

·         Given the availability of textbooks in the examination room, teachers will not ask questions that require the mere transfer of information from the textbook to the examination book.

·         Open book examinations are not suited to testing rote learning, but they can be used effectively to train students in the use of active memory.

·         Two types of open book examinations are the restricted type and the unrestricted type.

·         In the restricted type of open book examinations, students are permitted to bring into the examination room one or more specific documents approved by the course instructor.

·         In the unrestricted type of open book examinations, students are free to bring whatever they like.

·         In the restricted open book examination, students may be permitted to consult printed documents such as the logarithmic tables, dictionaries, or complete works of Shakespeare, but no handwritten material or printed documents which have not had prior approval.

·         The printed documents that students bring must not contain any scribbles on the margin.

·         In open examination, the approved documents function more or less as appendices to the question paper itself.

·         The use of open examinations presupposes certain teaching strategies and types of questions.

·         In particular, it demands that the course focuses on a set of intellectual skills , rather than on the information content , and that no content based questions be asked in the examination.

·         It will be pointless for students taking the unrestricted open book examinations to consult any material they have brought, because the questions will be designed in such a way the answers will not be found in the textbooks or class notes.

·         Open book examinations have a tremendous impact on promoting the right mental sets in both learning and teaching.

·         Open book examination implies that studying should not be equated with memorising; instead, it should be understanding concepts, and using these concepts, along with available information, to practise the skills of modifying and building knowledge, thinking critically, and solving problems.

·         Things which are learnt with pleasure are learnt more effectively and retained better.

·         The nature of the examination questions will have to be designed carefully and intelligently by the teachers to test the students' understanding and the skills of applying that understanding.

·         If the nature of the examination questions changes, strategies for preparing students to take those examinations will also have to change.

·         Teachers will have to design tasks that will provide exercises for the appropriate mental skills required in each subject.

·         Instead of the teacher talking all the time and students taking down notes, classes will have discussions, questions, and other active processes.

·         Teaching will no longer be the transfer of information from the teacher to student: it will be the training of the mind in certain intellectual skills.

Online Examination

·         Online examination system is designed for educational institutes like schools,colleges and private institutes to conduct tests of their students on a regular basis.

·         Online examination is the process used to measure certain aspects of information for a set purpose where the examination is delivered via a computer connected to a network.

·         Different types of online examinations contain elements of one or more of the following components, depending on the examination’s purpose: formative, diagnostic, or summative.

·         Instant and detailed feedback, as well as flexibility of location and time, are two of the many benefits associated with online examinations.

·         There are many resources available that provide online examinations, some free of charge and others that charge fees or require a membership.

·         Online examinations are used to determine the knowledge gained by students and to determine if adjustments need to be made to either the teaching or the learning process.

·         Online examination is used primarily to measure cognitive abilities, demonstrating what has been learned after a particular educational event has occurred, such as the end of an instructional unit or chapter.

·         In teaching an online course the first element that needs to be prepared is assessment, which is used to determine if learning is happening, to what extent and if changes need to be made.

Uses of online examinations

·         Pre-Testing : Prior to the teaching of a lesson or concept, a student can complete an online pretest to determine their level of knowledge.

·         Formative Assessment : Formative assessment is used to provide feedback during the learning process. In online assessment situations, objective questions are posed, and feedback is provided to the student either during or immediately after the assessment.

·         Summative Assessment : Summative assessments provide a quantitative grade and are often given at the end of a unit or lesson to determine that the learning objectives have been met.

·         Practice Testing : With the ever-increasing use of high-stakes testing in the educational arena, online practice tests are used to give students an edge.

·         Surveys : Online surveys may be used by educators to collect data and feedback on student attitudes, perceptions or other types of information that might help improve the instruction.

·         Evaluations : This type of survey allows facilitators to collect data and feedback on any type of situation where the course or experience needs justification or improvement.

·         Performance Testing : The user shows what they know and what they can do. This type of testing is used to show technological proficiency, reading comprehension, math skills, etc. This assessment is also used to identify gaps in student learning.

·         New technologies, such as the web, digital video, sound, animations and interactivity are providing tools that can make assessment design and implementation more efficient, timely and sophisticated.

Ondemandinstitution basedtechnology assisted assessment (for performance basedassessment)

·         Assessment is a critical catalyst for student learning and there is considerable pressure on education institutions to measure learning outcomes more formally, creating a demand for more frequent assessment.

·         The potential for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to automate aspects of learning and teaching is widely acknowledged.

·         Technology assisted assessment has considerable potential both to ease assessment load and provide innovative and powerful modes of assessment.

·         As the use of ICT increases there may be inherent difficulties in teaching and learning online and assessing on paper.

Differentiated Assessment

·         Differentiated instruction or differentiated learning is a technique used in some classrooms that caters to the individual needs of each student.

·         Teachers use a variety of different activities and methods to teach their classroom. Differentiated instruction gives students options on how to take in information, and ideas. It also can help them show the teacher what they have learned in other ways than just taking a test. 

·         Differentiated learning is proactive, qualitative, rooted in assessment, a blend of individual and group instruction and student centered.

·         Issues With Differentiation

·         Differentiation is seen as a great advancement by many educators but not everyone agrees with the enthusiasm.

·         Differentiated learning requires constant assessment and evaluation to understand where students are at, what is working and which students need different tools.

·         A lot of issues have been raised over organising classes and providing measured assessment for differentiated classrooms.

·         People assume that creating lessons that use a variety of teaching methods should cover every student’s areas of struggle.

·         One major issue when trying to implement differentiated instruction is the student’s behaviour, which can hinder a teacher’s ability to assess a students’ progress during a series of lessons designed around student’s participation.

·         At the same time it is expected that these students meet the same expectations as the rest of the class.

·         Teachers are sometimes not being able to address everyone’s learning needs while also meeting the standards set for the class.

·         Differentiated teaching is not fair to students as standardised tests and post education are not differentiated.

·         Differentiated instruction and assessment take too much time.

·         Differentiated instruction is difficult both in small as well as large classrooms.

·         Not enough resources are available for differentiated instruction.

·         Parents are not onboard.

·         Lack of funding and budget problems

·         Grading can be a difficult and stressful time for teachers and often teachers and students alike wish that there was no need for grades.

·         Teachers have been afraid that differentiated learning makes assessment more difficult.

·         A few concerns teachers have with differentiated grading are:

§  Meeting grading requirements.

§  Parents and teachers at other levels will misinterpret the grades that have been adjusted to include marks for hard work and lesser goals.

§  Harder to defend the grades given on report cards.

·         With differentiated learning a teacher may have several activities going on simultaneously in the classroom.

·         With less strict test assessments and more participation based activities parents and administrators may become anxious about the students education.

·         It is important to keep parents and administration involved and on board with what is happening in the classroom for many reasons.

·         The most important of which is that students will be taking their work and grades home.

·         Parents and students have to understand why they are doing what they are doing and how it has led to a certain mark. 

·         The role of teachers in the classroom has changed from being keepers and dispensers of knowledge to more of organisers of learning.

·         Classrooms today are more diverse and it is the teachers responsibility to recognise and accommodate the various learning needs of each individual student by creating different pathways for learning.

·         Teachers who differentiate instruction put their focus on being a good coach or mentor.They allow the students to be responsible for their own learning.

·         This allows teachers to grow in their differentiated teaching abilities to:

§  assess student readiness through a variety of means,

§  read and interpret student clues about interests and learning preferences

§  create a variety of ways students can gather information and ideas

§  develop varied ways students can explore and own ideas and

§  present varied channels through which students can express and expand understandings.

·         Differentiated classroom teachers must identify the students’ learning styles which can be done through observation, talking one-on-one with students, previous teachers and parents in order to gather information about individual students’ interests, experience and prior knowledge.

·         Learning styles are not set in stone, but rather are flexible; each style has its own set of abilities and these abilities can be developed within different styles as well as further development of all ready used abilities.

·         The use of multiple learning styles and multiple intelligence allows for students to learn in a way that better suits their specific learning needs.

·         Having this knowledge of students will help the teachers in development of unit plans, learning outcomes/objectives, choosing content material based on curricular guideline, determining the knowledge, skills and attitudes students need, and creating assessment tools.

·         The role of the teacher in a differentiated classroom is to build on each students strengths by giving them options as to how they learn, but it is important that teachers make all content both challenging and interesting and that the learning objectives for their specific subjects are met.

·         Using various teaching techniques help students become more engaged learners by allowing them to have a choice in how they learn.

Assessment Strategies

·         Self-Assessment : Through this strategy the student can reflect and determine if the learning style they have been favouring is really working for them or if they should try something different.

·         If the teacher prompts the student's writing with questions it can be a valuable tool for the teacher to discover what the student is learning and what they are missing or struggling with.

·         This can be done through the students writing a self-reflection journal or through interviews with the teacher.

·        Performance Tasks : The students are required to not only remember the knowledge they have learned, but also to apply it to real-world circumstances.

·         For students who are not yet ready for that level of work these activities provide concrete and straight-forward elements to prevent frustration.

·         Diagnostic Assessments : Diagnostic assessments allow the teacher to know what previous knowledge the students have and if there are any weak areas in that previous knowledge. Diagnostic assessments information is not used for grades.

·         Formative assessments : These assessments occur as learning is happening so that the teacher can keep a tab on which students are understanding and which are not.

·         It is important that formative assessments have detailed, specific feedback so that the student knows what areas they need to improve on.

·         Formative assessments are not often used for grading purposes.

·         Summative assessments : Summative assessments are used at the very end to determine what a student has learned. It will indicate to the teacher whether or not a student achieved the learning objectives.

·         The teacher can use summative assessments to determine which teaching strategies worked and which ones didn't. Summative assessments are graded.

·         When the teacher recognizes that a student requires individual attention when doing progress monitoring, he/she may need to develop an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

·         When the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) determines disability and special education services, the IEP is developed.

·         Teachers are required by law to develop an IEP for each student with special needs. In regards to assessment, examples of information that has to be included in an IEP are:

§  How to assess progress toward yearly goals and short-term objectives.

§  Required individual modification

Strategies of assessment of students with learning disabilities

·         One of the concerns in regards to assessing students with learning disabilities is making sure that the measurement of information obtained is valid and reliable.

·         This is something that has to be kept in mind when doing assessments not only with diverse individuals, but students in general.

·         Strategies for assessment of students with learning disabilities are :

§  Contextual Assessment: This refers to the student’s environmental condition in school and in other settings.

§  Researching school records to determine history.

§  Interviews of significant others in their lives: allows for excellent communication as well as accurate and relevant information. However, there are discrepancies between what people say and what is observed in the classroom.

§  Observations: precise measurements of academic and social problems can be planned in a systematic way so that appropriate samples can be obtained.

Culturally Responsive Assessment

·         Cultural responsiveness is the ability to learn from and relate respectfully with people of different cultures.

·         The educational environment is a place where students who are culturally diverse are provided the opportunity to learn and grow.

·         Some aspects of the school system provide less than optimal conditions for the diverse group of students.

·         The role of culturally competent assessment has gained importance in the field of special education eligibility.

·         Obtaining knowledge and skills in appropriate assessment techniques is imperative and ethically necessary.

·         Full and individual assessment results are very vital as these results are used to make important decisions that impact a student's life.

·         Consideration of student factors provides information for the selection of appropriate assessment instruments in the evaluation process.

·         For teachers, culturally competent assessment requires the integration of culturally sensitive attitudes, knowledge, interview skills, intervention strategies and evaluation practices. 

·         The purpose of assessment is to determine appropriate intervention techniques and strategies designed to promote success.

·         Therefore, the value in the evaluation should be extended to inform appropriate instructional interventions, accommodations and instructional program development.

·         The following are the ways to implement a Culturally Responsive Assessment (CRA) :

§  Teacher should contemplate the kind of testing environment. Teacher should assess the relation of the students’ prior experiences.

§  Teacher must keep the students’ level of language proficiency in mind.

§  Teacher should determine students’ prior opportunities to learn a skill.

§  Teacher must implement accommodations like dictionary use, extended time, etc. if needed.

§  Teacher should not use one assessment, rather use many authentic assessments.

§  Teacher must balance assessment with regular instruction.

§  Teacher must be sure to provide specific and frequent feedback.

§  In the assessment process, both the students and their families should be involved. 

·         Types of Assessment Strategies are :

§  Initial and Ongoing

§  Formative and Summative Assessments Formative and Summative Assessments

§  Student self-assessment

Evaluation of Curriculum

·         Teachers often find themselves having to evaluate curriculum materials, which are devised to help pupils learn.

·         It will be important to use the materials with pupils and to take into account pupils' actions and reactions and will be more relevant when the intentions of the materials are in terms of reasoning skills, understanding, attitudes and values rather than specific practical skills or factual knowledge.

·         Evaluation process is the process of gathering and reporting information that could help to guide decision making in an educational programme and curriculum development.

·         The criteria for making the evaluation can be organised into six categories namely :

§  Content

§  Organisation and structure

§  Student experiences

§  Teacher support materials

§  Student assessment materials

§  Programme development and implementation.

·         Once a developed curriculum is implemented in schools, appropriate evaluation procedures must be devised to examine the effectiveness of the curriculum.

·         A new curriculum once implemented in schools is in constant progress until terminated.

·         Evaluation of curriculum has three main objectives :

§  To detect or predict defects in the procedural design or its implementation during stage.

§  To provide feedback about the implementation of the planned activities.

§  To maintain a record of the procedure as it occurs.

Evaluation of Pedagogy

·         The basic pedagogical process can be defined as a systematic transfer of knowledge or skills from a mentor to a learner.

·         Pedagogical process comprehends variety of different factors, such as motivation, individual’s needs, learning materials, learners learning style, instructors teaching style, etc.

·         Analysis of pre-knowledge and post-knowledge exams is required for evaluation.

·         Pedagogical process is complex and a thorough measurement of pedagogical effectiveness is needed.

·         Listed below are examples of different evaluation methods :

§  Questionnaire survey

§  Interviews

§  Pre-test and post test

§  Products

§  Focus groups

§  User diaries

§  Online discussion

§  Logs of messages or web 'hits'

·         By nature, assignments to develop higher order thinking, tend to be more open, challenging and motivating.

·         For courses that are keen to adaptive type learning, tutors should aim to provide students with opportunities to obtain feedback on their ideas and their approaches through debate and discussion and sharing of work, as well as providing an environment for reflection.

·         Students can learn valuable lessons when given access to the work of their peers by engaging in the evaluation of what is and what is not good quality work in their subject area, using the same open-ended approaches the tutor might use.

·         Thus, students themselves can contribute to the course, bringing in resources that support the formation and expression of their ideas.

·         The pedagogical assessment helps the teacher in locating the different learning resources, learning support and methods used against the adoptive or adaptive learning criteria.

·         After the pedagogical aspects are clarified, the process of setting up the learning activity can be based on informed decision-making. 

Meta evaluation

·         Meta-evaluation is a systematic and formal evaluation of evaluations, evaluation systems or use of specific evaluation tools in order to guide planning / management of evaluations within organisations.

·         A meta-evaluation can be used for ongoing evaluations (formative) or report on the strengths and weaknesses of previous evaluations (summative).

·         Meta-evaluation describes aggregating information from several individual evaluations and acts as a systematic tool for the quality control of evaluation studies.

·         Meta-evaluation should be part of an open dialogue between various parties in the evaluation process. Making evaluation as transparent as possible enhances the preconditions of organisational learning through meta-evaluation.

·         Critical analysis of single evaluations serves both policy and organisational learning. Policy learning refers to the mechanisms of knowledge dissemination in various policy arenas and organisational learning refers to continuous and reflexive evaluative inquiry.

·         Meta evaluation, also known as reviewing an evaluation, can be done before an evaluation  or afterwards.  

·         Prior to finalising the evaluation it is useful to review the reporting of the evaluation process, findings and conclusions in order to establish the validity of the findings and to ensure that the key messages from the evaluation are clear and consistent with the findings.

·         Many evaluation systems require evaluation reports to be formally reviewed as part of quality control before they are publicly released.

·         Meta evaluation helps to identify how key messages may be interpreted, concerns about the methodology that need to be discussed, and possible ways that the findings will be used.

Issues of Assessment

·         Assessment results have important implications for instruction as the primary aim of assessment is to foster learning of worthwhile academic content for all students.

·         School communities use assessment results in a formative way to determine how well they are meeting instructional goals and how to alter curriculum and instruction so that goals can be better met.

·         But unless the content of assessment and the format of assessment match what is taught and how it is taught, the results are meaningless, if not potentially harmful.

·         There is potential for harm when decisions affecting students’ futures are being made based on results of assessments made with tools that are not appropriate for the purpose.

Commercialisation of Assessment

·         Certain schools and teachers are found to commercialise the education system by examining learners what they have not taught them.

·         Some teachers think they should be given money to set exams and mark and are in school but not teaching, as commercialisation of exams is taking away their role to assess and see how much the learner has achieved.

·         In some cases, learners are promoted to the next class before they achieve the desired competencies.

·         Learners do not achieve the required basics in knowledge, application and comprehension questions, which implies that the methods used in schools are not learner-centred but mainly theoretical.

·         Students continue to exhibit a lack of originality in presenting their ideas while attending examinations.

·         Teachers introduce use of pamphlets with summarised answers, instead of explaining concepts to their students.

Quality concerns

·         Assessment is a central element in the overall quality of teaching and learning in higher education.

·         Well designed assessment sets clear expectations, establishes a reasonable workload (one that does not push students into rote reproductive approaches to study), and provides opportunities for students to self-monitor, rehearse, practise and receive feedback.

·         The ideas and strategies in the assessing students’ learning support three inter-related objectives for quality :

§  Assessment that guides and encourages effective approaches to learning.

§  Assessment that validly and reliably measures expected learning outcomes, in particular the higher-order learning that characterises higher education.

§  Assessment and grading that defines and protects academic standards.

·         The relationship between assessment practices and the overall quality of teaching and learning is often underestimated.

·         Assessment requirements and the clarity of assessment criteria and standards significantly influence the effectiveness of student learning.

·         Carefully designed assessment contributes directly to the way students approach their study and therefore contributes indirectly, but powerfully, to the quality of their learning.

·         For most students, assessment requirements literally define the curriculum. Assessment is therefore a potent strategic tool for educators with which to spell out the learning that will be rewarded and to guide students into effective approaches to study.

·         Equally, however, poorly designed assessment has the potential to hinder learning or stifle curriculum innovation.

·         The following is a checklist of indicators used for quality in student assessment :

§  Assessment is treated by staff and students as an integral and prominent component of the entire teaching and learning process rather.

§  The powerful motivating effect of assessment requirements on students is understood and assessment tasks are designed to foster valued study habits.

§  There is a faculty/departmental policy that guides individuals’ assessment practices. Subject assessment is integrated into an overall plan for course assessment.

§  There is a clear alignment between expected learning outcomes, what is taught and learnt, and the knowledge and skills assessed.

§  Assessment tasks assess the capacity to analyse and synthesis new information and concepts rather than simply recall information previously presented.

§  A variety of assessment methods is employed so that the limitations of particular methods are minimised.

§  Assessment tasks are designed to assess relevant generic skills as well as subject-specific knowledge and skills.

§  There is a steady progression in the complexity and demands of assessment requirements in the later years of courses.

§  There is provision for student choice in assessment tasks and weighting at certain times.

§  Student and staff workloads are considered in the scheduling and design of assessment tasks.

§  Excessive assessment is avoided. Assessment tasks are designed to sample student learning.

§  Assessment tasks are weighted to balance the developmental (‘formative’) and judgemental (‘summative’) roles of assessment. Early low-stakes, low-weight assessment is used to provide students with feedback.

§  Grades are calculated and reported on the basis of clearly articulated learning outcomes and criteria for levels of achievement.

§  Students receive explanatory and diagnostic feedback as well as grades.

§  Assessment tasks are checked to ensure there are no inherent biases that may disadvantage particular student groups.

§  Plagiarism is minimised through careful task design, explicit education and appropriate monitoring of academic honesty.

Domain dependency

·         In general, a domain can be defined as an area of control or a sphere of knowledge. The knowledge is a collection of facts about some programme entities or a number of network points.

·         The concept of domain dependence means that some people can understand an idea in one domain and fail to recognise it in an another doman.

·         Students may understand a concept in the classroom, but not, in the more complicated texture of the real circumstances.

·         Humans somehow fail to recognize situations outside of contexts in which they usually learn about them, as it is not part of the accepted way of thinking about success, economic growth, or innovation.

·         It has been difficult for many researchers to realise that uncertainty, incomplete understanding, disorder, and volatility are members of the same family due to domain dependence.

·         Such mental handicap comes with being a human and rationality can be attained when an effort is made to overcome and break through it.