Session Information
16 SES 04 B, ICT-Based Collaborative Learning
Paper Session
Contribution
As more and more students are equipped with laptops and wireless network, interest evolves on how this influences educational practices. McFarlane (2003) argues that traditional ways of assessing pupils learning seem to capture the development of new practices, so that digital tools don’t get as powerful impact on education as many has expected. There is a need to develop knowledge about how the changing circumstances for leading assessment practices influence on teachers’ conceptions of formative assessment. Using an activity theoretical framework (Engeström, 2001) the goal of myresearch project is to gain knowledge about high school teachers’ emerging formative assessment practices when digital and networked technology is included in the context of learning and assessment. The research question to be discussed at ECER is:
How does learners’ use of digital and networked technologies impact on high school teachers’ conceptions of formative assessment?
The Assessment Reform Group defines formative assessment as:
The process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers, to identify where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there. (ARG, 2002)
This definition includes less structured formative assessment activities, like conversations in class. I will follow teachers’ reflections on- and work with formalized formative assessment practices ment to enhance students learning. Assessment is formative as long as the given indicators (answer to a task) of learning are under possible development. When a judgement is given, and the indicator is used as final evidence of the students learning outcome, the formative assessment practices becomes summative.
There is research indicating that using digital tools in learning triggers tensions in the activity system. For instance teachers’ well-known roles as knowledge providers in position to have an overview of each student’s learning outcome seems to be disrupted, engaging students in collective tasks using a wiki (Lund, Rasmussen, & Smørdal, 2009).
Mary James’ has developed a model (2006) visualising assessment for learning “as a cycle of events”. The concepts “feed up”, feedback” and “feed forward” is used by Hattie and Timperley (2007) describing the power of feedback. The following model is inspired by these, but built out to illustrate how formative assessment is understood in this project, and to visualize the role of goals and criteria as artefacts in assessment practices.
(I send the model (picture) as attachment)
Black and Williams (2006) found that formative assessment in school enhanced students’ activity, by transferring responsibility for learning from teachers to students. Stimulating learning thru formative assessment of multi dimensional proficiencies (e.g. information- and communication literacy) is not easy, and a premise is to make explicit what these proficiencies are, how they can be obtained (feed ups) and assessed in classrooms (Hickey, Honeyford, Clinton, & McWilliams, 2010). Making goals and criteria explicit helps students to achieve the transition and take advantage of the teachers sharing of power with students (Kreisberg, 1992). Together with the “feed up”, the “feed in” gives a substantial foundation for communicating with students about potentials, learning strategies and the experienced learning design offered.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
ARG. (2002). Assessment for Learning: 10 principles. University of Cambridge. (A. R. Group o. Document Number) Black, P., & William, D. (2006). Assessment for Learning in the Classroom. In J. Gardner (Ed.), Assessment and Learning (Vol. 1, pp. 9-25): Sage Publications Ltd. Engeström, Y. (2001). Expansive Learning at Work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualisation. Journal of Education & Work:, 1, 133 - 156. Hattie, J. a. T., H. . (2007). The Power of Feedback. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH 77(81). Hickey, D. T., Honeyford, M. A., Clinton, K. A., & McWilliams, J. (2010). Participatory assessment of 21st century proficiencies. In V. Shute (Ed.), Innovative assessment in the 21st century: Supporting educational needs: Springer. James, M. (2006). Assessment, Teaching and Theories of Learning. In J. Gardner (Ed.), Assessment and Learning (Vol. 1, pp. 47-60): Sage Publications Ltd. . Kreisberg, S. (1992). Transforming Power. Domination, Empowerment, and Education. New York: State University of New York Press. Lund, A., Rasmussen, I., & Smørdal, O. (2010). Joint designs for working in wikis. In H. Daniels, A. Edwards, Y. Engeström, T. Gallagher & S. Lundvigsen (Eds.), Activity Theory in Practice. Promoting learning across boundaries and agencies. McFarlane, A. (2003). Editorial. Assessment for the digital age. Assessment in Education, 10(3). Yin, R. K. (2009). Case Study Research: Design and Methods Sage Publications.
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