VOC 1: The third teaching session on the 16th of October: Student's self-evaluation

Self-evaluation is defined as students judging the quality of their work, based on evidence and explicit criteria, for the purpose of doing better work in the future.



3.1 A Four-Stage Model for Teaching Student Self-Evaluation
(by Center for Development and Learning)



STAGE 1: Involve students in defining the criteria, as it

•     increases student commitment to instructional goals
•     enables teachers to help students set goals that are specific, immediate, and moderately difficult
•     provides an opportunity to influence students' orientations toward learning.

STAGE 2: Teach students how to apply the criteria to their own work. When students are taught systematic self-evaluation procedures, the accuracy of their judgment improves.



STAGE 3: Give students feedback on their self-evaluations.



STAGE 4: Help students develop productive goals and action plans. Without teacher help, students may be uncertain whether they have attained their goals.



Three kinds of student benefits have been observed in the studies on students' self-evaluation:

• Students' narrative writing skills improve, when they learn how to evaluate their prose. The effects are strongest for the weakest writers, who are less certain about what constitutes good writing.
• Motivation increases: Students who are taught self-evaluation skills are more likely to persist on difficult tasks, be more confident about their ability, and take greater responsibility for their work.
• Students' attitudes toward evaluation become more positive when they participate in the process. As students grow older they become increasingly cynical about traditional testing. When self-evaluation is included as a contributor to their final grade, students are more likely to report that evaluation is fair and worthwhile.

Source:

Center for Development and Learning. Student self-evaluation: What reseach says and what practice shows, by Carol Rolheiser and John A. Ross. http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/self_eval.php



3.2 Description of the teaching session



We had a padlet task with many questions for the students. It was nice, when they answered on different questions, but I found it difficult to discuss any larger the matters since I'm not (yet) an expert in education theories. And teaching via the Internet has its own challenges when you don't see the students.



At the end of the teaching session I forgot to ask students' comments on the topic since I noticed how late it was and only thought we need to hurry back to the common AC-room. So I stopped my presentation quite suddenly. Now when I'm thinking back to it I think we could have spent a couple of minutes more on conversation. Somebody may had something in mind that they would have like to say or ask. I'll try to be calmer next time when I'm winding up the teaching session! Despite these few difficulties, the whole experience of teaching alone was positive.



I learnt a good teaching method from another group's presentation when a teaching person asked questions from all the students individually by calling their names. That was an effective method to get everybody to speak, and something that I could use in my teaching. It's a good method especially when a teacher asks students' opinions or experiences, when basically everybody would have something to say, but they just don't participate actively for one reason or another. Some students may, for instance, be too self-critical and stay quiet since they think their experiences aren't anything special, but when a teacher asks them personally, it can be encouraging.



The process of planning this teaching session went the same way than last time. We used a progressing inquiry method in my group, so we decided the research questions as a group, then everybody searched for information on different topics, and at the end we put that all together. I think that process went fine and effectively.


3.3 The other groups' presentations


The main theme of this teaching session was ‘Evaluating learning and competences’. The group Piaget taught about portfolio and the group Dewey about assessment.


Assessment (the group Dewey)


Objectives are the starting point for assessment. John Biggs’ graphic below shows how to set up criterion-referenced objectives.







Portfolio as a Learning Tool (the group Piaget)


According the group’s presentation, portfolio is a process where the analysis of learning, development and advancement is as important as the final result. Campbell, Melenyzer, Nettles, and Wyman (2000) state that a portfolio must be organized, goal-driven, performance-based evidence that indicates the attainment of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes.


Different Types of Portfolio

- Basic Portfolio
- Showcase / Sample Portfolio
- Portfolio of Development and Learning
- Assessment Portfolio
- Digital portfolio


Source:
Campbell, Melenyzer, Nettles, & Wyman. 2000. Portfolio and Performance Assessment in Teacher Education