What do you see as effective assessment?
Having read this far into this course, you will recognise that assessing students’ learning:
Those who assume that assessing mathematics is straightforward and easy often do not have a broad view of what mathematics is, but see learning mathematics as learning to get simple questions correct and use straightforward procedures. Such an interpretation is likely to be part of the poor view that society has about mathematics and many people’s reluctance to study mathematical or mathematics-related subjects at university level. As more people see mathematics as a way of thinking and modelling the world so that efficient solutions can be found to complex problems, so assessing students’ progress will be seen to be complex and multifaceted.
Formative assessment can take a number of forms, some of which are more formal than others and all of which offer the potential for teachers and students themselves to truly understand where progress is successfully made and what the students’ next steps in learning may be. One big assumption is that it is the teacher that does formative assessment to the students. However, research shows that the more the students themselves are involved in the assessment of their work, the more effective the assessment is in guiding and moving forward their learning.
Allow about 90 minutes
Watch Dylan Wiliam’s video about self- and peer assessment, noting down all the benefits he describes of using self- and peer assessment in your classroom. (Alternatively, you can read a transcript.)
Now consider these examples of self- and peer assessment:
Asking the students to identify whether or not they feel they have met the objective(s). Asking each student to refer to the objectives and to write about:
Identify explicitly how the three ideas above are examples of self- and peer assessment. Also, consider how they may offer the benefits that Dylan Wiliam indicates in the video.
Many teachers find that their students say they do not like using peer and self-assessment, saying, for instance:
If your students are making similar remarks, it may be for one of the following reasons:
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