Assessment

The session started by Dr. Aaltonen asking what we had learned from the previous topic (Guidance and Counseling), so everyone of us wrote what we can remember. Personally, I like this way, it helps to refresh students memories. Then, she introduced the topic of the day which was assessment based on three questions.

1. How can we identify the negative and possitive nowadays about assessment practices?

2. How to be capable to have a suitable assessment process to support our students learning outcome?

3. How to be able to use a new assessment methods in our future teaching?


These questions are really the key to get into the assessment process. Nevertheless, we had brain storming and fishbowl exercise based on the main principles of good assessment. After that, she highlighted on traditional and the new pedagogical thinking of assessment. Personally, I don't really like the ancient method of assessment, I would rather use a new pedagogical thinking of assessment, I think that a new method will help students to learn more and to improve the learning outcome process. Assessment also in my opinion is just a tool to achive the main goal of teaching and learning. In this case we should always think in a friendly way to be sure the students absorb, benefit and learn the most of the topic, rather than to use hardship method which discourage the students. Therefore, I strongly believe in assessment method can be use during the entire teaching and learning process, which emphasise on understanding between learning and to encourge to a change in students thinking. I like also assessment to empower and motivate students challenges. After all, the diagram below explains really the main purpose of the assessment which in the end to improve the learning outcome process and teaching method.
                                 

At the end, we agreed that in order to have constructive, effective and fair judgement we should have assessment criteria and indicator such as, what we expect the students to achieve higher grades, what the acceptable standard to different levels of performance, also the students have to be aware of that criteria because they learn best and understand what they are trying to learn and what expected of them, especially when they are given a regular feedback about the quality of their work and what they can do to make it better. In addition, feedback is powerful to improve students achievement and useful also to support the development of deeper understanding, but in the reality to come up with solid criteria is not easy. After all, we are human beings make mistakes, and not perfect all the time. But we have to do our best as much as we can to be fair and supportive rather than to be judgemental.