I would like to focus my discussion on the following idea that caught my attention; the kind of criteria used will undoubtedly affect the quality of the feedback we, as teachers, are going to give our students. So far we have been discussing about the different elements involved in Understanding by design. However, through the chapters we have analysed, we have come to the conclusion that there is a mismatch between the theory we read and discuss and try to apply in our practices and what we see or experience in our everyday life.
The kind of criteria used appears as another important element in the design, not only because it help in the assessing process, but also, as the author points out, it will somehow affect the learning of the students. The kind of feedback we give them is closely connected to the criteria used. In other words, learning can take a great advantage of the type of feedback given to the students.
But I have a question for you my friends; what if we continuously assess our students and give them no feedback? Is there any purpose on assessing or are we speaking of just testing? How do we expect our students to improve if we fail to tell them what their weaknesses and their strengths are ON TIME? This becomes a more serious issue when we see that at high levels of education (let's say post-graduate courses) this idea is not put into practice. I think is time to ask and demand coherence from the system, especially for those who are supposed to be preparing the future leaders in education.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
My dear friend!
ReplyDeleteYour reflection really and heavily touched me. Now we are post graduates student, we are always looking for feedback regarding each task, assessment or evaluation in general. The reason is very simple, we want to improve and get rid of whatever we are not doing properly. However, if we think about our own students… Do they look for that, too? Of course, they don’t. Normally our students see all he processes during their school years just as steps they must take and assessment is just part of it. With their maturity they will see it differently (hopefully). So when we do not show them the rubrics we are going to use, when we do not give them the results on time, and more importantly, when we do not ANALYSE their results in order to get crucial information not only for them, but also for us….what ‘s the point on assessing then. Wow, there we really have an issue, because I think we’ve always faced situations like these ones. So, we should put into practice all this idea and see this new or clearer horizon as a task we must carry out. Purpose, everything has a purpose that sometimes we set and we must go in that direction to get good results or at least improve them.
Good reflection dear friend
Best
Angie
Dear Marianella,
ReplyDeleteI would like to focus on one thing you mention: "learning can take a great advantage of the type of feedback given to the students". It is clear the teachers are the ones called to give this feedback to the students, so if it is not present in our assessment process the answer is quite clear for me: learners might probably get lost in this ongoing process. They need to see a clear path to follow and grow as learners. And whenever they step out of the path we should be there to make them see that something is wrong, and we don't give them answers or recipes to contine, but we give them clues to help them see things differently in order to continue growing.
Good point mu dear!
Hugs, Scarlette
Eureka my dear!!!
ReplyDeleteThe kind of feedback we give our students is closely connected to the criteria used. And we know about that...otherwise we would not be looking for contributing to our education system. We believe in what we do, so we really need feedback to confirm if what we are doing is effectivly correct or expected, or we need to take other way to achieve the goal.
That’s why I think we must be clear about our objectives and also make our student clear about what we expect from them in order to set criterion and assess based on valid and reliable tools.
Dear M:
ReplyDeleteFeedback is the KEY issue for leading learning improvements. If students are not told how they are doing, and just given a meaningless number there is no way to pursue the improvement we are looking for.
It is just a matter of doing a cycle of nonsense testing without a clear end.
By stablishing clear objectives and tell them to our objectives, presenting the rubrics which go further than telling them how many points an item has (when involving production skills) and then providing appropiate feedback (through rubrics, written and / or orally) a better follow up is achieved, and thus, understanding can be reached. It is demanding and time consuming, but little by little can be done.
You are right when you refer to the importance of criteria in the assessment process, because based on it, teachers will convey the interpreted information to their students, making them aware about their weak and strong points developed in the learning of the language. However the only way in which the analyzed results can be reliable is through the application of an instrument that measures what we really want to assess. It means that there must exist coherence between what to assess and how to assess. Undoubtedly the link between these two aspects will reflect the solidness of our results along with the interpretation of them.
ReplyDeleteDear Marianella,
ReplyDeleteI think it is a reality that our sin is testing and not assessing. Because of different reasons, namely time, number of minimum contents to teach, etc. There are many factors that lead our everyday work towards testing. I totally agree with you when pointing out that feedback would provide our students with a great amount of information to build their wordbank, yet is it possible to give assessment feedback in a class with 45 students, not many planning hours and a constant rush in covering contents?, ... Not that sure...
Hello Lady,
ReplyDeleteYou have hit the nail's head with your comments! What's the purpose of evaluating if there's no feedback at all???!!!
I have heard hundreds of times that in some very prestigious universitites students take test that never will be seen again. Yes, their teachers (Oh, I'm sorry... Professors) are real eminences and are so busy (or care so little) they never give a miserable feedback to those students, then how do they know what they did correctly or not? Who knows!
Therefore, could that phenomenon be the root of the poor education we have? Because teachers are taught to be crooked... Then, are we imbeciles? (from the latin-etimology point of view: Imbecile = 'sine baculo'; the stick tied to trees to make them grow straight).
Good Bye Marianella!
As you mention here, feedback is the most important part of evaluation, the evaluation process doesnot end when we give our students the results(marks), I think that maybe we are not clear on the concept of results, now for me results mean say what was good and what needs to be improved, results cannot be just numbers. We messure or students according to numers becuase we have to, but if there were a tiny possibility to messure their understanding according to their performance (no marks), would we try to use it, or not?
ReplyDeleteMarianela,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your idea about giving feedback to students. It might sound strange, but many of us can fail in this respect. Regardless of the efforts we make in including different types of assessmnet, we might disregard this fundamental aspect. Feedback is the aspect that makes the learning process enriching and, from my point of view, worth making the effort for. Students will never be aware of or show any sign of improvemt if they are given feeback.
Dear Spokeswoman,
ReplyDeleteAs we have read, studied, analized and, hopefully understood, there is no point on continuously assessing our students and not giving them feedback.
Feedback is always absolutely essential to guide students on the right track. Otherwise, how can they know if they are performing well or not??? or, if they are achieving the teacher's expectations???
Of course, as you said, it becomes a very serious issue when we see that at high levels of education.