The phrase “high stakes assessment” can bring up a range of emotions for many learners. Most people have had a plethora of bad experiences with tests, or assessments, throughout their education. But what about the assessments that are done right? These instances should hold just as much importance as the assessments that are done wrong.
One instance of a really good assessment that sticks out to me is a project I completed in my final year of my undergraduate education. This project was a “Microteaching Assignment” which assessed three other peers and I on our ability to research and understand content, create an equitable and accessible learning experience, and incorporate proper pedagogical strategies. Looking back on this project, although I did not have the precise name for it, the TPACK framework (Mishra, & Koehler, 2006) was seamlessly present throughout the lesson. My peers and I combined our technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge to create a robust lesson for our peers. So, what made this assessment so good? To begin, it was assessed qualitatively and took into account peer input, teacher feedback, and audience experience. The format of the assessment had a general outline and key components we had to include, but it could be molded into a final product that worked for each individual group. This placed the emphasis on the learning experience rather than the checklist of test items. The assessment was high stakes, but low pressure which allowed my peers and I to present to the best of our ability as well. The way this assessment was so open ended fought the “Unequal by Design” phenomenon as described by Au (2008). I want to emphasize a few points here that are critical in understanding why and how this assessment was facilitated.
My Lesson Plan My Visual Aids References: Au, W. (2008). Unequal by design: High-stakes testing and the standardization of inequality. Routledge. Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Welcome!Sit back, relax, and enjoy (or don't, up to you)! Archives
August 2023
Categories |