Chapter 4: New Assessment Methods

The OTiS (Online Teaching in Scotland) programme, run by the now defunct Scotcit programme, ran an International e-Workshop on Developing Online Tutoring Skills which was held between 8–12 May 2000. It was organised by Heriot–Watt University, Edinburgh and The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. Out of this workshop came the seminal Online Tutoring E-Book, a generic primer on e-learning pedagogy and methodology, full of practical implementation guidelines. Although the Scotcit programme ended some years ago, the E-Book has been copied to the SONET site as a series of PDF files, which are now available via the ALT Open Access Repository. The editor, Carol Higgison, is currently working in e-learning at the University of Bradford (see her staff profile) and is the Chair of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)

Integrated assessment : new assessment methods literature review

The assessment of students in higher education performs a number of functions, some of which may not always be compatible with each other. Traditionally, the role of the assessor has involved determining the level of competence displayed in undertaking the task, and ideally, offering feedback on future learning needs (Rowntree, 1987). Assessment also provides grading for students’ work, allowing comparison of performance across a class, and across the curriculum for individual students. The subsequent gaining of a degree or professional qualification depends on students successfully completing a set of specified assessment tasks across the prescribed curriculum. As such, there may be stakeholders beyond the higher education institution, such as employers, regulatory bodies or clients, who believe the assessment process as being akin to certification or professional gatekeeping (Younes,1998). In professional courses such as social work, passing certain assessment tasks may be associated with notions such as fitness to practice and eligibility for professional registration as a social worker with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) or similar bodies in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, and beyond the United Kingdom. In terms of gatekeeping, assessment tasks may not only restrict who gains certification on exiting an educational programme, but also who is admitted in the first place. For example, requirements by registration authorities that students admitted to social work programmes have achieved specified levels of literacy and numeracy will require appropriate assessment tasks to determine equivalence for those entrants who have not achieved formal qualifications in these areas. Entry point assessments may also be used to determine whether credit should be granted on the basis of prior learning or experience (Slater, 2000) or to identify areas in which additional training may be required (Shera, 2001) In addition to gatekeeping, assessment clearly has a vital role to play in the ongoing development of learning and teaching strategies. It can be crucial in determining what, why and how students learn (Brown, Bull and Pendlebury, 1997) and there is increasing recognition of the necessity to align learning and assessment tasks, so that learning and assessment become aligned rather than being somewhat independent of each other (Biggs, 2003). Furthermore, in an era when evaluation of teaching is often reduced to student satisfaction surveys, critical reflection on work submitted for assessment can serve as an alternative method of evaluating the success of teaching. The nature of assessment has changed considerably since the 1970s, and is ongoing. The key changes have included moves from written examinations to coursework assignments and more emphasis on student participation in assessment (self and peer assessments), processes rather than products, and on competencies rather than content (Brown et al., 1997). Even the more traditional forms of assessment such as essays and examinations have undergone considerable innovations. Yet, in practice these seemingly radical changes may be more a wish list than a statement of fact. In actuality, some new forms of assessment, such as self and peer assessment may simply have been added onto rather than replaced more traditional modes of assessment (Cree, 2000). Changes to assessment in social work tend to reflect changes in higher education more widely such as the emergence of competency based and modular approaches to learning, as well more proceduralised assessment processes necessary to cope with higher numbers of students (Cree, 2000). There is considerable divergence of opinion amongst the social work education community in the United Kingdom as to whether such changes actually benefit social work students and their learning (eg Clark, 1997; Ford and Hayes, 1996; O’Hagan, 1997; Shardlow and Doel, 1996). There have also been concerns expressed as to whether some new forms of assessment are actually capable of achieving the learning they claim to facilitate Boud, 1999; Entwistle, 1990; Taylor, 1993). This report was commissioned by the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education (SIESWE) as a resource on assessment for the development of the new social work degree in Scotland and provides an overview of the current literature on assessment methods being utilised in social work education both in the United Kingdom and beyond. This report begins by reviewing the various methods of assessment in social work education which were found in the literature. We then go on to explore the developing literature on the involvement of persons other than social work academics, such as students and service users, in the assessment process. Finally, we consider the importance of developing and assessment strategy which might incorporate these various different forms of assessmen

Engine non-containment: UK risk assessment methods

More realistic guideline data must be developed for use in aircraft design in order to comply with recent changes in British civil airworthiness requirements. Unrealistically pessimistic results were obtained when the methodology developed during the Concorde SST certification program was extended to assess catastrophic risks resulting from uncontained engine rotors

Sustainability Assessment Methods for the Gulf Region

This paper describes the development of a sustainability assessment framework designed to be used in the Gulf Region, which is an area which has experienced large scale building development and also a region in which sustainability assessment is not yet widely used. The complexity and time resources needed to apply existing methods act as a deterrent to active use. Three well-known methods available at the time of the study were investigated in some detail. These were: BREEAM Gulf; Green Building Council LEED; and Estidama Pearl. Cross comparisons of the factors involved in each method were carried out on several levels including: theoretical comparison; practical development and usability; compliance with regulations and standards; and ability to achieve synchronization. A considerable degree of compatibility was found to exist between the methods, particularly if focused on key criteria. As a result a new and specific framework was developed which grouped 24 indicators under five principal headings: site/location, biodiversity and accessibility; energy; water; occupant well-being; and resources and wastes. This new framework was then evaluated by testing with practitioners resulting in confirmation of 20 out of the 24 indicators, and identification of suitable benchmarks

A review of assessment methods for river hydromorphology

The work leading to this paper has received funding for the EU’s FP7 under Grant Agreement No. 282656 (REFORM

Traffic Analysis for the Calibration of Risk Assessment Methods

In order to provide some measure of the uncertainty inherent in the sorts of charting data that are provided to the end-user, we have previously proposed risk models that measure the magnitude of the uncertainty for a ship operating in a particular area. Calibration of these models is essential, but the complexity of the models means that we require detailed information on the sorts of ships, traffic patterns and density within the model area to make a reliable assessment. In theory, the ais system should provide this information for a suitably instrumented area. We consider the problem of converting, filtering and analysing the raw ais traffic to provide statistical characterizations of the traffic in a particular area, and illustrate the method with data from 2008-10-01 through 2008-11-30 around Norfolk, VA. We show that it is possible to automatically construct aggregate statistical characteristics of the port, resulting in distributions of transit location, termination and duration by vessel category, as well as type of traffic, physical dimensions, and intensity of activity. We also observe that although 60 days give us suffi- cient data for our immediate purposes, a large proportion of it—up to 52% by message volume—must be considered dubious due to difficulties in configuration, maintenance and operation of ais transceivers

Evaluating On-Farm Biodiversity: A Comparison of Assessment Methods

Strategies to stop the loss of biodiversity in agriculture areas will be more successful if farmers have the means to understand changes in biodiversity on their farms and to assess the effectiveness of biodiversity promoting measures. There are several methods to assess on-farm biodiversity but it may be difficult to select the most appropriate method for a farmer’s individual circumstances. This study aims to evaluate the usability and usefulness of four biodiversity assessment methods that are available to farmers in Switzerland. All four methods were applied to five case study farms, which were ranked according to the results. None of the methods were able to provide an exact statement on the current biodiversity status of the farms, but each method could provide an indication, or approximation, of one or more aspects of biodiversity. However, the results also showed that it is possible to generate different statements on the state of biodiversity on the same farms by using different biodiversity assessment methods. All methods showed strengths and weaknesses so, when choosing a method, the purpose of the biodiversity assessment should be kept in the foreground and the limitations of the chosen methods should be considered when interpreting the outcomes

Modern assessment methods

Целта на дипломната работа е проектиране на методология за оценяване на компетенции от по-висок порядък - компетенции, надградени с информационни и комуникационни технологии /ИКТ/, като се анализират съвременните методи за оценяване, подберат се подходящи методи и инструментални средства и се проектират основните дейности за оценяване в рамките на готов електронен курс за обучение. Направено е проучване на същността, целите и смисъла на оценяването в съвременното висше образование. Проучването очертава основните принципи за планиране и провеждане на ефективно оценяване и дава рамка и насоки за проектирането и създаването на оценителните единици. Описани са съвременните методи за оценяване: самооценяване, колегиално оценяване, оценяване чрез 360 градуса обратна връзка, оценяване на представянето и оценяване чрез портфолио. Направено е въведение в проект I*Teach Учителя – новатор, който предоставя методологията и пилотното обучение за изграждане на ИКТ надградени умения и проект TENCompetence, който осигурява технологична инфраструктура за електронно обучение. Описани са стандартът за моделиране на учебен процес IMS LD и за взаимоизползваемост на данни, свързани с изпитване и оценяване IMS QTI. Предложената методология за оценяване обхваща използването на методите 360 градуса обратна връзка, който включва самооценяване и колегиално оценяване за оценяване на уменията за екипна работа и оценяване на представянето в домейна умения за устна презентация. Предлага подход и съответен инструмент за текущо /коригиращо/ оценяване по учебни сценарии в домейна информационни умения, както и детайлно разработен инструмент за финално оценяване на всички компетенции. Разработена е методика за количествено определяне на резултатите и поставяне на оценка. Всеки оценителен сценарий е описан в шаблона на I*Teach за учебна задача. Резултат от проектирането са преносими средства за оценяване, моделирани по стандарт IMS Learning Design, които ще бъдат тествани в изгражданата по проект TENCompetence платформа Sled Learning Design Player. Изводи по отношение на надеждност, валидност и ефективност на разработените в дипломната работа методи и средства за оценяване могат да бъдат направени само след пилотното им тестване в реален учебен процес. Работата по темата е интересна и увлекателна. Тя е предизвикателство, защото обхваща новости и проблеми, произтичащи от динамиката на съвременния живот и образованиеметоди за оценяване Студент: Ангелина Киркова–Богданова, Фак. № М21798, Специалност “Информатика”, Магистърска програма “Електронно обучение” Научен ръководител: доц. д-р Илиана Николова, СУ, ФМИ, Катедра “Информационни технологии” Консултант: Слави Стоянов, Отворен Университет Холандия Дата на защита: 2 май 2007 г