The use of self-assessment to foster students’ learning in teacher education: An experience in teaching practice

Dr. Rebecca CHEUNGDepartment of Early Childhood EducationHong Kong Institute of Education

Presentation Overview

Background informationResearch purpose and methodologyResearch results and findingsWays forward

Assessment in Education

Assessment has been recognized to have a major impact on teaching and learning (National Curriculum Task Group on Assessment and Testing, 1988).

“Assessment is the single most powerful influence on learning in formal courses” (Boud et al., 1999, p.413).

Assessment in Hong Kong

Assessment in Hong Kong usually focuses on measuring student learning.

There has been a predominant emphasis on summative assessment in primary, secondary and higher education.

Teachers have always played a dominated role in student assessment.

Assessment in Hong Kong Higher Education

There has been a shift in the way of student assessment in higher education assessment practices away from supervisors’ assessment of students to methods that help students evaluate their own performance and take steps to improve it (Carless et al., 2006).

The Learning-Oriented Assessment Project

The learning-oriented assessment project was a 3-year project in HKIEd focused on increasing awareness and supporting the improvement of assessment practices in higher education

It highlighted the role of assessment as a source of student learning; to stimulate a reflective discourse about assessment issues; and to develop, promote and disseminate good practices in learning-oriented assessment.

(Carless et al. 2006)

Framework of Learning-Oriented Assessment

Students involvement in

assessment processes

Assessment tasks as learning tasks

Forward looking feedback

Key Element in Learning-Oriented Assessment

Feedback Feedback is formative and it leads to actions

which improve learning (Black, 1993). where students are nowwhere they are trying to gohow they can get there

HKIEd Students’ Views on Feedback

Feedback should be:- timed to suit the students- be specific to student needs and difficulties- be prompt, supportive and oral- involve a dialogue which includes helping the

lecturer to understand the students’ thought processes

(Carless, 2002, 2003)

Research projects of LOAP

Self-assessment through K-W-L (Know, want, learn)

Technology-enhanced assessmentField experience assessmentPerformance assessmentFeedbackPortfolio assessment

Background of the Study

Teaching practice is a core activity in Hong Kong Institute of Education with the purpose of translating theory into practice.

Assessment in teaching practice:Criteria used. The criteria give to students without

discussionStudent is judged on their performance by the institute

supervisor with a grade and a short series of comments Assessment and feedback are still largely controlled by

and seen as the responsibility of teachers; Teachers ‘transmit’ feedback messages to students about what is right and wrong in their teaching, about its strengths and weaknesses, and students use this information to make subsequent improvements.

HKIEd Students’ Views on TP

Students view teaching practice more an assessment than a learning experience

Attention only on the result Receive external feedback from their tutor

passively

Teachers’ Views on TP

How much students really understand the criteria or standard with which they are judged ?

How can students be better equipped to reflect deeply and critically?

Integrating self-assessment in TP

According to Hopkins (1995), if teaching practice is regarded as an assessment in which students only receive external feedback, this assessment does little to promote students’ learning.

Using self-assessment as a tool for learning to learn and encouraging independent learning has been well documented (e.g. Boud, 1995; Reynolds & Trehan, 2000; Ross & Bruce, 2007).

The idea of engaging students in a self-assessment process in teaching practice aims to explore forms of assessment that would encourage students to take more responsibility for their learning.

Purpose of the study

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of self-assessment during teaching practice and to determine whether the students, after engaging in the self-assessment process, exhibited changes in their learning and teaching.

Research Questions

Two research questions guided the study: How does self-assessment aid in teaching

practice? How does the self-assessment process bring

about changes in students’ teaching and learning practices?

Theoretical Framework of the Study

What is self- assessment ?

Boud’s definition (1995, p.12)

Two characteristics were identified :

the involvement of students in identifying standards

and/or criteria to apply to their work

making judgments about the extent to which they have met these criteria and standards

Bailey’s (1981) claimed self-assessment was an essential component for the professional preparation of teachers and suggested that self-assessment was a process of self-examination in which a series of sequential feedback strategies could be used for the purpose of self-improvement.

Black and William (1998) saw self-assessment as essential to learning and claimed that teachers could assess themselves when they had a clear picture of their objectives. They said that if teachers engaged in the process of gathering and interpreting evidence of their children’s learning, they would become more committed and effective as learners.

What is self- assessment ?

Conceptual model of the study

Self-Evaluation

Engagement in Learning• What level have I

achieved? • What are my strengths

and weaknesses?

Evidence recording

• What have I achieved with reference to the criteria?

Goal setting

• What do I want to achieve?

Engagement in Learning

Identifyingthe criteria

for achievement

Judging and reflecting on achievement

Further action for improvement

Engagement in Learning• What have I learned

from this?• What action will I take if

I want to improve?

Reflecting

Criteria for the assessed items laid out in

the student handbook

A journey into self-assessment

Assessment task

回饋

1.請兩個人組成一組2.仔細地觀察對方3.畫一幅對方的畫像4.自評5.交換畫像6.互評

Self-assessment and peer assessment are based on public criteria (Goal setting)

評估準則： 能畫出人的輪廓、五官形象、合乎比例 能畫出人的主要特征 能表達人的神情、感覺What I want to achieve?

Evidence Recording

能畫出人的輪廓、五官形象、合乎比例

憑證在哪裡表現？能畫出人的主要特征憑證在哪裡表現？ 能表達人的神情、感覺憑證在哪裡表現？What counts as good?

Self-Evaluation

Judging -What level have I achieved?What do well?What does not do well?

Reflecting - What are my strengths and weaknesses?

Further Action for Improvement

If I want to improve, what action will I take?

Feedback from peer and instructor

Feedback by instructor and peers enhances self assessment for students.

Considering others’ perception can point out areas missed or lack of understanding by the student.

Method

Participants

47 female in-service student teachers enrolled in the Two-Year Certificate of Education (ECE) program at the HKIEd.

Participants were drawn from two groups within the program on voluntary basis. The first group comprised 27 final year students who had completed the 1st year teaching practice. The second group had 20 first-year students who had no prior experiences of teaching practice.

Procedures

A self-assessment record sheet was formulated and students were engaged in a self-assessment process by four steps:

1. Goal setting

2. Evidence Recording

3. Self-Evaluation

4. Further Action for Improvement

Department of Early Childhood Education

Certificate of Education Programme(Two-Year Part-Time)

Self-assessment in Teaching Practice

Name: ______________________ Student No.: ________________

School: __________________ Class: ____________________

As a self-directed learner, please complete the following tasks:

1. Set your goals (refer to the assessed items) before your teaching;

2. Record evidence of what you had achieved with reference to the goals during your teaching;

3. Evaluate your own performance and identify areas for improvement.

Domains Goals Setting Evidence Recording Self-Evaluation Further Action for Improvement

Teaching Performance

Procedures At the beginning of the study, participants were

informed about the objectives of and procedures for self-assessment. A demonstration of goal setting and evidence recording based on the criteria printed on the handbook was then given and the participants practiced goal setting using the self-assessment record sheet.

The self-assessment record sheet was used at three stages during the block teaching practice:

1. to set the teaching goals before a lesson;2. to record evidence during the lesson and 3. to have students evaluate their own performance and

identify areas for improvement after the lessons

Data Collection

Source 1 – QuestionnairesSource 2 - Focus group interviewSource 3 – Self-assessment sheet

Source 1

Questionnaire : The researcher developed a nine-item questionnaire with

a combination of closed- and open-ended questions The items dealt with the following:

1. Students’ general perception of the self-assessment experience (Question 1: How useful did you find self-assessment in the block teaching practice?);

2. The extent to which self-assessment helped students to plan, teach, and reflect (Three items, such as: How did self-assessment help you in lesson planning?);

3. The impact of using self-assessment during teaching practice (Three items, such as: To what extent has your teaching changed after participating in self-assessment?);

4. Students’ feelings about using self-assessment during teaching practice (Selection from eight adjectives such as: meaningful, insightful, difficult to understand, not practical, difficult to handle) and;

5. Students’ suggestions for improvement (one item)

Source 2

Two semi-structured focus-group interviews were conducted a week after the last day of the block teaching practice with 12 teachers.

Interview protocol

Research questions Initial questions for the interview

How does

self-assessment aid

in teaching

practice?

1. How did you select the goals to achieve in the self-assessment?

2. How did you find the evidence?

3. How did you identify the areas for improvement?

4. What use did you see for the self-assessment process in teaching practice?

5. Which parts of self-assessment did you find most useful?

How does the

self-assessment

process bring

about changes in

students’ teaching

and learning

practices?

6. How did you evaluate your teaching practice in the past year and how do

you evaluate your teaching now?

7. Please state the changes of your teaching after the use of self-assessment?

8. What did you learn from self-assessment?

9. What difficulties do you face when using self-assessment in teaching

practice?

Source 3

The self-assessment sheet were collected at the end of teaching practice

Questionnaire data were examined at the single-item level in relation to the perception of the usefulness of self-assessment during teaching practice.

The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed using the constant-comparison method (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992) in which transcriptions were carefully read and coded using the target qualities. Instances and excerpts were then grouped and compared to reveal changes in students’ learning and teaching practices.

The self-assessment sheets were used to provide supplementary information for the study.

Three aspects of teaching assessed in teaching practice were investigated: lesson planning, teaching skills and reflection.

Data Analysis

Results

The findings have been organized into two sections:

1. the usefulness of self-assessment in teaching practice;

2. changes in students’ teaching and learning practices.

The usefulness of self-assessment in teaching practice

Overall students’ perception of the usefulness of self-assessment was positive.

79% of the participants perceived self-assessment was very useful or useful, and the mean score of 2.98 on the four-point scale revealed a generally favorable response.

While 100% of the final-year participants reported self-assessment very useful or useful, only 64.2% of first-year participants responded positively.

An independent-sample t-test was employed to determine the difference between the two groups. Analysis indicated a statistically significant difference (t=3.927; p<0.01) between first-year students (M=2.71, SD=0.60) and final-year students (M=3.37, SD=0.50), with the final year participants having more favorable responses.

In relation to the three qualities identified as important in teaching practice, the mean scores for all areas are shown to be above 2.5 - a positive response towards each of the qualities.

Reflection received the highest mean followed by teaching skills and then lesson planning. The final-year participants again consistently rated higher than the first-year participants across all qualities. Significant differences (p<0.05) were revealed between the two groups, with mean scores decreasing significantly for first-year participants.

Changes in students’ teaching and learning practice

Lesson planning:

Participants in both focus groups expressed the

opinion that the self-assessment process enabled them to be more systematic in planning their lessons. Goal setting helped them to identify specific areas to work on and suggested what they might plan for the children. After using self-assessment in teaching practice, the participants were clearer about underlying teaching principles, and understood better the children’s needs and interests.

It helped me to focus. When I wrote down the goal, I dealt with one first if I had found more than one problem in the previous lesson plan. After I’d achieved that, I would set another one. (Fung – First-year participant)

Before using self-assessment, I focused on what I wanted to Before using self-assessment, I focused on what I wanted to teach and I didn’t know where the children’s interests and teach and I didn’t know where the children’s interests and needs were in the previous lesson. After I’d set my goals, I needs were in the previous lesson. After I’d set my goals, I could refer to them when I evaluated, I could check if I had could refer to them when I evaluated, I could check if I had achieved my goal. If I hadn’t, I would consider children’s achieved my goal. If I hadn’t, I would consider children’s needs and interests and revise the plan the next day needs and interests and revise the plan the next day accordingly.accordingly. (Chan – final-year participant) (Chan – final-year participant)

Teaching skill:

Both first and final year participants commented that the self-assessment process helped them to shift their focus from what the teacher does to how the children respond. They pointed out that they were often more conscious of their own performance in terms of a smooth implementation of activities than children’s learning. Collecting evidence during the lesson helped them to think about the children’s performance and identify what counted as evidence in relation to the goals.

Before using self-assessment, if I saw the children following my instruction to do the activity, I thought I had achieved the objectives. I am now clearer about good teaching. By referring to the goals I set, I knew specifically which aspect I should scaffold for children. (Cheung – final-year participant)

Before using self-assessment, I usually focused Before using self-assessment, I usually focused on my teaching only. After using self-assessment, on my teaching only. After using self-assessment, I felt that I had improved in responding to children I felt that I had improved in responding to children in class. I‘ve got more ways to talk to them.in class. I‘ve got more ways to talk to them. (Lam (Lam – first-year participant)– first-year participant)

Reflection: Students said that they were made to think more when they

were required to set goals, search for evidence and judge their own performance. This thinking also enabled them to have a clearer understanding of the standards and criteria against which their teaching performance was judged.

By engaging in self-assessment, students could see the problems in their teaching, and make decisions to improve it.

Some students reported that before adopting self- assessment, their day-to-day evaluation was mostly description of teaching episodes rather than attempts to think critically about them. The self-assessment process enabled them to see the link between different aspects, and thus develop their skills in critical thinking. Participants appreciated that self-assessment had motivated them to rethink their daily evaluation.

Before using self-assessment, I did evaluation everyday and just described what children could do and couldn’t do. After using self-assessment, I would think about what I did well or didn’t do well according to my goals. (Leung – final-year participant)

Before using self-assessment, the daily evaluation was just a Before using self-assessment, the daily evaluation was just a record of what I did that day. I didn’t see the need to follow up. I record of what I did that day. I didn’t see the need to follow up. I didn’t change my planning for the next lesson according to the didn’t change my planning for the next lesson according to the evaluation. This is what we mean by feeling very vague about what evaluation. This is what we mean by feeling very vague about what to plan. The self-assessment stimulated me to think and evaluate to plan. The self-assessment stimulated me to think and evaluate systematically. Now, I will refer to the goals and evidence when I systematically. Now, I will refer to the goals and evidence when I reflect. I will think more when I plan because I need to meet my reflect. I will think more when I plan because I need to meet my goals. I will try my ideas for improvement in next lesson to see if it goals. I will try my ideas for improvement in next lesson to see if it really works.really works. (Cheung – final-year participant) (Cheung – final-year participant)

Through self-assessment Through self-assessment process, I developed my analytic process, I developed my analytic skills. I felt more confident if I skills. I felt more confident if I could gather evidence for my could gather evidence for my improvement. This means I can improvement. This means I can do better and I’ve got a clearer do better and I’ve got a clearer idea of what to do next and how idea of what to do next and how to do it.to do it. (Ng – first- year (Ng – first- year participant)participant)

Example from self-assessment worksheet

Goals Setting Evidence

Recording

Self-assessment Further action for

improvement

Lesson 1 Learning

environment:

setting different

learning areas to

provide varied

materials to

stimulate learning

Materials in

different areas

catered for

children’s

different interests

of learnin.

My teaching

performance is

good as the

children appeared

to be motivated and

actively involved in

their activities

More flexibility in

the schedule and

let children have

more time for

trying different

activities

Discussion of results

The students in this study reported that the self-assessment process supported them to learn during teaching practice. So, self-assessment is not only a method of self-grading but also a process of learning (Paris & Paris, 2001).

The self-assessment is perceived as a useful reflective tool which has many positive features as a tool for learning. It provides a targeted and systematic form for students to document their teaching. It helps them extract meaning from their work and it helps them understand the effectiveness of their teaching. Loughran (2002) indicated that learning emerges through helping students to better understand what they know and do, because they develop their knowledge through reconsidering what they learn in practice.

The final-year students constantly placed a higher value on having self-assessment than the first-year students. This finding may be related to the prior experience and ability of students. As the final year students had prior experience of teaching practice as well as more academic, they might be more competence to self-assessed their performance. This suggested that self-assessment might be more effective for more competent students.

Students need to develop their skills as they progress through their educational program; that because self assessment does not happen on its own, they need systematic practice in it (Boud, 1991, 1995).

This suggested self-assessment is developmental.

The findings of this study reveal that with the aid of self-assessment, students feel more motivated to take increased personal responsibility for working with criteria, identifying good practices and making changes to teaching.

Students appreciated being guided to develop reflective skills. Researchers, such as Boud et al. (1985) and Reiman (1999), claim that reflective skills do not come naturally and often need guidance and support.

Students’ focus had shifted from a narrow concern with grades to a more holistic view involving how to plan, teach and evaluate. Their confidence had been built up as they gained control of their own learning.

Ways forward

Follow up research

The follow up study aims to analyse the quality of reflection of student teachers and the developmental process of their reflective thinking as they go through the self-assessment process.

Based on Hatton and Smith’s (1995) criteria, the study adapted a framework for four types of reflection:

1. Descriptive writing (not reflective) reports events. Its main purpose is to provide a support or a starting point for the framework. 水平 1: 描述性作品 : 不是反思，僅僅描述發生的事件，對教學事件並沒有嘗試著進行解釋和證實 ;

2. Descriptive reflection attempts to provide reasons based upon personal judgment, e.g., "I choose this problem solving activity because I believe the learners should be active rather than passive." 水平 2: 描述性反思 : 反思不僅僅是對事件的描述，而且還嘗試著對教學事件和教學行為進行解釋和提供證據，但僅僅是以描述的方式進行或者依據個人判斷給出解釋 ;

3. Dialogic reflection forms a discourse with one's self through the exploration of possible reasons. e.g., "I became aware that a number of students did not respond to written text materials. Thinking about this, there may have been several reasons. A number of students may still have lacked some confidence in handling the level of language in the text. " 水平 3: 對話性反思 : 與自己對話，對教學事件產生的可能原因進行分析、探究 ;

4. Critical reflection involves giving reasons for decisions or events, which takes into account the broader historical, social and/or political contexts. 水平 4: 批判性反思 : 給出所做決策的理由，同時也包括更廣泛的歷史、社會、政治方面的原由。

Challenges for self-assessment

Tensions between formative and summative functions of assessment - very few teachers can operate parallel systems of formative and summative functions of assessment (William, 2000)

Time-consuming taskThe accuracy in noting the evidence .

57

評其所學Assessment Of Learning

評以美其所學

Assessment For Learning

評中學 學中評

Assessment As Learning

自主學習導向評估的三大支柱

如何透過評估提供回饋，讓學生學得更好？如何透過評估提升元認知、技能、自我效能感？形成性評估、

學習性評估

學生學會嗎？學到多少？學到甚麼？總結性評估、考試、

測驗、標準

如何協助學生內化評估，讓學生成為自主學習的人？自主學習導向評估、建立元認知、自我訂定目標、自我監察、自評、自

我調節

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