- Firstly, neither I nor my colleagues were sure about the way we were going to be assessed: of course at the beginning of the course we had some set objectives and some percentages about the grades, but our instruction during the course did not help at all to achieve those goals. Besides, when trying to send the teacher some of our work to receive feedback before the final project was addressed, we received a “no” as an answer, so we had no clue about what exactly he was expecting from us.
- Secondly, the grades did not match the set percentages of the summative assessment, where one part belonged to class participation and the rest to the summative assessment itself, a unit plan project –divided at the same time between the oral presentation of the unit and the written work-. However, the grade of the written project was the final grade, not taking into account the other parts.
- Last but not least, once we finished our project, we did not receive any feedback, just grades –unfortunately, this last part has been the same in every course-.
Concerning a positive experience, it took place during my degree, and it was
positive because of several reasons:
- First of all, when the course started our teacher clearly explained the way we were going to be assessed using a portfolio and connecting the goals not only with the course objectives but also with our interests about the topic.
- Then, every class started explaining us what we were going to do that day, establishing a connection with the course objectives and the assessment criteria.
- The teacher also showed us the rubrics and some examples of good and bad portfolios from previous years.
- Finally, the assignments included in the portfolio were handed in every two weeks and we received feedback about our progress.
To sum up, in my negative experience, there were not a clear purpose and targets,
not effective communication and, the most important one for me, no student
involvement. Nevertheless, the positive
experience matched almost all the Keys
to Quality Assessment: purpose and targets were clear to both teacher and
students, provided exemplars related to scoring rubrics, effective
communication was used to guide instruction in order to improve students’
achievement and students were involved when meeting students’ information needs
and offered clear learning targets. Nonetheless, from these experiences, both
positive and negative, I have learned the way I want to use assessment in my
classes with my students and how I do not want to do so.
