Group Reflection

MODULE 1: OVERVIEW IN ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

Assessment was never easy, but it is one of the most exciting for us as future teacher.  It is on this level where the efficiencies of our teaching strategies reveal learning outcomes from the results of the administered assessment.  Actually, in the assessment of learning it is not only the learners are being assess, it is also assesses how equipped we are in teaching.

MODULE 2: ESTABLISHING THE LEARNING TARGETS

 At the conclusion of this module, we, the learners were able to understand the learning targets and know the importance of it in the teaching-learning process. We practiced on how to construct learning targets, where to anchor it, and to explain the criteria in making a strong and feasible one.  The learning activity in this module gave us an opportunity as learners on how to evaluate learning targets and be able to assess, compare and contrasts, and categorize learning targets through the use of the Blooms Taxonomy. It really give us an idea on how we will be able to generate, experiment, and adapt instructional activities that will sustain student’s attention, that will motivate student’s to participate, and make them both (teacher and student) responsible and accountable of the learning outcome.

MODULE 3: KEYS TO EFFECTIVE TESTING

Testing is the gauging of the level of achievement or performance of the learners.  It greatly affects the results if the administration, the scoring and interpretation of the test is effective.  The very essence of testing is to know if there is a behavioral/attitudinal change.  A quality and relevant testing is a must because the result of this is for grading purposes and it will be reflected to the student’s report cards which will become a permanent educational record and later dictates the career that the student will pursue in the future.  Thus, this should be authentic and reflects the real personality of the person.  The educational authorities demand careful planning and expertise in the construction and that this should also reflects the national and school’s educational goals.

MODULE 4: DEVELOPMENT OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS

The assessment in the classroom is both a teaching approach and a set of techniques. The approach is that the more you know about what and how students are learning; the better you can plan learning activities to structure your teaching.
How are they learning will be reflected in the formative assessment result, this will further tell the teacher on the quality of the tools and the depth of their learning. The techniques are mostly simple, non-graded, in-class activities that give both you and your students’ useful feedback on the teaching-learning process.

            The tools are the vehicle in obtaining a measurable data from the responses of the learners.  In constructing assessment tool; careful planning and matching of the objectives is very crucial in order to assess the desired learning outcome that the teacher and the school administration wants to know.  Avoid making assessment tool which will not answer the objective, thus this will be labeled as “irrelevant assessment result or irrelevant assessment tool”.  In this module, we learned a lot on the various factors and consideration in constructing a relevant and effective assessment tools.  We now believed that our knowledge in tool construction will really reveal an assessment result that truly reflects the quality of our teaching someday.  Assessment result helps teacher to improve the strength of instruction.   
   

MODULE 5: CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEST

“STEM” is the word we always associate when we hear of the word “Good Test”.  Because the understandability of the question depends so much on how the stem was constructed by the teacher or assessor or “what is being asked is well stated” which does not need for the learners to speculate of what is being asked in the question.  Clarity and simplicity of the words used is a must.

Characteristics of A Good Test are as follows: Validity: A test is considered as valid when it measures what it is supposed to measure. Reliability: A test is considered reliable if it is taken again by the same students under the same circumstances and the score average is almost the constant, taking into consideration that the time between the test and the retest is of reasonable length. Objectivity: Objectivity means that if the test is marked by different people, the score will be the same. In other words, marking process should not be affected by the marking person's personality.  Comprehensiveness: A good test should include items from different areas of material assigned for the test. e.g ( dialogue - composition - comprehension - grammar - vocabulary - orthography - dictation - handwriting ) Simplicity:  Simplicity means that the test should be written in a clear , correct and simple language , it is important to keep the method of testing as simple as possible while still testing the skill you intend to test . ( Avoid ambiguous questions and ambiguous instructions ) .  Scorability: Scorability means that each item in the test has its own mark related to the distribution of marks given.

MODULE 6: ANALYZING AND USING OF TEST ITEM DATA

The Purpose and Elements of Item Analysis are: To select the best available items for the final form of the test; to identify structural or content defects in the items and to detect learning difficulties of the class as a whole. Thus, the teacher will be able identify the areas of weaknesses of students that is in need of remediation.

The difficulty level of an item is known as index of difficulty. Index of difficulty is the percentage of students answering correctly each item in the test. Index of discrimination refers to the percentage of high-scoring individuals responding correctly versus the number of low-scoring individuals responding correctly to an item. This numeric index indicates how effectively an item differentiates between the students who did well and those who did poorly on the test.  Analyzing is very crucial on the test item administered; this will help evaluating if the questions are too easy or difficult for the students or if the item discriminates the upper (high performer) and lower (low performer) in the class.  This will give the teacher a basis to retain, discard, and to modify test questions for effective learning assessment.

MODULE 7: EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS

            The fundamental knowledge of statistics can prove very useful, indeed.  The presentation of information became more persuasive if it is backed up by facts.  In education, the statistics is indispensable; it makes things like data in research (education, government, business, economics, medicine, psychology and even sports) and the performance grade of students more credible and scientific.

            We realized the necessity of this subject; we need to have a strong foundation on this in order to ensure success in the licensure exam.  The entire statistic subject is for us esoteric, but so far, the educational statistics is understandable base on the lessons provided in the module.  It just needs a time to master the concept.  We are very thankful because the instructional strategies of Prof. Robles on this subject put so much emphasis on the process of solving and the relevance of each concept on education.  We do not just stick on knowing the terms which is so knowledge base but on the application of the concept for future use.

MODULE 8: RUBRICS, PORTFOLIO & PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT

            The aforesaid assessment strategy is far-different from the conventional way of assessing student learning.  The rubrics and the portfolio are not new, but the two became renowned when it was discovered its efficacy in assessment of learning.  The performance-based is also the commonly used assessment of learning which “learning by doing”

            The portfolio is not easy to prepare and it requires much time and resources to complete. Theoretically, it is also important that both the learner and the teacher vividly knows why they are preparing the portfolio. The teacher’s role in preparing a quality portfolio stops until its completion.  In fact, this is also too tedious on the part of the teacher if she/he seriously wants quality portfolio content. 

            Going to rubric, purposely, it summarizes both student performance and product against the criteria the teacher priorly established. It even makes scoring of student performance more exact or precise and a clear description of what quality work looks like.  The series of statements in the rubric which describes a range of levels of achievement of a process, product, or a performance must be carefully constructed. It is aimed at accurate and fair assessment, fostering understanding, and indicating a way to proceed with subsequent learning/teaching. Again, the rubric is for the assessment of the process, a product, or a performance.  A must for the teacher to be adept in rubric and portfolio assessments.

MODULE 9: GRADING AND REPORTING PRACTICES

      

The following are questions which an instructor may want to answer when choosing what will go into a student’ grade: (1) should grade reflects absolute achievement level? (2) should grades reflect achievement only or others like non-academic components such as attitude, speed, and diligence? (3) how can several grades on diverse skills combine to give a single mark?.  We realize that grading is not a simple task to do.

Although grading will always be a process of professional judgment, making those judgments require heartfelt thinking and continual reflection on the purpose of the activity. If we give grades to represent information about the adequacy of students’ achievement and performance, then the evidence used to determine grades must denote what students have learned and are able to do. To allow other factors to influence grades or marks is not good or detrimental to students’ learning attainment. Grading requires planning, thoughtful judgment, a clear focus on purpose, excellent communication skills, and an overwhelming concern for students. Such qualities are necessary to ensure grading policies and practices that provide high-quality information on student learning.  We as a future teacher must be impartial in assigning grades especially to students who are a family, an affinity, or to close to us.  We will grade base on learning outcome and changes on behavior.

Student Reflection

What was you reaction to the online blog activity?  

Amena: it is basically cool and fun. While learning thing about Ed 103, we got to explore and understand the functions of the internet.

 My reaction is that, it is exciting. It’s a new method of giving requirements. It’s good.

Twenkle: I think learning Ed 103 is easier with the online blog activity.

Amena: At first, we found it difficult, but when we already have it, it was fun and it is cool.

Twenkle: It broadens the horizons of learning.

I really had hard time thinking about it, but with the help of my group mates, it was made easy.