formative e-assessment: cases, patterns and scenarios

formative e-assessment: case stories, design patterns, and future scenarios Caroline Daly, Harvey Mellar, Yishay Mor, Norbert Pachler, Institute of Education, University of London

Overview
Scoping study commissioned by JISC
Short term, small budget, intended to inform future funding frameworks
Established a commited user group of higher-education teachers & researchers
Adopted and adapted the Planet Project's Participatory Methodology for Practical Design Patterns, and used the Planet platform

Methodology
Desk research
Literature review
Comparing frameworks
5 Practical Enquiry Days
Combination of collaborative reflection, report back from team, and guest plenaries
Launch day, 3 Planet workshops, developers' day

What is formative e-assessment?
No consistent view in the literature
From “anything test before the final” to “synonymous with learning”
The use of digital means to support formative assessment
Formative features of assessment, which are afforded by specific features of digital media

OK, so what is Formative Assessment?
“ An assessment functions formatively when evidence about student achievement elicited by the assessment is interpreted and used to make decisions about the next steps in instruction that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the decisions that would have been made in the absence of that evidence”
(Dylan Wiliam)‏

Formative = feedback + moments of contingency
"... These create "moments of contingency," in which the direction of the instruction will depend on student responses. Teachers provide feedback that engages students, make time in class for students to work on improvement, and activate students as instructional resources for one another."
(Leahy, Lyon, Thompson, and Wiliam 2005)‏

Teacher Learner Peer Instruction Tasks Actions Tasks Actions

Wiliam's 5 stratagies

Conversational Framework (Laurillard)‏

Evidence Centred Design (Mislevy)‏
Highly developed
Pattern based
Oriented to large scale, automated systems
Measurement centric
Light on theory
Less suitable for open activity designs

A few cases
Creature of the week
CoMo
Post 16 String Comparison
Open Mentor
...

Creature of the week (Judy Robertson)‏
Situation
large class (138), first and second year computer science students. assignment: create a virtual pet in Second Life.
Task
Engage and motivate the students
show examples of good work which others could learn from
show students their work is valued.
build a sense of community.
http://purl.org/planet/Cases/creatureoftheweek

CoMo (Niall Winters, Yishay Mor)‏
Situation
Royal Vet College.
Hospital rotations as part of their training.
Task
Allow students to capture critical incidents in text and image.
Support sharing of clinical experiences and co-reflection.
http://purl.org/planet/Cases/CoMo

Post 16 string comparison (Aliy Fowler)‏
Situation
Grammar school been piloting the ‘string comparison’ approach to language teaching at post-16 for AS and A2 level students.
Sixth Form level, grammatical consolidation and whole-sentence translation.
Task
Allow students to practise written language independently and receive feedback on errors in order to improve their language skills.
http://purl.org/planet/Cases/Post16stringcomparison

Solution
A bespoke string (sequence) comparator was designed; uses fine-granularity sequence comparison to compare correct language strings to a user’s answer. Students answer questions and the comparator marks up errors in their input using colour coding (and font style) to highlight the different types of error. If an answer contains errors the student is given a second attempt in which to correct the submission based on the feedback received.

Open mentor (Denise Whitelock)‏ http://purl.org/planet/Cases/OpenMentor

A few patterns..
Try Once, Refine Once
Feedback on Feedback
Classroom display

Try Once, Refine Once (Aliy Fowler)‏ http://pul.org/planet/Patterns/TryOnceRefineOnce

Problem Lack of immediate feedback for students leads to fossilisation of errors and misconceptions providing immediate feedback in an iterative fashion can also hinder effective learning since students are able to "grope their way" step-by-step to a correct solution without necessarily having to think about each answer as a whole.

Context
Class size
Large (30-300)‏
Content
Skills facts
Mode of instruction
Blended / on-line. Computer tested.

Solution

Feedback on Feedback (Linda McGuigan)‏ http://purl.org/planet/Patterns/FeedbackonFeedback

Problem
Good feedback should -
Alert learners to their weaknesses.
Diagnose the causes and dynamics of these.
Include operational suggestions to improve the learning experience.
Address socio-emotive factors.
Tutors know this, but are pressed for time. Or not aware of their feedback strategies Large teaching organisations are not equipped to provide tutors with personal feedback on their teaching

Context
Large scale, technology supported, graded courses
many tutors instructing many students.
Feedback is mediated by technology that allows it to be captured and processed in real time
Topic of study is subject to both grading and formative feedback.

Solution
Embed a mechanism in the learning and teaching system that regularly captures tutor feedback, analyses it, and presents them with graphical representation of the types of feedback they have given. Ideally, this should also include constructive advice as to how to shift from less to more effective forms.
In computer supported environments (e.g. VLEs), this mechanism could be integrated into the system, providing tutors with immediate analysis of their feedback, as well as long-term aggregates.

Classroom Display http://purl.org/planet/Patterns/Classroomdisplay

Problem
Rewards participation.
Relates to learner's personal experiences.
Window on student conceptions .
Using learner generated content..
Needs to collate works in a single easy to access location.
Learners uncomfortable about presenting their work in public
Legal or other restrictions on sharing work.

Context
Class size:
Small / medium (6-60)‏
Mode of instruction:
Blended (preferable)‏
Time frame
Continuous, over a period
Pedagogy
Involves construction / media production

Solution

Augmented domain map

Example scenario
When using Try Once Refine Once , there is a risk that high-achievers do not receive feedback.
So -
Use Showcase Learning to celebrate students’ work and provoke feedback from peers and tutors.
Use Feedback on Feedback to alert tutors to the problem.

Conclusions
Tip of the iceberg
Practitioners (educational / software) acknowledge the value of patterns, when served with side dishes of cases + scenarios
Collaborative elicitation of patterns from cases could be a potent form of professional development.

Thank you The Formative e-Assessment project: http://projects.lkl.ac.uk/feasst Final report http://telearn.noe-kaleidoscope.org/open-archive/browse?resource=1875 Yishay Mor http://people.lkl.ac.uk/yishay yishaym@gmail.com This presentation http://www.slideshare.net/yish/formative-eassessment-cases-patterns-and-scenarios

formative e-assessment: cases, patterns and scenarios

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