The document presents a quote by Albert Einstein stating that not everything that can be counted necessarily counts, and everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted, emphasizing the limitations of only considering quantifiable measures. The quote cautions against overreliance on numerical data and highlights the importance of also considering qualitative factors that are more difficult to quantify but still have significance.

1. Everything that can be counted does
not necessarily count; everything
that counts cannot necessarily be
counted .
Albert Einstein
1

2. First - the Lighter Side
2

3. 3

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. Prof: Class, who can tell me what I have preserved in this
jar?
Student A: It’s pig.
Student B: Is it a baby cow?
Prof: No, it’s neither a pig nor a baby cow …
It’s the last student who got caught cheating on one of
my test.

8. Some Pressing Issues in the Classroom
On Effective Learning
• The test used by teachers encourage rote
and superficial learning
• Questions and methods teachers use are
not shared with other teachers in the same
school
• Tendency to emphasize quantity and
presentation of work neglecting quality in
relation to learning

9. Some Pressing Issues in the Classroom
On the negative impact
 Overemphasis on grading function
neglecting the learning function.
 Approaches are used in which students
are compared with one another.
 The collection of marks to fill in records is
given higher priority than the analysis of
student’s work to discern learning needs.

10. • Many Years Back
and
Even Today
10

11. The Curve
y
0
Mean
Ranking and Sorting
x

12. Misuse of statistics – labeling students
12

13. The Average Child
• I don’t cause teachers trouble,
my grades have been ok.
I listen in my classes
and I’m in school everyday.
• My teachers think I’m average,
my parents think so too.
I wish I didn’t know that
‘cause there’s lots I’d like to do.
• I’d like to build a rocket, I have
a book that tells you how,
or start a stamp collection
—well
there’s no use in trying now.
•‘Cause since I found I’m average
I’m just smart enough you see,
to know there is nothing special
that I should expect of me.
I’m part of the majority,
that hump part of the bell,
who spends their life unnoticed
in an average kind of hell.
Written by 9th Grade North American Native
Child quoted by Dale Parnell
13

14. Purpose of School has Changed
from
Ranking/sorting
to
Learning for all
Goal: Independent, self-directed learners

15. Key Beliefs
• All students can learn
• Schools and teachers make a
difference
• If students are assisted to
work hard – make an effort –
they improve
• An assessment culture is
central to student and school
improvement

16. Moving the Mountain
Higher Learning for All

17. Some Definitions
• Test- a set of specified, uniform
tasks to be performed by students,
these tasks being appropriate sample
from the knowledge or skills in a
broader field of content.
• From the number of tasks done
correctly in the sample, the teacher
makes an assumption of how
student will perform in the total field.
• It is a tool whose general
characteristic is that it forces
responses from a student

18. • Measurement- a system of
observing phenomenon,
attribute, or characteristic and
translating those observations
into numbers according to a
rule (Case, 1999).
18

19. • Evaluation - the determination of
the worth or value of an event,
object, or individual in terms of a
specified criterion.
• Educators evaluate student
progress by comparing student
performance to the criteria of
success based on instructional
objectives.

20. Test
Measurement
Evaluation
Assessment
20

21. “No matter how good you are,
you can always do better”
By the end of this session you will have a
better understanding of how
ASSESSMENTS can actually help
improve learning (and teaching), and how
you can better lead these processes.
21

22. This implies it is something we do with and
for the students and not to the students
(Green, 1998)
22

23. • Assessment -
refers to the full range
of information gathered and
synthesized about the students
 Assessment is the process of
gathering, recording, interpreting, usin
g and reporting information about a
student’s progress and achievement in
developing knowledge skills and
understanding
(NCCA, 2007)

24. • Testing –focuses on what
we “do” to the learners
after instruction.
Assessment – focuses on what
we do “with” the learners
before, during, and after
learning.
24

25. assessment methods
• Performances
• Projects
• Products
• Paper and pen
• Portfolios

26. Core Principles of
Effective Assessment

27. Three interrelated objectives for quality in
student assessment in higher education
1. Assessment that guides and
encourages effective approaches to
learning
2. Assessment that validly and reliably
measures expected learning outcomes,
in particular the higher-order learning
that characterises higher education;
and
3. Assessment and grading that define
and protect academic standards

28. Well designed assessment should …
4.Set clear expectations;
5.Establish a reasonable workload
(one that does not push students
into rote reproductive approaches
to study); and
6.Provide opportunities for students
to self-monitor, rehearse, practice
and receive feedback.

29. 16 INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT IN
HIGHER EDUCATION
1. Assessment is treated by faculty and
students as an integral component of the
entire teaching and learning process.
2. The multiple roles of assessment are
recognized.
• The powerful motivating effect of assessment
requirements on students is understood and
assessment tasks are designed to foster
valued study habits.

30. 16 INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT
IN HIGHER EDUCATION (con’t)
3. There is a faculty/departmental
policy that guides assessment
practices.
– Subject assessment is integrated into an
overall plan for course assessment.
4. There is a clear alignment
between expected learning
outcomes, what is taught and
learned, and the knowledge and
skills assessed.
30

31. 16 INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT IN
HIGHER EDUCATION (con’t)
5. Assessment tasks assess the capacity
to analyse and synthesis new
information and concepts rather than
simply recall information which has
been presented.
6. A variety of assessment methods is
employed so that the limitations of
particular methods are minimized.

32. 16 INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION (con’t)
7. Assessment tasks are designed to assess
relevant generic skills as well as subjectspecific knowledge and skills.
8. There is a steady progression in the
complexity and demands of assessment
requirements in the later years of courses.
9. There is provision for student choice in
assessment tasks and weighting at
certain times.

33. 16 INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
(con’t)
10. Student and faculty workloads are
considered in the scheduling and
design of assessment tasks.
11. Excessive assessment is
avoided.
•
Assessment tasks are designed to
sample student learning.
.
33

34. 16 INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER
EDUCATION (con’t)
• 12. Assessment tasks are weighted to
balance the developmental (‘formative’)
and judgemental (‘summative’) roles of
assessment.
– Early low-stakes, low-weight assessment
is used to provide students with feedback
34

35. 16 INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER
EDUCATION (con’t)
13. Grades are calculated and reported
on the basis of clearly articulated
learning outcomes and criteria for levels
of achievement.
14. Students receive explanatory and
diagnostic feedback as well as grades.
35

36. 16 INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER
EDUCATION (con’t)
15. Assessment tasks are checked to
ensure there are no inherent biases
that may disadvantage particular
student groups.
16. Plagiarism is minimized through
careful task design, explicit education
and appropriate monitoring of
academic honesty.

37. Assessment practices:
Quality and standards

38. Assessment and the assurance of
academic standards
The assurance of academic standards
embraces a wide range of university
activities beyond the assessment of student
learning.
However, assessment and grading practices
are perhaps the most important safeguard.

39. What can individual faculty do
about standards? — 1
Ensure …
… there are explicit learning outcomes, clear
criteria and, where possible, statements of
the various levels of achievement.
With the objective of …
students and faculty both being aware of what
is expected, what is valued, and what will be
rewarded.

40. What can individual faculty do
about standards? — 2
Ensure …
… a close match between the assessment
tasks
— in particular, the knowledge and skills these
tasks are capable of determining
— and the intended learning outcomes.
With the objective of …
creating assessment tasks that validly and
reliably determine the valued learning
outcomes.

41. What can individual faculty do
about standards? — 3
Ensure …
… the grades awarded (and other information
provided to students on their achievement)
make a direct link between the intended
learning outcomes and students’ actual
performance on assessment tasks.
With the objective of …
…awarding grades that are meaningful
representations of the level of learning.

42. What can individual faculty do
about standards? — 4
Ensure …
… assessment tasks are capable of detecting
the higher-order learning outcomes that
characterize higher education.
With the objective of …
developing higher education assessment that
determines and reports the highest intellectual
skills and accomplishments.

43. What can individual faculty do
about standards? — 5
Ensure …
… there is ongoing dialogue on learning
outcomes, assessment and grading with
people teaching in the same discipline area in
other universities.
With the objective of …
using assessment and grading practices that are
informed by the norms and values of the
discipline community.

45. Bloom’s Taxonomy
of Instructional Objectives / Learning Outcomes
Learning Domains
– Cognitive
• Learning outcomes related to knowledge
– Psychomotor
• Learning outcomes related to skills
– Affective
• Learning outcomes related to attitudes,
behaviors, and values
Taxonomies are based on the assumption that
different types of objectives are learned through
different mental processes.

46. Learning Domains
Knowledge
(HEAD)
Cognitive
Domain
Attitudes
(HEART)
Affective
domain
Skills
(HANDS)
Psychomotor
Domain
46

48. Bloom’s Taxonomy
Level
Verb
Remembering: can the student recall or
remember the information?
define, duplicate, list, memorize, recall,
repeat, reproduce state
Understanding: can the student explain
ideas or concepts?
classify, describe, discuss, explain,
identify, locate, recognize, report, select,
translate, paraphrase
Applying: can the student use the
information in a new way?
choose, demonstrate, dramatize,
employ, illustrate, interpret, operate,
schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
Analyzing: can the student distinguish
between the different parts?
appraise, compare, contrast, criticize,
differentiate, discriminate, distinguish,
examine, experiment, question, test.
Evaluating: can the student justify a
stand or decision?
appraise, argue, defend, judge, select,
support, value, evaluate
Creating: can the student create new
product or point of view?
assemble, construct, create, design,
develop, formulate, write.

49. Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessing
(A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives)
The revised taxonomy is two-dimensional, identifying both:
•
the kind of knowledge to be learned (knowledge dimension)
and
•
the kind of learning expected from students (cognitive
processes)
to help teachers and administrators improve alignment and rigor
in the classroom.

50. Factual Knowledge
• The basic elements students must know to
be acquainted with a discipline or solve
problems in it.
• Knowledge of terminology
– technical vocabulary, musical symbols , etc.
• Knowledge of specific details and
elements
– major natural resources, reliable sources of
information

51. Conceptual Knowledge
• The interrelationships among the basic elements within a
larger structure that enable them to function together.
• Knowledge of classifications and
categories
– periods of geologic time
• Knowledge of principles and
generalizations
– Pythagorean theorem, law of supply and demand
• Knowledge of theories, models and
structures
– theory of evolution, structure of congress

52. Procedural Knowledge
• How to do something, methods of inquiry, and criteria for
using skills, algorithms, techniques, and methods.
• Knowledge of subject-specific skills and
algorithms
– painting with watercolors, whole-number division
• Knowledge of subject-specific techniques
and methods
– interviewing techniques, scientific method
• Knowledge of criteria for determining
when to use appropriate procedures
– when to apply Newton's second law, when to use a particular
method of estimation

53. Metacognitive Knowledge
• Knowledge of cognition in general as well as
awareness and knowledge of one's own cognition.
• Strategic knowledge
– outlining as a means of capturing the structure of a
unit of subject matter in a textbook
• Cognitive tasks
– knowledge of the different types of tests, cognitive
demands of different tasks
• Self-knowledge
– knowledge that critiquing essays is a personal
strength, whereas writing essays is a personal
weakness; awareness of one's own knowledge level

54. Matching Learning Outcomes to Assessment Types
Types of Learning:
Learning outcomes
What is required
from students?
Examples of
Assessment
Thinking critically
and making
judgments
Development of
arguments, reflection,
judgment, evaluation
• Essay
• Report
• Book review
Solving
problems/developi
ng plans
Identify problems,
define problems,
analyze data, review,
design experiments,
plan, apply
information
• Problem scenario
• Group Work
• Work-based
problem
• Analyze a case
• Conference paper
(or notes for a
conference paper
plus annotated
bibliography)

55. Matching Learning Outcomes to Assessment Types
Types of Learning:
Learning outcomes
What is required
from students?
Examples of
Assessment
Performing
procedures and
demonstrating
techniques
Take readings, use
equipment, follow
laboratory procedures,
follow protocols,
carry out instructions
• Demonstration
• Role Play
• Make a video
(write script and
produce/make a
video)
• Produce a poster
• Lab report
Demonstrating
knowledge and
understanding
(can be assessed in
conjunction with the
above types of
Recall, describe,
report, identify,
recognize, recount,
relate, etc.
• Written
examination
• Oral examination
• MCQs
• Essays

56. Matching Learning Outcomes to Assessment Types
Types of Learning:
Learning outcomes
What is required from
students?
Examples of
Assessment
Managing/developing
yourself
Work co-operatively
and, independently, be
self-directed, manage
time, manage tasks
• Learning journal
Portfolio
• Learning
Contracts
• Self-evaluation
• Group projects
• Peer assessment
Designing, creating,
performing
Design, create,
perform, produce, etc.
•
•
•
•
Design project
Portfolio
Presentation
Performance

57. Matching Learning Outcomes to Assessment Types
Types of Learning:
Learning outcomes
What is required
from students?
Examples of
Assessment
Assessing and
managing
information
Information search
and retrieval,
investigate, interpret,
review information
• Annotated
bibliographies
• Use of
bibliographic
software
• Library research
assignment
• Data based project
Communicating
Written, oral, visual
and technical skills
• Written
presentation
• Oral presentation
• Discussions
/Debates/ role plays
• Group work

58. Constructing Objective Type
Tests

59. Planning a Test
• First step: Outline learning objectives or
major concepts to be covered by the test
– Test should be representative of objectives
and material covered
– Major student complaint: Tests don’t fairly
cover the material that was supposed to be
canvassed on the test.

60. Planning a Test
• Second Step: Create a test blueprint
• Third Step: Create questions based on blueprint
– Match the question type with the appropriate level of
learning
• Fourth Step: For each check on the blueprint, jot
down 3-4 alternative question on ideas and item
types which will get at the same objective
• Fifth Step: Organize questions and/or ideas by item
types

61. Planning a Test
• Sixth Step: Eliminate similar questions
• Seventh Step: Walk away from this for a couple of
days
• Eighth Step: Reread all of the items – try doing
this from the standpoint of a student

62. Planning a Test
• Ninth Step: Organize questions logically
• Tenth Step: Time yourself actually taking the test
and then multiply that by about 4 depending on
the level of students
• Eleventh Step: Analyze the results (item analyses)

63. Selecting the Right Type of Test
• How do you know what type of question to use
and when?
• It depends on the skill you are testing.
• Test should always match as closely as possible
the actual activity you’re teaching.
– Examples: Teaching Speech, should evaluate an oral
speech
– If testing ability to write in Spanish, better give an
essay.
– Testing reading –MC, TF
– Wouldn’t use MC to test creative writing

64. Question Types and Cognitive Levels of Learning
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Multiple Choice (MC)
True/False (TF)
Matching
Completion
Short Answer
MC
Short Answer
Problems
Essay
Performance
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
MC
Short Answer
Essay

65. Constructing the Test
• Types of Test Questions:
–
–
–
–
–
Multiple-Choice Items
True-False Items
Matching Items
Fill-In, Completion or Short-Answer Items
Essay Questions

66. Selecting Objectives for Assessment
• Test all of the must-know objectives, test some need-toknow, and don't test nice-to-knows.
• A must-know objective - one which students have to
know to go on to the next objective in the sequence
• It is the last time the objective will be taught in the
scope and sequence and the student cannot finish the
course or go on to the next course, without knowing or
being able to do what the objective requires.

67. • Need-to-know objectives are those where the students
need to know this content to perform within the
sequence but the content will be re-taught or reviewed
prior to the student using the objective again.
• Nice-to-know objectives are those that the students are
to be exposed to but very few are expected to learn
much about it.
• When the specifications have been developed the next step
is construction of the text items.

68. Table of Specifications or Test Blueprint
Matrix which contains:
 a) objectives being tested
 b) levels at which those objectives should be
tested, according to Bloom's Taxonomy,
or others .
 c) amount of time which was spent teaching
the objective
 Objectives should never be tested at a higher Bloom's
level than the objective that is presented to the students.
 The number of items used should relate to the amount of
teaching time spent on the objectives.
 The more time the greater number of items.

69. • BEFORE I END ….

70. "For as long as assessment is viewed as
something we do 'after' teaching and learning
are over, we will fail to greatly improve
student performance, regardless of how well
or how poorly students are currently taught or
motivated."
-- Grant Wiggins, 1998

71. Assessment is not enough
• We can’t consider assessment
separately from teaching and learning
processes. All are about informing
judgment.
• Alignment between and integration of
learning activities is needed
• Choosing assessment practices
chooses what students will learn

72. FINALLY

73. 73

74. Final thought
Why teach to testing when it is
so productive to teach to
learning?
Guy Bensusan

75. References
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Boud, D. (1995). Enhancing Learning through Self Assessment. London: Kogan Page.
Boud, D. (2000). Sustainable assessment: rethinking assessment for the learning society.
Studies in Continuing Education, 22, 2, 151-167.
Boud, D. and Falchikov, N. (2006). Aligning assessment with long term learning,
Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31, 4, 399-413.
Boud, D. and Falchikov, N. (Eds.) (2007) Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education:
Learning for the Longer Term. London: Routledge.
Absolum, M. (2006). Clarity in the classroom. Auckland: Hodder Education. pp 98-117.
Andrade H. and Valtcheva, A. (2009). Promoting Learning and Achievement through Self
Assessment, Theory into Practice, Vol 48 pp 12-19.
Topping, K.J. (2009), Peer Assessment, Theory into Practice, Vol 48 pp 20-27.
Wiliam, D. When is assessment learning-oriented? 4th Biennial EARLI/Northumbria
Assessment Conference, Potsdam, Germany, August 2008. www.dylanwiliam.net
alchikov, N. (2005). Improving Assessment through Student Involvement. London:
Routledge.
http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning/06/index.html2006). How assessment
frames student learning. In Clegg, K. and Bryan, C. (Eds.) Innovative Assessment in
Higher Education. London: Routledge.

76. Thank You
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