Growing Success: AFL and AAL

The Growing Success document is meant to update and clarify policy iin the educational system, as well as achieve fairness, transparency, equity, and consistency in terms of assessment and evaluation. The document supports the Ministry of Education’s three core principles for education, which are designed to provide for high achievement, gap reduction in achievement, and increased public confidence.

As this unit is related to assessment and evaluation, I decided to summarize the chapter which is about assessment AS learning, and assessment FOR learning. While I’m sure many of us have been drilled to death on the concept of AAL and AFL policies and strategies, it is something that is important If we strive for high levels of achievement.

Assessment for and as learning, in the policy, is defined as the process of gathering information that reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a subject or course. In other words, the primary purpose of AFL and AAL are to improve student learning. Teachers use a variety of assessment strategies in order to gather information about student learning.

Assessment AS Learning: Assessment as learning is the process of developing and supporting student knowledge. Students are engaged in this process, as they become responsible for their own learning. Teachers help students develop their abilities when it comes to being independent learners who are capable of self regulation – monitoring themselves and self-assessing regularly and frequently. Students use descriptive feedback from the teacher, as well as self and peer-reflections to set individualized learning goals. Assessment as learning focuses on the role of the student in learning.

  

Assessment FOR Learning: Assessment for learning is the process of gathering and interpreting evidence about student learning to determine where students are at and where they need to go. It is meant to help teachers plan with the end in mind, which is in turn beneficial to the students. The information gathered, throughout diagnostic and formative assessment, allows the teacher to provide feedback and adjust instruction according to their students. This information is gathered through a variety of manners, including observations, conversations, questioning, student conferences, group tasks and projects, and peer and self-assessments. Essentially, assessment for learning is a strategy that takes place during learning opportunities and serves to promote student improvement and provide students opportunities to focus their learning.

The appearance of a variety of web 2.0 tools can certainly change the way in which students and teachers gather, organize, and analyze student opportunities in assessment for and as learning.

Consider a student’s online portfolio, as an example. An online portfolio can be used to contain a collection of relevant resources and student work. This can help students share their best work with students or present it to the teacher for feedback. As well, teachers can use these portfolios to track individual student progress, and plan instruction based upon student need. The nice thing about the portfolio being digital is that every student can be tracked in the same manner, at the same time, simply with the use of the internet. Further, most sites for digital portfolios (Wikipedia, etc) allow for other students and the teacher to provide commentary, which means that constructive, descriptive feedback can be left to give the student opportunities to improve as a learner.

Another useful example of how web 2.0 impacts assessment is when we consider digital storytelling. A variety of programs (Explain Everything, Educreations, etc) can be used to have students show what they know. They can create brief videos to explain any concept using narration and annotation. This is useful because the videos are shared instantly and provide opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and also help other students learn something new.

Finally, web 2.0 impacts assessment when it comes to organizing and analyzing data. Evernote, as an example, can be used to collect a variety of student work quickly and efficiently. It can organize samples of writing, audio recordings, videos of student explanations, student and teacher reflections, as well as photos of products in the class and achievement information. This allows teachers to manage student data efficiently and effectively – no longer having to carry loads of books and assignments home because the student information is available on their iPad or computer. With all of this student data available so readily, it makes creating personal, individualised feedback and learning plans for our students much easier and convenient for the teacher.