Evaluation/Assessment

Hello everyone!

 I hope this blog finds you well. 

Have you ever felt like you deserved more after your teacher evaluated you? Well, to tell you the truth, I have. It always happened in those classes where the teacher wanted the students to tell the lesson by heart. It happened when my teacher never explained me what I had done wrong or when I never understood my teachers' handwriting. We don't intend to become like these teachers, so that's why I decided to dedicate this blog to evaluation/assessment. 

What I find important to emphasize is that, although we might use both words as synonyms of each-other, they are not really the same. In the figure below you will find a comparison between assessment and evaluation. 

I guess we all agree that assessment would make students feel better, wouldn't it? 

I read an example about the differences between evaluation and assessment, which I really find meaningful, not only to have in mind in our classes, but also in our everyday life. 

Imagine you are gifted a flower. 

There are two perspectives you can actually see this situation: 

1. Through the lenses of an evaluator. In this case you would say: "The flower is purple and too short with not enough leaves."

2. Through the lenses of an assessor. In this case you would say:"I'll put the flower in a vase with water so it will grow". 

It is the same with students, they need us to help them grow. If we "water" them, then we will see them bloom. 

But, what can us, as teachers do to assess our students and make them feel better at the same time? 

Have your teachers ever let you down, guys? Well, I've been there, very excited to finally see what grade I got in my homework or exam, but some teachers would always "forget" them at home even though they promised they would not. My very first advice is to never make promises that you can't keep to your students, because they will lose their faith towards you.

Another advice is to valid, which depends on the purpose of the assessment. If your purpose is to assess grammar, don’t focus too much on the punctuation. 

Reliability is another important element to keep in mind, which refers to the consistency of the assessment scores.

There are numerous types of assessments in education, which you can see in the video below. I think that us, as teachers should make the proper decision on what type to use depending on our students’ needs.

With the use of multimedia in education apart of the teaching methods, assessment has changed as well or at least, it can change. 

When I attended my practice, I observed so many stressed teachers assessing students’ portfolios, which consisted of an amount of papers enough to give you a headache. In this case, E-portfolios would be the ideal solution. Students would create their own online portfolios, making the life easier for themselves (they could be more creative using the endless multimedia elements) and for the teachers (they wouldn’t have to struggle trying to read a difficult handwriting; wouldn’t lose any paper and they could assess portfolios everywhere at any time. 

These portfolios may include videos, students recordings of themselves reading, writing samples, artwork, such as design, singing, creating animations etc. Students should always be told what the objectives are and what is expected from them. 

That’s why we use Rubrics. A rubric for assessment, usually in the form of a matrix or grid, is a tool used to interpret and grade students' work against criteria and standards. Rubrics are sometimes called "criteria sheets", "grading schemes", or "scoring guides". Using them will help the students grow by understanding their strengths and weaknesses. To read more about rubrics, click on the link below.

https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/assessment-rubrics 

E-portfolios are not the only type of E-assessment. There are also E-testing and Computer-based testing.

Benefits of using E-assessment 
1. It saves time.
2. It provides immediate feedback.
3. Students can also assess each other.
4. Teachers can share different types of tests to each student, without monitoring which student got  which test.

Some others benefits: 

So that’s it for today guys. To sum up, I think we should be very careful when we assess our students. We should not only be professionals, but also try not to hurt their feelings. Don’t forget: Don’t judge your students, help them grow! 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, I appreciate it! 

Please feel free to share your opinion! 

P.s. Don't forget to stay safe 🤗