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Taking the ‘Ass’ out of Assessment:
Getting rid of the Donkey Work
Professor Mark Schofield
Dean of Teaching and Learning Development
Director of the CLTR
Academic Director, SOLSTICE Centre for Excellence
in Teaching and Learning,
Fellow of the HEA,
National Teaching Fellow
“Enhancement may be
about doing things better,
but it is also about doing
better things.”(Professor Sir Lewis Elton)
Taking the ‘Ass’ out of Assessment:
Getting rid of the Donkey Work
Headlines:
• Assessment and Student success
• Persistent challenges - aspects that we may, sometimes, feel
‘saddled with.’
• Today’s conference is about Practices for ‘Monday morning’
that work.
• Taking the ‘Ass’ out of the ‘Assessment’ donkey, as a vehicle
to stimulate our interactions, and to hopefully have a little fun
along the way.
Some reflections on words to be used:
Don·key noun, plural -keys, adjective
–noun
1. the domestic ass, Equus Asinus.
2. (since 1874) a representation of this
animal as the emblem of the U.S.
Democratic party.
3. a stupid, silly, or obstinate person.
Donkey work –noun
Informal . tedious, repetitious work; drudgery.
Ass –noun
1. a long-eared, slow, domesticated mammal,
Equus asinus, related to the horse, used
chiefly as a beast of burden.
2. any wild species of the genus Equus
.
3. a stupid, foolish, or stubborn person.
And ............
Ass– noun Vulgar .
Audience Participation Time!
“No matter how many times you
weigh a donkey, it doesn’t make it
fatter”
....... Discuss cf Assessment!
...... Consensus? Assessment must be
a vehicle for learning or it is really only
donkey work!
Assessment is pivotal in joined up aligned Teaching for
Learning
‘Constructive
Alignment’ (Joined-Up Practice!)
Schofield M (2005) adapted from Biggs, J (2003)
Dialogues: reflection
and evaluation
processes in longer
loops
Dialogues: reflection
and evaluation on
and in action
Learning Outcomes
Assessment and Feedback
Teaching for
Learning
Evaluation/Realignment for
Next Cycle of Learning
Acrostic Story Time = ‘Cordial High
Intensity Choreographed
Oration’
“I taught my donkey to
dance. I assessed it too.”
said Mark
“But it isn’t dancing!” said
Sally
“I never said it had learned!”
said Mark
Learning
Teaching
Assessment and
Feedback
Evaluation, Research
and Realignment for
Next Cycle of Learning
Joining it all up? The centrality of Assessment
Mission, Aims, Strategy,
Policy, Infrastructures
Innovation ⇋ Research ⇋ Development
Integration, Application,
Discovery,
SoTL (Boyer)
Enhancement of Learning and
Student Success
⇋⇋
⇋
Research, Knowledge
Transfer
Perhaps ‘Assessment for Learning’ is not as
simple as learning to ride a bike!
Some Assertions:
Some assessment can be really bad and based on poor concepts and
expensive in many ways
Assessment should be aligned (in the broadest sense!!)
It should be a nourishing, enabling, process i.e. for, not just of learning but
for learning. ASSESSMENT CAN WORK OUT WELL! Budweiser
Should be motivating (consider ‘Harnessed, ethical, instrumentalism’)
Assessment can be a Mule – a dodgy hybrid – it can even be aligned by
type..... but the students aren’t prepared by formative experiences
Assessment is a real ‘Ass’ when students ‘just don’t get it’ – don’t see how it
works and what feedback is for
We need to get students into the zone (open the secret garden)
Opening up the ‘Secret Garden’ of Assessment
Taking the ‘Ass’ out of Assessment: Getting rid of
the Donkey Work?
“Students and Teachers in Assessment for Learning Dialogues = ‘Glue’”
Modelling
Joint Construction
Independence
(…. In Writing and Assessment)
Scaffolding Metacognition
B.A. Education and Literacy Case Study :
Modelling:• Students see writing in action
• Students see assessment in action (ILOs, Criteria)
• Students see construction of feedback in action
• Students talk and discuss during and after action! (Metacognitive dialogues)
• Explicitness begins to scaffold and help schema formation (students start to get how it works)
Joint Construction:• Students practice writing together
• Students see practice assessing together
• Students see practice writing and giving feedback and explore roles and responsibilities together
• Students talk and discuss during and after action! (Metacognitive dialogues together)
• Explicitness further scaffolds and helps firmer schema formation (students start to get it together
and how it works even more)
Independence:• Students practice – do formative tasks and get feedback individually (from tutors and peers)
• Students review ILOs, criteria and criteria for the summative task
• Students do their formative assessment and a re more likely to succeed and carry forward skills
Scaffolding
Dialogues
Metacognition
Assessment should be worth doing (worth
a carrot!)
.... or it is indeed ‘Donkey work’
C- A Ass = ?
C- Aass = ???
...... This is not what it should be like!!!!! (PAF!)
Task:
Do the Donkey Work Acrostic!
D =
O =
N =
K =
E =
Y =
W =
O =
R =
K =
How was it for you?
Share Acrostics.
Give each other some feedback!
Remember the story?
“I taught my donkey to dance. I assessed
it too.” said Mark
“But it isn’t dancing!” said Sally
Clip
Q and A ?
Some assessment can be really bad and based on poor concepts and
expensive in many ways
Assessment should be aligned (in the broadest sense!!)
It should be a nourishing, enabling, process i.e. for, not just of
learning but for learning. ASSESSMENT CAN WORK OUT WELL!
Budweiser
Should be motivating (consider ‘Harnessed, ethical, instrumentalism’)
Assessment can be a Mule – a dodgy hybrid – it can even be aligned
by type..... but the students aren’t prepared by formative experiences
Assessment is a real ‘Ass’ when students ‘just don’t get it’ – don’t see
how it works and what feedback is for
We need to get students into the zone (open the secret garden)
Learning
Teaching
Assessment
Evaluation, Research
and Realignment for
Next Cycle of Learning
Joining it all up?
Mission, Aims, Strategy,
Policy, Infrastructures
I ⇋ R ⇋ D
Integration, Application,
Discovery,
SoTL (Boyer)
Enhancement of Learning and
Student Success
⇋⇋
⇋
Research, Knowledge
Transfer
An ‘intelligence-informed’ dialogue, focused on alignment of:
PURPOSE (P) + AUDIENCE (A) FORM (F)
Intelligence
about
learning
Intelligence
about unique
and situated
characteristics
of learners and
teachers
Intelligent deployment
of technologies and
pedagogies
Research and Evaluation of…
…and their interplays!
SOLSTICE
Intelligence
about
affordances
Perhaps not as easy as
learning to ride a bike!
“A central (constructivist) method is ‘realtalk’ which includes discourse and
exploration, talking and listening,questions, argument, speculation, andsharing, but in which domination isreplaced by reciprocity and co-operation”(Jarvis 1998 p.73)
Taking the ‘Ass’ out of Assessment:
Getting rid of the Donkey Work
Professor Mark Schofield
Dean of Teaching and Learning Development
Director of the CLTR
Academic Director, SOLSTICE Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
