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

“I never said it had learned” said Mark

Clip

A Very BIG Thank You!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