iCompute®Assessment Toolkit

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iComputeAssessment Toolkit Guide

iCompute iCompute Assessment Toolkit Guidance

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iCompute’s Assessment Toolkit for Primary Computing

iCompute’s Assessment Toolkit is intended to help teachers understand how they can assess their pupil’s progress in computing. It includes expectations for each year group and guidance as to what those expectations might look like in practice. This enables teachers to accurately know where their pupils are and what they need to do next to make good progress and meet the statutory attainment expectations set our in the National Curriculum for Computing at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

Unit Plan Assessment Guidance Each unit contains a breakdown of how the unit, and the individual sessions within it, meets expectation descriptors from the National Curriculum programme of study. We also provide, within each unit, end of unit assessment guidance, which contains assessment statements and details of what to look for in progress following the some, most and a few model (Fig 1.1) End of unit assessment can then be used to feed into our Pupil Progress Tracker spreadsheets.

Pupil Progress Trackers Pupil progress tracker spreadsheets are provided for each year group (Years 1-6), the EYFS and P-Scales. Computing is divided into the three unofficial ‘strands’ of computing: 8 Digital Literacy (incl. eSafety) 8 Computer Science 8 Information Technology Each of the strands is headed in the progress tracker spreadsheet and is further broken down into assessment statements using the some, most, few model by hovering over the headings. A points based algorithm is then applied to map to a colour-way for each pupil ranging from light to dark, indicating whether the pupil is working below expectations (light), meeting expectations (medium) or exceeding expectations (dark).

Fig 1.1

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The colour-ways for Years 1-6 are mapped to Computing at Schools (CAS) Progression Pathways. The P-Scales are based on the on the revised P-Scales of the CAS Include Computing Working Party. Links to the sources of these documents are provided within the progress tracker spreadsheets. We recommend that teachers use their end of unit assessment to feed in to the pupil progress trackers regularly. This will enable them to use their understanding of their pupil’s competencies to inform planning and set targets. Assessment Strategies for Computing Assessment can be particularly challenging for teachers of computing as traditional methods of marking and feedback are a difficult given the digital nature of product. A range of assessment strategies are therefore necessary, with discussion and questioning being key. We recommend using a variety of methods and tools to support evidence of progression. iCompute’s units and lessons are designed to include a broad range and rich variety of activities that include working in groups, individually and sharing pupil work. This enables teachers to engage in ongoing formative assessment. ePortfolios A digital folder (e-Portfolio) stored on your school network for each of your pupils is the preferred way of managing projects and work. Pupils save their work to their individual folders, using dating and version numbering which will help you keep track of their progress. For group work, you could use a different ePortfolio and tag the folder with the name of each child forming part of the group.

Feedback Feedback could be face-to-face, in writing for worksheet activities, by video or online where appropriate in the form of commenting. Examples of this are with Scratch where comments can be inserted next to the children’s blocks of code and in Microsoft Kodu project descriptions, which can be edited and used to provide feedback and suggest next steps.

Blogging Blogging is not only a great way of developing digital literacy (and general literacy), it also provides excellent opportunities for self and peer assessment (see below).

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Through individual and/or class blogs, the children can write and combine digital media for an audience as well as reflect on their learning. When children share their work and thoughts through writing they learn from each other, challenge one another, question and receive feedback. Screen casting Potentially one of the most powerful tools for assessment in computing is engaging pupils in creating screencasts: recording computer screen video with audio narration. Research indicates that by making learning visual and documenting thinking – through screencasting – pupils more naturally engage in self-assessment. Even when recordings are made

without any intended audience and in the absence of prompting, pupils automatically listen back to themselves, reflect, assess and adjust. This promising tool could be used to further

develop information technology and digital literacy skills whilst also engaging pupils in the assessment process by editing screencasts for an intended audience with audio and creating visual effects such as captioning. The screencasts could then be uploaded to individual or class blogs, using categories and tags mapped to the appropriate strand of the National Curriculum for Computing, as evidence of learning or saved as a video file for storage on file servers either at school or in the Cloud. Similarly, teachers could use screencasts to provide audio/visual pupil feedback by making recordings when reviewing work. The screencasts could be cross-referenced against a project and uploaded into the pupil’s e-Portfolio.

Self & Peer Assessment Self and peer assessment is hugely beneficial to pupils providing an opportunity to reflect on work, learn from mistakes and evaluate for improvement. Recording audio can be particularly good for these forms of assessment where projects can be described in detail in terms of their design, functionality, problem solving and potential future improvements as they are being developed and/or used.

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The audio can be embedded within the project and ‘hidden’ so as not to interfere or distract from the core project by programming playback to happen on a given key stroke or button press which is commented in to the code (Fig.1.2) Assessment Tasks Most of our units include an end of unit task designed to bring everything learned in the unit together and provide an opportunity for pupils to demonstrate their knowledge skills and understanding. In our programming units, for example, this usually takes the form of creating a project that encompasses the software development lifecycle from design, through development, testing, sharing and evaluating work. You may, if you wish, also assign other assessment tasks as you see fit in your classroom. Computing At Schools is currently working on Project Quantum, which aims to provide a suite of online assessment questions that will be automatically marked and support teachers in guiding content and measuring progress. This could be used alongside the formative assessment methods detailed above to provide further evidence of progression and assist with target setting. Project Quantum is still in its early stages of development but some assessment tests are available at: http://www.diagnosticquestions.com Teachers need to create a free account, add pupils, search for and assign computing assessment quizzes.

Finding Out More About Primary Computing The National Curriculum for Computing at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Computing in the National Curriculum: A Guide for Primary Teachers (CAS) iCompute: Let’s Get Going. Cartmel: iCompute. iCompute for Primary Schools website www.icompute-uk.com

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