In recognition that schools may adopt revised teaching and learning plans during remote learning and that assessment can be more challenging in a learning from home environment, the frequency, breadth, and amount of assessment and feedback may need to be reduced.
However:
Student learning should continue to be assessed
Assessment should be embedded within the teaching and learning cycle
A combination of formative and summative assessment strategies should be used to monitor progress and inform future teaching
Teachers should continue to provide feedback to students on their learning
Different ways of assessing student learning in a learning from home environment include:
Setting up regular check-ins and opportunities for students to ask questions and share work through existing school processes or protocols that have been developed for this period
Providing students with information on how they might self-assess their skill development when setting learning activities (for example, use of exemplars, videos of demonstrations, self-assessment rubrics or peer evaluation)
Considering how to adopt formative assessment methods, and the ways in which evidence of student learning is collected (for example, this may include using digitally based strategies to formatively assess and gauge student progress.
In the absence of online opportunities, using phone calls or emails to measure student’s achievement and progress
Considering how to adapt summative assessment activities. For example, requesting students to submit tasks (such as essays, assignments) through existing online or offline processes
Continuing to use different modes and tools to provide ongoing, targeted and meaningful feedback
There are so many tools to use to check for understanding. As it is important to have routines and still have variety, select two to four tools that work for you and your students. Focusing on just a few allows students to experience tools they’re used to, while also ensuring that checking for learning doesn’t get boring.
Make sure the tools you use fit your purpose. If you need to see students’ process, select a tool that can capture that, such as Animoto or Flipgrid. If you need to check their content knowledge, try Kahoot or Quizlet.
Formative assessment is a process, and it’s important to collect evidence of learning over time. While you may teach and dictate which digital tools students can use, work with students to have them document their learning along the way. Give them guides or checkpoints to let them know what they need to submit and when they need to do so.
You might ask students to submit reflection videos or send photos of their progress. Screenshots and scanning tools also work well.
When checking for understanding, it’s important to communicate the feedback that comes from it. As a teacher, you can provide written and/or oral feedback through videos or sound recordings. If you’re doing synchronous sessions, you can put students in breakout groups to provide feedback to one another – if you do this, you’ll need to give them clear feedback rules. Asynchronously, students can post work and provide feedback over a longer timeframe.
Those in-the-moment checks for understanding that we did in the classroom were valuable, allowing us to adjust instruction and meet students where they were. That kind of check-in is still important. The new apps in Zoom provide built-in formative assessment capabilities that can allow you to know, in real time, what students know and don’t know. ]
These check-ins help you provide just-in-time feedback, and can guide your thinking about who might need further support later through resources, intervention, or small-group instruction through breakout groups in a synchronous session.
Data is useless unless it is used. When we collect and examine formative assessments, we need to use what we learn from them to inform instruction. We might find out that a synchronous session didn’t go so well, and thus a reteach needs to be offered in a different way, or that specific students need further support and resources. All of those data points tell us something we can use to provide timely feedback, adjust instruction, and plan ahead.