Formative Assessment using Digital Portfolios

Junior Cycle

Engineering

In this digital portfolio example we will take a look at how principles of Formative Assessment may be used and applied to the teaching learning and assessment of a component for a junior cycle engineering project, with a particular focus on the sharing of learning intentions and success criteria.

The platform used in this example is Microsoft Teams.

A Unit of Work

Over a duration of number of weeks, a second year Engineering class are working on a candle holder project. The students have been collating a digital portfolio of their work by engaging with and completing assignments and activities that are assigned to them by their teacher through their learning platform.

As part of this unit of work the teacher has planned that students will complete a design activity where they are asked to design a bespoke base for their project.

The learning outcomes for this particular design activity are from the design application strand of the Junior Certificate Engineering specification.

The teacher has chosen to explore the elements of innovation and exploration as well as communication.

Learning Intention

When considering the learning intentions and success criteria for the activity the teacher referenced the NCCA guidelines NCCA Learning Interntions and Success Criteria and the resources and content in the learning intentions and success criteria section of this website.

The Learning Intention for this learning activity is to Design and make parts for Engineering Projects

Creating Success Criteria

In class time the teacher and students discuss what should be included in their portfolio for this activity, they create success criteria for the activity. The agreed criteria for the design task are outlined below.

Present evidence of primary research of objects from around the home
Sketches of design ideas to include a 3D pictorial sketch
Create a working drawing to include three dimensions
Produce a prototype or model of chosen design

Distributing the Assignment: Sharing Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

An assignment was created by the teacher and shared with the students through Assignments via the Teams App.

In keeping with formative assessment practice, the learning intentions and success criteria for the activity are shared with the students.

In this example the teacher has chosen to share the learning intention in the instructions field of the assignment.

A OneNote page was distributed to each of the students personal space in the Class Notebook.

This page has been added as a resource to the assignment. The One note page becomes the students' digital workspace for this activity.

The teacher has chosen to share the success criteria for the design activity by pasting them on the attached OneNote page, this in turn appears in each of the students personal workspace as a point of reference as they complete the activity.

Workspace

In this screen grab we see an exemplar of a students workspace.

The student has inserted pictures of their work directly into their portfolio workspace from the camera on a mobile phone or device.

The student has checked the success criteria on the page to ensure they have completed the agreed actions for the activity and have achieved at the assigned task.

Sketches, drawings and a cardboard prototype have been captured digitally as evidence of the students work which were steered by the success criteria.

The student has also typed a short rational as to why they have chosen the presented this design as the final solution. They then turned this in to the teacher for feedback.

Feedback

In this image we can see how after reviewing the student work the teacher has left some feedback for the student.

The Feedback field of the assignment on the right contains general instructions, whilst more specific feedback as an audio voice recording and an inked note have been inserted directly onto the students workspace. They relate directly to the success criteria.

The assignment is then returned to the student to review and make changes.