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Assessment for Learning,
Prof Yan Zi
Prof Yan Zi addresses current attempts at classroom assessment reform theoretically and practically. His recent undertakings emphasise the synergy between teacher-directed assessment-for-learning and student-directed assessment-as-learning.
As principal investigator, Prof Yan has led several projects funded by the GRF and QEF. His research involves many local partner schools and seeks to develop teachers’ assessment literacy and leverage student agency in classroom assessment. Notably, his most recent QEF project aims at creating a professional development website for formative assessment in hopes of equipping teachers and pushing for sustainable assessment reform. Prof Yan investigates and measures the effectiveness of teacher- and student-directed assessments strategies. In doing so, he and his team have developed a holistic framework and instruments which have significant theoretical and methodological implications on current classroom assessment approaches.
Within Hong Kong, Prof Yan’s collaborations with the EDB exemplifies the local impact of his work. His holistic assessment framework was further adopted and included in the newest 2022 Primary Education Curriculum Guide. The EDB also organised a professional development programme on assessment literacy and effective use of assessment data; written and run by Prof Yan at EdUHK, the programme has gained great popularity over the years. In addition, Prof Yan also provides teacher development workshops to local schools, utilising the rich empirical data he has collected to invigorate teachers’ attitudes and practices. By invitation, he has supported many schools and school-sponsoring bodies such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong, the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Buddhist Association. His eight-year partnership with ELCHK Wo Che Lutheran School is to be highlighted; through in-depth lesson study and intensive training, Prof Yan helped set up a core school team and devise exemplar lessons which can be adopted in diverse learning settings.
Prof Yan’s work continues at the regional level and overseas; he has taught teachers from Macau, Shenzhen, the Philippines, and Indonesia. His publications have reached an even wider audience, benefitting policy-makers, educators, and students in different sociocultural contexts. His book, for instance, Student self-assessment as a process for learning is the first of its kind, documenting the research on student self-assessment from conception to intervention outcomes. Moreover, Prof Yan works with scholars from Finland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and the UK. His newly edited book Assessment as learning: Maximising opportunities for student learning and achievement collates insight from 32 leading researchers from 9 different countries. Moreover, Prof Yan has sustained long-term relationships and produced co-proposals and co-publications with strategic partners: Nanjing Normal University and Deakin University, himself being an honorary professor at the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning in the latter. Given his seminal contributions, Prof Yan also attends and presents at various conferences and international academic communities such as the Pacific Rim Objective Measurement Society, of which he is Vice President; the American Educational Research Association; and the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction. Finally, he assumes multiple editorial roles for academic journals, namely Educational Psychology, Frontiers in Education (Assessment, Testing and Applied Measurement) and Studies in Educational Evaluation.
November 2023
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