MAKE Tech Pedagogy

Learning from teaching

In the following section, I describe what our group has done for our teaching session and what I have learned from preparation and implementation processes.

Topic
What is the difference of assessing competence and assessing the learning process?

The table shows the differences between assessing competence and assessing learning process based on our research. We had two different views towards the topic and decided to present both views.

Preparation for the lesson

My responsibility in this week’s topic was searching materials for comparing assessing learning process and assessing competence and create a mind map in Coggle about assessing competence for presentation. One of the members shared good material which describe differences in assessment of learning and learning outcomes. We followed the material and structured the lesson.

However, in the middle of the finalising meeting, I realised that something is missing or illogical in our argument towards the topic. But I was not able to explain it clearly as I was also not certain about the reason. As the meeting lasted already two hours, we decided so that I will do more research and if I find anything before midnight I will make changes.

As making changes in the way I understood required too much work in the last minute (it was already Sunday evening), I tired to make myself understand in the way which others understand. As a result, I tried to mix both and find middle point of two different views, but the illogical parts were bothering me and didn’t go away. I realised that I cannot teach something which I disagree with or perhaps something which has illogical parts that I cannot explain. I expressed my feeling in the group and they encouraged me to explain both different views.

The decision we made to present both ideas were very beneficial for me to realise that:
1) I do not want to teach something I disagree. I am very uncomfortable if I need to do so.
2) I am not confident to teach something I do not understand even there is a script.
3) I have to think about how to handle the different views or opinions in the classroom. For instance when students have different opinion from mine or other students, how should I deal with it?
I also decided to focus on teaching rather than contents of teaching through this professional teacher training course. It is more beneficial to try different tools and ways of teaching as well as reflecting and developing my own teaching style.

Summative and formative assessment (Brown & Knight, 2012; Eurydice, 2018; Straková, 2017)

Besides the topic, one of the important aspects to be highlighted when it comes to assessment is differences of summative assessment and formative assessment.
Summative assessment is given to the student in the end of the learning module (e.g., course). It clarifies what has been achieved based on the assessment criteria provided in advance. The purpose of summative assessment is to determine whether student reach the required learning outcomes. For instance, students will perform their competence in exams.
Formative assessment is given to the student during the learning module. It describes how student’s way of learning has been, including strength and weakness, behaviour, and estimate of achievement which helps student to adjust their learning paths towards the goal. The purpose of formative assessment is 1) to make student recognise knowledge gap, what s/he currently knows and what s/he needs to know, and 2) to provide support and guidance for student in achieving learning outcomes. For instance, teacher may ask students “do you have any questions?” to identify knowledge gap and encourage their reflection.

Implementation of the lesson

Reflection of my teaching

I have many things to reflect.
Firstly, this week I was not prepared enough. It might be the first time that I was not confident with the topic I teach. During the planning session, I was very confused with the disagreement with other members about the topic. As we could not solve the disagreement in this short time, we decided to present both of the views. However, we made the teaching materials for the view that I was not familiar with, so I was still uncomfortable and was not confident to present. I was very nervous and as the topic was the core of the activity, I was not fully confident with the activity plan as well.

Secondly, I made change in the activity content just before the teaching session, based on students’ understanding level and my understanding level. I regret that I did not follow the activity plan which was created by group members’ effort, but I believe that I performed better than I could do with the original plan. Originally it was fun and well-structured activity with new tool (webcam), and we have discussed how to perform it, but I was struggling, in the first place, with the different view from mine on which the activity was based. I would have been able to perform the activity as planned but I am not sure whether I could give any good feedback for their answers. I was not at all confident with performing the activity that I do not understand the concept behind and it would be rude to assess students’ act with unclear thoughts and criteria.

Thirdly, one of the things I would like to develop in my teaching is making use of or commenting on students’ answers. While attending other group’s teaching sessions, I found the importance of utilising students’ answers. As a student I would expect to get feedback after some kind of tasks or activity. For instance, when I share my ideas, I would like to hear what teacher or other students think about my ideas. It makes me feel confident and motivated. When teacher does not give any comment after I share my ideas, I feel that I am not heard and my opinion is not valued. Also I am worried about uncertainty of the direction of my thought.
However, when I teach as a teacher, I still cannot use students answers effectively in teaching, nor give enough feedback to their answers. I consider that it is because I am more focusing on finishing the teaching on time and as we planned. So the activity and asking students to share their ideas have been part of planned schedule which I should follow. But as we learned in virtual environment week, interaction between students and teacher is very important aspect in teaching. By utilising or commenting students’ answers, students are more engaged in the lesson and develop understanding towards the topic.
Well developed teaching plan is important to structure the lesson so that I may provide theoretically the most efficient learning experience for students, however, I shouldn’t forget to interact with students. By interacting, I am able to enhance students’ cognition, motivation and emotions which are also big part of their learning. Teaching is just a part of learning!

Lastly, another thing I realised and would like to develop in my teaching is the way I speak. I realised that my speaking was not very “teaching style”. In our room, we had discussion about voice of teachers. One of them had very calm and confident voice while teaching. With such voice, it is easier to listen, and feel safe and comfortable. On the other hand, how I talk was not the ideal way as a teacher. I do not talk so professional, I sometimes talk too fast or not smoothly. I also forget the structure I had in my head and talk things in unorganised way. Unprofessional and too excited speaking is not helpful for students to build their understanding.
In order to improve the way I speak while teaching, I should prepare well beforehand and be more confident about what I teach and how I teach.

After watching the video of my teaching and others’ teaching, I got additional thoughts.
1) Something that I succeeded is asking students “do you have any questions or comments?” every now and then while giving lecture. In this way, I am able to help students to solve unclear matters regarding my lecture.
2) Changing screen size (Coggle, Flinga) is a bit distracting. We need to figure out the way to make it as suitable size for the screen and do not need to zoom it and out frequently. Or we can try new tools.
3) I have a lot of “Aaa” or “like..” or “hmm” in the middle and it blocks smooth explanation. Also it makes that I am not confident what I am speaking. One of the reasons would be because I was concerning about break between sentences while I speak. However, when I was listening others’ lecture, it doesn’t matter if there are some quiet moment. It is much better than connecting sentences with distracting meaningless sounds.
4) By listening others’ speaking, I found that I should put more emphasis on important terms while explaining. It makes easier for students to know what is important aspects. Also it will make students less sleepy or bored.
5) My speaking is like presentation but not very interactive with students. I feel like I am focusing on my speaking and did not involve students so much. I should try to speak as I lead interactions with students.

Learning from other groups

What are the goals and intended outcomes of assessment and feedback in vocational education?

Important notes from the lecture

Students study focusing on assessment (based on what they are going to be assessed) because assessment is a big part of learning. So as a teacher, we should be aware the impact of assessment on students’ learning.

Purposes of assessment:
Guiding purpose: guide students’ learning path by giving feedback towards their learning process and current competence.
Control purpose: control the certain level of the competence
Selective and predictive purpose: assembling knowledge and predict next steps.
Motivating purpose: encourage students to learn by both positive and negative emotion towards assessment.
Developing purpose: by receiving feedback students develop their learning

Assessment should:
Provide guidance and encouragement
Develop students’ self-assessment capability
Provide information on students’ competence
Ensure the achievement of vocational skill requirements in national qualification requirements

Good practice

We had time to give feedback to the group’s presentation. We were asked to give feedback to the group based on the purpose of assessment. It was very good practice because I found that I understood what are the purposes of assessment but I had not applied the knowledge into practice, actually assessing performance. It was also good opportunity reflecting my own teaching.
The following is feedback I gave to the group’s presentation:

About material
1) A lot of text in the slides but I realised that I am not really reading so much. It would be beneficial to have more images/visuals and less text.
About explanation
1) The speaking is very clear and easy to understand.
2) I like that she connected with previous presentations/ lectures.
3) After the video, there could be informal formative assessment, such as sharing impression of what we watched or giving comments on the video. As a student I would like to be somehow assessed after any kind of activity in order to make sure that I am in the right direction.

By giving feedback, I also reflected my own teaching.

What are the most common assessment methods, how do they work and differ from each other?

Important notes from the lecture

Constructive alignment
Assessment methods should be aligned with desired learning outcome, learning environment/ activity and grading (see the blog of planning week).

Reasons for assessment:
Compare students with each other
To see whether students’ competence meets a particular standard
To help the learning of the students
To check if the teaching program is doing its job

Challenges of assessment
One person (teacher) assess students progress. Shouldn’t there be multiple views towards the students’ achievement?
When assessment require oral communication, it is necessary to create safe environments where the students can comfortably perform competence or share opinions.

Different assessment methods
Writing assignment: demonstrating declarative knowledge
Project work: applying knowledge in real life project
Demonstration event: demonstrating competence
Portfolio: focusing on the contents
Learning diary: students’ own reflection of own development
Discussion: understanding students and their views
Exam: pre-test, iterative examination, verbal examination, traditional examination. Book exam enhances deeper understanding by extracting important part from the book.

Viewpoints to think about differences among assessment methods
Individual or group
Who assess teacher or peer or self
Written or verbal or performance
Diagnostic or formative or summative

Good practice

By being asked what kind of assessment methods are commonly used in my field, I found that 1) I am not fully aware of all possible assessment methods to determine competence of using technology in education and 2) effective assessment methods are different in each field. I should always creatively think and look for better assessment methods rather than using the same assessment methods all the time.

Interesting discussion

How can teacher separate personal feelings to the students and assessment of their learning?
I haven’t thought about it but it is very practical and common issues. As a human teacher cannot totally keep personal feeling aside but we should try to be professional and objective.

To what extend can individuals’ performance be highlighted in assessment based on group assignments?
I had quite a lot of group work assignments and sometimes I was not satisfied with the result of the assessment. Some of the solutions are 1) assessing based on both group and individual assignments, or 2) having peer assessment in the group. But still individuals’ contribution to the group is difficult to assess. In my opinion, it is important to have formative peer assessment of the group’s performance, not only summative assessment. By assessing and giving feedback to the group’s performance and individuals’ contributions in the middle of the group work, it is possible to adjust individuals’ unequal contributions and to improve overall group’s performance.

Should teacher be assessed?
In Finland teachers are not be assessed. In some countries teachers need to take exam regularly. When I studied at the university, sometimes the students was asked to give summative assessment to the teachers and course design. However after familiarising myself with assessment through this week, I consider that formative feedback would be much more beneficial. With formative assessment of their performance, teachers are able to adjust their teaching and increase motivation.

References

Brown, S., & Knight, P. (2012). Assessing learners in higher education. Routledge.
Eurydice. (2018). Assessment in Vocational and Technical Upper Secondary Education. Retrieved 5th of October from https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/assessment-vocational-and-technical-upper-secondary-education_en.
Straková, Z. (2017). Assessment in higher education. In Strakova, Z. (Ed.), How to Teach in Higher Education: Selected Chapters (pp. 137-151). Prešov: University of Prešov.

Reading fellow students’ blogs

I read the following blog posts and left my comments and feedback.
Regina (English Teacher Zone): Implementation: frontal teaching
Katja (Professional Teacher Education): Webinar 3, implementation 2, 1.10.2019
Arup (Professional Teacher): Classroom/frontal teaching (The third teaching session 1.10.2019)

(Last update: 23.12.2019)