a driver has to pass through a thick fog to reach his required
destination. It becomes increasingly difficult for him to navigate his way and
avoid all the sharp turns as the fog thickens and his apprehension grows. Same
is the case with assessment fog as instructors find it difficult to pinpoint
individual needs of students due to this assessment fog. Unlike the road fog, assessment fog, most
likely, is invisible so it is difficult to avoid and navigate ones way in it.
Once the instructors are able to break through the fog of logistical
guidelines and learning targets, it becomes very easy to differentiate
instruction patterns according to the needs of learners and understand the
purpose of assessment. Discussed below are three strategies that can be used to
eliminate this assessment fog and help students in the long term.
i.
The main element of quality teaching is to have
clear targets and expectations. Many students just have a superficial
understanding of the subjects; this is useless as far as quality knowledge is
concerned. Students should know what is their academic target and the
instructors should clarify at the beginning of the course, what are the
expectations of the students towards the instructor and course.
ii.
Students should be provided with different
options to demonstrate their learning. Some students excel in writing assessment paper and assignments, while
some are good at practical work. It is highly unjustified and biased to assess
the skills of all the students using one yardstick. If the instructor chooses
to use one form of assessment, the data generated via such assessment will be
skewed and most of the capable students will not be able to show their skills
and potential.
iii.
Logistical requirements should not be mixed
with assessment, as this can muddy the assessment. For example, if the student
was required to write a five paragraph essay and a seven paragraph essay was
submitted, this should not hamper the grading as the learning outcome was to
judge the content and writing style of the essay.
Misleading and skewed data
should be replaced with clean data in order to get results that are truly
depicting the picture of where the students lie. Instructors need to look past
the assessment fog and look into the individual capabilities and needs of the
learners to in actuality help the students.
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