This page gives the tasks you will undertake in the 'Marking and assessment' session. You will need to bring in examples of pupils work for this session - see the introduction for details.
One of the major problems in I(C)T teaching is assessing pupils against the National Curriculum levels. In this session you will do a number of activities designed to help introduce you to this task. This subject will be returned to in more depth in the break between the two periods of PTE, when we will have sessions targeted at assessing pupils at each relevant Key Stage.
In this session you will:
- compare the marking schemes in use at each of your PTE schools;
- mark work produced in each other's classes against the NC levels;
- examine and discuss a pro-forma designed to allow pupils to assess themselves;
- match a paper-based test against the IT NC level descriptors.
In preparation for this session you will need to collect three or four examples of pupils' work from one KS3 class which you have marked against the IT NC level descriptors - but on which you have put no marks. Bring this work with you to the session - in the second of the tasks it will be marked by others in the cohort and your assessments of the work compared.
To help you, I have produced a table listing the relevant level descriptors for each strand of the IT National Curriculum. You might also wish to consult the on-line version of the National Curriculum, the 'National Curriculum in Action' site and the Northern Grid for Learning's ICT page.
The learning objectives for this session are that by the end you should:
- know the range of assessment strategies used in a number of partner schools;
- be able to mark some pupils' work against the IT National Curriculum level statements;
- understand some of the difficulties involved doing this;
- be able to evaluate assessment instruments as tools for assessing capability;
- know what the process of moderation is.
Task 1: comparing marking schemes
This task should take about 20 minutes.
Pool any printed material you have on the assessment policies of your school and (especially) your department. Where this does not exist you will have to tell each other (briefly) what the policy is.
Make a list of the similarities and differences in:
- What is assessed - skills, NC levels, effort etc..
- When each of these is assessed - each lesson/module/term/year etc..
- The variety of ways in which these are assessed - computer-based products/written assignments (including homework)/pupil self-assessment/ formal examinations etc..
- You can compare your results with those I found in a brief survey conducted for the UK TeacherZone.
Task 2: marking to NC levels - an exercise in moderation
This task should take about 1 hour.
Pool the samples of work brought in by members of the group.
Mark examples of work brought in by other BTs against the NC levels and note any difficulties you faced. (20 minutes)
As a group, discuss your assessments - and the difficulties you faced (15 minutes). Divide the examples into those you can agree on and those you cannot.
Swap examples of each of these with the members of another group (without indicating which is which - or the levels) and mark these new examples (as a group). (15 minutes)
Discuss your assessment(s) of this sample with the members of the group that originally marked it. (10 minutes). Try to select 'exemplar' work which all or most of you can agree as evidence that a pupil has achieved at least one of the statements of a particular level.
The Northern Grid for Learning has a useful set of exemplar material that may be of help here. The 'National Curriculum in Action' site's ICT page also has exemplar materials and (soon) will have a forum within which you can discuss the levelling of work.
The 'exemplar' work will be used as examples lined to the 'Exemplification of the NC levels' page .
Task 3: pupils assessing themselves
This task should take about 45 minutes.
Examine the self-assessment form developed by Elizabeth Doyle and answer the following questions.
- Each statement is linked to one NC level. How good do you think this match is?
- What improvements could you make to the form to improve the match?
- How reliable do you think this form of assessment is? Why?
- What would the teacher have to do to help ensure the reliability of the self-assessment?
- Could you get the same assessment information in another way?
If you have time write another self-assessment for another strand of the IT National Curriculum.
This task should take about 45 minutes.
Look at the 'Logo test' developed by Elizabeth Doyle and answer the following questions as a group.
- What level(s) is it designed to assess?
- How easy is it to link the questions to levels - are some more difficult than others?
- What would be needed as evidence that a pupils had achieved a particular level?
- What improvements could you suggest to make a better link with one particular level and/or extend the range of levels assessed?
If you have time write a similar test to assess another strand of the IT National Curriculum.
As part of Assignment 1, you build a spreadsheet to record GCSE coursework marks and use this information for predictive purposes. Electronic markbooks such as this can also be produced to help you use assessments for other groups. For example, Elizabeth Doyle produced an analogous (and simplified) sheet for her AVCE class.
See chapter 8 of 'Learning to Teach Using ICT in the Secondary School' edited by Marylin Leask and Norbert Pachler (Institute library reference Loyx Ref LEA).
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by Tim Brosnan. Please send any comments to: t.brosnan@ioe.ac.uk
Last updated on 26th
November 2001.
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