Being a teacher for almost 4 years now, I bet I can say that assessment for me is just a piece of cake….
Well, I got it wrong!
And oh! this course was like a bolt from the blue!
I didn’t know how far I can go here in UPOU but this last activity I have to finish- served as a flashing sign telling me “I have to do it!”
It’s my first time to study through distance learning and I was expectant of many difficulties. Even then, I am sure that I never want to give up.
This course provided me more than just concepts and principles but guidance and brainwaves that changed my teaching perspectives.
As a teacher, I have to be aware of the cyclic progression of the assessment cycle in my teaching practice. I shouldn’t just design assessment tasks based on what is required by the curriculum but highly consider the strengths and weaknesses of my students. This means I should make use of needs assessment to diagnose learning difficulties.
” Assessment is today’s means of modifying tomorrow’s instruction.”
– Carol Ann Tomlinson
To have to set learning goals be aligned with the assessment activities where I can take advantage of the alternative assessments – authentic, performance based, reflective, and constructivist. The rationality and doability of all these assessments have to be given thought as well
The thought about alternative assessments also made me think of the need of teachers to improve teaching pedagogy. As a foreign teacher here in Thailand, I am really concerned on how I can still improve my teaching methods to be able to make an assessment that are meaningful and engaging.
The purposes of assessment – the FOR, OF, and AS learning which I often forget. Every time I doubt whether I am doing my assessments correctly, I remind myself of all these concepts.
Lastly, learning is knowledge construction not knowledge transfer. This I always bear in mind as I encourage students to learn independently by using multiple measures, scaffolding, and other critical teaching strategies.
Despite the potential challenges basal to all these principles, I hope that I can apply or have applied all these learnings to my teaching and continue to develop myself as a teacher.
Thank you, Dr. Lou, and to the rest of my co learners!
Carry on!
jez0219 