Case 4 Peer assessment

A conviction that teachers of the 21st century need to embrace alternative ways of developing the curriculum prompted an Arts Methodology lecturer within the Faculty of Education to devise an assessment task that is essentially peer assessed. Her strong belief in the benefits of the online environment for enhancing learning is an underpinning philosophy for the inclusion of this particular assessment strategy during 2005.

The task has two main aims. The first is for the students to engage at a high level with multimedia technology so that they become versatile, well-equipped teachers themselves, being able to use a range of tools teaching as well as for their own students' learning. The second aim is that through peer assessment in the online environment, students' own artistic appreciation, analysis skills, and higher order thinking be enhanced.

The pre-service teacher education students use the online learning environment to develop a Website Curriculum Package in response to the learning activities in which the students have been involved. These include readings, learning about design elements of website presentations (e.g. using Microsoft PowerPoint) and art techniques using a variety of media, just to mention a few. The package is a totally online web-based compilation of different curriculum tasks suitable for use in schools, and it must include visual images that illustrate and are representative of the course material covered. After development of the Website Curriculum Package, the students upload their websites and the class discusses each package online. In response to peer comments, the students have the opportunity to change aspects of their work or to refine it further. Therefore the students' work is evolving, becoming better, more focused and more responsive to audience needs. In this case the audience is quite specialized, but this feature in itself is quite unique to the learning generated. The final assessment of the Website Curriculum Package includes both the students' progressive assessments (worth 60%) and lecturer's final assessment (worth 40%). This total score is converted to a total of 60% for the whole unit.

Through the use of the online environment, students are expected to develop a range of generic ICT skills as well as becoming familiar with relevant hardware, and software as well as a range of design, graphics and art principles. As they engage in the task, some need to refine their use of the computer as a tool for study, experimentation and presentation. Using a computer screen limits some flexibility and the assignment task also raises issues of time management. These general issues, however, are relevant to the students' professional development as teachers of the future.

As the Website Curriculum Package is viewed by all the other students and is peer assessed, there is an expectation that students will develop a critical stance in relation to the following aspects of arts literacy:

• Shared knowledge

• Technical knowledge

• Website design

• Visual literacy

• Visual communication

Each website becomes a resource for further learning. The understandings of the students are broadened through critical reflection of their peers' work. In addition to this there is an expectation that collaboration will occur between students with common fields of interest. These include groups of students with a special interest in art and design, information and communication technologies, or online learning opportunities. As students engage with other students' material and websites, the lecturer hopes their thinking will become more reflective, divergent and analytical. Apart from the obvious benefits to students in terms of their enhanced analysis and critical thinking skills, the lecturer also expects that the students will gain an appreciation of the diversity of other students' responses.

An interesting aspect of this assessment task is that it could not be readily undertaken in a normal face-to-face context. It relies on the online context. The online aspect is what facilitates the interaction between students and the Website package. It allows for multiple student entries and comments and allows for digital work to be deconstructed and reconstructed.

The lecturer commented that her previous experience of students working in the online environment indicated that it was often difficult to get students to share their responses. Making the online experience part of the peer assessment encourages them to participate more fully. This relates to the research that indicates: "For most students, assessment requirements literally define the curriculum" (James et al., 2002, p.7).

Since the unit work has only recently commenced, feedback from students has not yet been solicited. However, early anecdotal comments online indicate most believe the assessment will be 'interesting and relevant' to them and will 'provide a set of excellent resources' for use as teachers in the future.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

قسم العلاقات العامة يناقش مع منتدى شباب الإسكان إقامة مهرجان تكريم طالبات المدارس المرتديات العباءة في القادسية

سماحة السيد الصافي يدعو إلى توحيد الجهود في تحقيق التراث لضمان الرصانة والدقة وخدمة الساحة العلمية

المجمع العلمي ينظم محاضرة إرشادية ضمن المشروع القرآني في مدارس بابل

بذكرى شهادته.. العتبة العباسية المقدسة تشرع في تقديم خدماتها لزائري مرقد الإمام الكاظم (عليه السلام)

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

6 فواكة تساعدك على الشعور بتحسّن عند المرض

حفاظا على صحة العين.. هذا أفضل وقت لتناول فيتامين أ

الاستخدام اليومي لسماعات الأذن.. أخطر مما تتصور !

هل توقيت نشاطك اليومي يؤثر على صحة دماغك؟.. العلماء يجيبون

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

ابتكار ألماني قد يغيّر مستقبل صناعة البلاستيك

تحديثات وأرباح عبر المشاهدات.. ما الذي تخطط له "لينكد إن"؟

"الكوكايين الوردي".. مخدر جديد يثير قلق السلطات الأميركية

دراسة: تغيّرات في أسلوب القيادة قد تكشف مبكرا عن الخرف !

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Parents with Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

PROVISION OF SUPPORT

CARING FOR CHILDREN

EUGENICS AND ETHICAL ISSUES

PARENTING

DISCRIMINATION AND DIVERSITY

THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Parents with Learning Disabilities

Legislation and Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

LEGAL SAFEGUARDS

MENTAL CAPACITY ACT 2005

THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998