19 Assessment for Learning Techniques

How could any or all of these be applied to ICT and

Computing?

would lead to learning (or at least has the potential to do

so).

These notes draw on my own teaching, but what else

have you tried?

Peer help
Get students who have learnt something to help those
who havent.

Awareness tests
These to check pupils' understanding of when to apply
which skills/techniques.
Contrast questions
EG Why is Python a programming language while
HTML is not?
Demonstration
Student demonstrates that s/he can do something. Could
also be in the form of a video, or display.
Design a game
Creating a game shows whether student has understood
the concepts.
See Creating a Game: a positive impact on learning? By
David Lukes http://ymlp.com/zzEWPG#David
See also Generating a test with correct answers.
Diagnostic questioning
It should be impossible (or at least very difficult) for a
student to get the right answer for the wromng reasons.
Can be used in conjunction with student response
system. (See Whole Class Response.)
E-Portfolio
A collection of work showing reflection as well as
achievement.
Guidance to pupils on annotating their work
Either electronically or on paper, and keeping versions
from draft to finished product.
Guidance to teachers on commenting on work
... Rather than simply giving grades. (Interestingly
enough, it turns out that giving grades and comments is
also not as good as just giving comments.)
Guidance to teachers on questioning
Most teachers spend most of most lessons answering
questions which they then answer themselves after just a
few seconds! Also, questions should open up knowledge
and understanding, not constitute a kind of guessing
game.
Peer assessment
EG looking at presentations by other pupils/groups at
the end of a module or unit of work. The materials could
consist of guidelines/questions for pupils to consider. I
think there is also scope for getting pupils to work out
the criteria for themselves, because that process in itself

19 Assessment For Learning Techniques 2015

Persistent questioning
Includes:

Continuing to ask Why?.

What would you say if you did know the
answer?
OK Ill come back to you
Which of those answers did you like best?

See http://www.ictineducation.org/homepage/2011/5/16/25-ways-to-make-yourself-unpopular20-be-persistent.html
Self-assessment
Including questions like: "What do you need to do next,
and what do you need to do/learn in order to be able to
achieve that?" (but expressed differently, obviously!). It
should also be reflective/dynamic. EG, rather than ask,
"How do you think you did?", or as well as that, it
should ask "What did you do, why, how could you have
done it differently/more efficiently? etc etc)
Short, sharp tests
Quick tests on knowledge, such as terminology or
whatever, can be used to provide quick feedback to both
the pupil and the teacher. Could be combined with
Traffic Lights/Visual Check
Skills tests
Could be either paper-based or electronic, and if the
latter could be marked automatically.
Statements to promote discussion
EG Facebook is dangerous. (Works especially well
when you make opposite statements to different groups!)
Two stars and a wish
Well-known technique: comment on students work
includes two things they did well, and why, and one thing
they need to improve.
Visual checks EG traffic light system
This consists of a list of items and 3 columns for tickboxes: green, amber, red. A tick in the green box means
OK, one in the amber box means "keep an eye on this"
and one in the red box means "attention needed". These
visual checks could easily be electronic, could be adapted
to a variety of topics/processes/skills and could be
undertaken in 5 or 10 minutes by pupils themselves, at
any time they or their teacher felt it to be appropriate.
The traffic light system is a very good way of finding out
what a pupil knows -- or think she knows -- on a given
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topic. Pupils can also use it to check whether they have

the skills set they need in order to carry out the next
piece of work.
Whole class response
A good way of quickly gauging extent to which all the
students get it, or their opinion on an issue. Need to
use something like a student response system, which can
show results in real time, and also give you individual
student responses which you can follow up on later.
See http://www.ictineducation.org/homepage/2010/9/29/10-ways-to-use-voting-systems.html

19 Assessment For Learning Techniques 2015

Conclusion

In summary, any type of assessment for learning in ICT

should:

encourage dialogue
encourage reflection on the process, not just the
end result
require pupil to do something, such as plan next
set of skills to be learn
facilitate annotation of paper-based work,
and/or amendments and saving different
versions of electronically-produced work

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