Learning Assessment at
HDH.
The evolution of assessment practices at
HDH.
13
October
2016
David
Goulding, with
illustrations by Edvard Houtkoop
Learning objectives
• By the end of the session participants will be better
able to reflect on key terms in testing, e.g. reliability,
validity, washback with specific reference to their
own institutional contexts.
• By the end of the session participants will be better
able to evaluate conceptual frameworks for
teaching, testing and learning as proposed by Dee
Fink (2013).
• By the end of the session participants will have
considered the use of LAT (?) in their own
institutions.
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2
Session structure
A. Intro ‘active learning’
B. Reasons for assessing learning
C. Key concepts in assessment
D. Dee Fink and ‘significant learning
experiences’
E. LAT and Dee Fink : applications and
techniques
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‘Assessment’ ‘Test’ ‘Exam’
What feelings do these terms provoke? Individually
make a list of ten words (5 mins)–the words may
have positive, negative or neutral connotations. e.g.
1. Pride
2. Stress
3. …..
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Why assess?
Please negotiate 4 or 5 reasons in
consultation with a colleague (5 mins.).
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To, for example:
• confirm for students that their learning has been
purposeful and there is a point to the teaching .
• validate and account for ourselves and our
institutions as fair and just
• publicly measure achievement and progress
• diagnose and place accordingly (in classes, in
plans for teaching and learning)
• support our students for further learning
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Key definitions
1. Washback
2. Reliability
3. Construct validity
4. Criterion validity
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How might this apply to teaching, testing and learning?
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Washback hypotheses
(Alderson and Hall 1993)
• A test will influence what teachers teach.
• A test will influence what learners learn.
• A test will influence how teachers teach.
• A test will influence how learners learn.
Can you offer a tentative definition of ‘washback’ ? Discuss
with your colleague (2 mins.). How much does it affect your
institutional curriculum?
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1. Key definitions: Washback
• Washback ‘….. is a type of impact which relates to the
effects of high stakes tests on teaching and learning and
can be positive or negative to the extent that it either
promotes or impedes the accomplishment of
educational goals held by learners and /or programme
leaders’ (Wall, 2010).
• ‘If it is a good examination, it will have a useful effect on
teaching; if bad, then it will have a damaging effect on
teaching’ (Heaton, 1990).
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2. Key definitions: Reliability
• Reliability : ‘A perfectly reliable score would be
one that is free from errors of measurement
’(American Psychological Association, 1999).
• ‘If a student receives a low score on a test on one
day and a high score on the same test on
another day, then the results are not consistent
and the scores cannot be considered reliable
indicators of the individual’s ability’ (Ebel and
Frisbie 1995).
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11
3. Key definitions: Construct validity
• Test validity ‘refers to the consistency with which
the scores measure a particular cognitive ability’
(Ebel and Frisbie 1991:100). So, a reading test, for
example, should not involve written answers.
• Reliability a necessary but not sufficient condition
of validity
• To have construct validity (Chalhoub-Deville
2003) a test should sample relevant and definable
knowledge or understanding in a field e.g. ‘critical
thinking’.
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Critical Thinking
• A critical thinking test might assess, under the
criterion of explanation ‘Issue/problem to be
considered critically is stated clearly and
described comprehensively delivering all
relevant information necessary for full
understanding’ (AAC&U rubric).
• Rubrics state valid demonstrable criteria against
which to measure performance.
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4. Key definitions:
Criterion validity and rubrics
• Rubric scores are detailed templates used to
score a student learning artifact, (e.g. a paper or
presentation), based on how well it
demonstrates certain attributes (e.g. critical
thinking).
• Rubric scoring uses a quantitative approach to
assess subjectively interpretable qualitative data
(e.g. my ability to think critically)
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Assessing Critical Thinking Rubric
• These are 5 criteria for assessing students’ ability
to think critically (AAC&U 2015). Please match
them to the relevant descriptors e.g. b=1
a) Students’ position
b) Explanation of issues
c) Evidence
d) Conclusions
e) Influence
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Dee Fink and ‘significant learning
experiences’
• Teaching should result in personal testimony:
• ‘That learning experience resulted in something
that is truly significant in terms of the students’
lives’ (Dee Fink, 2013, p. 7).
• ‘Taxonomy of Significant Learning’-activity 5
mins.
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What is learning assessment?
• After Dee Fink, Learning Assessment Technique (LAT)
(Barkley and Major, 2016). Model helps teachers to:
a. identify significant learning goals
b. implement effective learning activities
c. analyse and report performance outcomes
• it embodies the following assumptions:
1. teaching can help to facilitate learning
2. teaching and learning do not necessarily strongly correspond
3. teaching, learning and assessment are seamlessly related
4. teachers’ assessment efforts have multiple outcomes
5. ‘washback’ variably affects students and teachers
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Dee Fink and LAT
• For Dee Vink and LAT assessable performance should be
observable, and scoring should be valid and reliable.
• Barkley and Major (2016) is an operationalisation of
Dee Fink’s ideas.
• Look at the materials for the LAT lesson idea entitled
‘Fact or Opinion’.
• Which dimension of Dee Fink’s taxonomy does the
lesson show?
• Which skills does it practise? e.g. creative thinking?
• How might LAT help your students?
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High-stakes tests
‘Tests whose results are seen-rightly or wrongly-by
students, teachers, administrators, parents or the
general public, as being used to make important
decisions that immediately and directly affect
them’.
• (Madaus, 1988)
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