Module 7: Formative Assessment for the Student

This week there was another challenging blog to write on this weeks topic. My brain felt like it was on fire; because most of what I understand about self-regulating or assessing is subconscious. The bottom line of this assignment is reflected in article written by David J. Nicol and Debra MacFarlane-Dick entitled, Formative assessment and self regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice, it is “every student that continues through the program of a college or university is already self-assessing their work.” However without feedback from other students or a professor, they may not see what they could improve in their work. I am not even certain a rubric would give them the guidance they need. Several authors have stated rubrics are lacking when trying to use them to assess individualized writing.

Self regulated or assessed learning is not easy to define. In fact this week I had an example of that when I knew I had completed my assignment and thought I had done not only what was expected of me but more. I lost five points and did not understand what happened to cause the loss of points, for that module. Before, I was finished I had self-assessed everything I had done for that module. With fury in my eye, I confronted the instructor. After discussing the problem with her, I realized I had not named the module when I send her the email telling her which two blogs I had commented on. Therefore, she was unable to see that I had completed that part of the assignment.

This incident caused me to deeply contemplate not only what grades are; but, I started to question just exactly what self-assessment is. It seems I had been doing self-assessment during my university studies without being aware of what it was and that I was doing it. Most probably, my professors were using formative assessment as they guided me through the development of my thesis writing. Now when I think about it, I realize there is a lot more to it then I thought. Nicol and MacFarlane-Dick wrote:

Self regulation is manifested in the active monitoring and regulation of a number of different learning processes, e.g., the setting of and orientation towards, learning goals; the strategies used to achieve goals; the management of resources; the efforts exerted; reaction to external feedback; the products producted.

This means that as a student, I was aware of certain goals and expectations that I was to achieve while writing my master thesis and to get my master’s degree. I needed to compare what I was doing with what was expected of me, as stated in the course work given me and the expectations for the master’s degree I was seeking. I knew I would have to defend my thesis before my committee, not only what I had written and the resources I used; but the knowledge I had accumulated regarding the subject matter was also to be defended. Also, I would have to give an oral presentation about all the courses I had taken and answer the questions they were giving me regarding this information, thereby defending my position on the issues.

My committee was made up of the Dean of the Graduate School (my honor studies professor); the Chairman of the Political Science Department; my Criminology and Sociology Professor; and my political science student advising professor. Once my orals were completed and my thesis was finished and defended, I left the university to meet my family in Wisconsin. I did not attend the ceremonies and a few weeks later I received a letter from my committee and the graduate chair stating I had failed my orals and in my thesis writing and would not receive my degree. I immediately fired off a letter to the graduate chair and my committee telling them I had passed and that was nonsense. I knew I had not failed and could defend my position with them. Before that letter was ever received by them, my degree was sent to me.

At the time I did not have a rubric to assess my work and never heard of self-regulated learning and yet that was exactly what I did and was doing.  I knew I had met the requirements and was going to get the degree. I knew I had defended my paper extremely well and completed my orals with honors. I knew they were preparing me for something…but did not know what it was. It turned out that is what I had to do to get my entrance into the doctoral program approved, after it had been denied. I knew I would be able to convince them to take me. I had the grades and the desire to succeed in the program.

How does all this relate to our assignment? Somewhere in the learning process I was learning to self-regulate. That is exactly what I hope to move my students toward. Meta-cognitive blogs are great measurements of what is being learned and what is not and where one is in the whole process. In fact informative blogs are equally as good a tool since it forces the student to think about the concepts and issues presented in the modules. Also the class rubric while not ideal, since it was not created by the students, is a guiding tool to help them assess their strengths and weaknesses. It would be ideal if we could build our own class rubric; but there really isn’t enough time in 13 weeks to do this task.

Feedback to the students on meta-cognitive blogs and projects will help in the formative process and in their self-assessment. Feedback by other students serves to move the students toward self-assessment as well. I know when I get feedback that I don’t agree with, I still re-evaluate my thinking before I respond. Maybe the ideal form of feedback is best used in a questioning process…for example, why did you reach the conclusion you did?…etc. As Robin has stated in her blog, self-assessment skills are a process and it is not done or learned overnight.

Guiding questions help the student to understand what they might want to re-consider or improve upon. The whole idea is helping the learner to know where they are at in the learning process and where they need to go to accomplish the goals they have set for themselves and those the institiution is imposing on them. Once again, the ideal would be for them to be self directed enough that there are no insititutional requirements for their learning. But this idea is so far ahead of its time it is hard to even contemplate in the 21st century.

I learned to play the guitar like this teacher learned to play the dulcimer. When I lived in West Virginia I listened to all the very different instruments they used, including their own bodies; I found I loved the sound of the dulcimer the best!