Kholida Begmatova, Associate lecturer at Westminster International University in Tashkent. She teaches Academic English and Developing Professional Identity modules. Her research interests include online teaching methodology, formative assessment at the university, and academic writing development. Email: kh.begmatova@wiut.uz   

 

Abstract

Many teachers in self- and peer- assessment sessions do not work closely with rubrics they use to mark the work. Instead of this, they create the checklist that is friendly user and apply it both in self- and peer- assessment process. However, students do not understand the teachers’ intention and fail to use the checklist. It is observed that students can learn and understand criteria better when they apply the instructional rubrics in the learning process. It is crucial for teachers to explain what learning outcome they must meet at the end of the academic year. For this reason, it is suggested to create an instructional rubric with students at the beginning of the process. 

 

Introduction

In a productive and fruitful learning process, teachers should guide their students with feedback, suggestions, or comments on the gained knowledge. This usually happens during the self-and peer-assessment sessions when teachers and students discuss the task before the final submission. In addition, teachers can teach students to evaluate their written work independently outside of the class. From the beginning of the teaching, teachers should think about what skills or goals students should achieve at the end.  This process is accepted as the most essential and crucial for both teachers and students as it might alter the final achievement for students and give a chance to educators to reflect on the learning process. The formative assessment is a fundamental process in learning that might be held with the help of evaluative tools, namely rubrics or checklists. Teachers introduce the evaluative tools so students can learn and enhance all the required skills for the assignment with their use.

The formative assessment plays a significant role in the learning process, and students might only benefit from the self-and peer-assessment sessions (Brookhart, 2018; Andrade, 2001; Thomas et al., 2011).  To have productive self-and peer- sessions, instructional rubrics can be written with students and used during the whole learning process (Andrade, 2008). According to Andrade (2008), rubrics enhanced writing skills among native learners of English in USA schools. Andrade (2008) observed that learners of the school improved their writing skills with the help of rubrics and could evaluate the quality of the required assignment. She mentioned that with the proper guidance, students would know how to learn from the rubric and develop all the required skills for the task. Moreover, Brookhart (2013) mentioned that rubrics or checklists could be employed at the beginning of the learning process to make it more successful and goal-oriented.

 

Case in Westminster International University 

The given case is observed in one of the international universities in Tashkent. Westminster International University (WIUT) has several optional and required modules for the foundation level students. The Developing Professional Identity (DPI) module is one of the required modules for first-year students. This module has four learning outcomes to be achieved with the help of two-course work for the one academic semester. The first-course work is an oral presentation about the future job, submitted at the end of the first semester in groups. Students must select one profession and explain to the class what skills, knowledge and talents are required. The second-course work is a personal portfolio that consists of three entries. All entries are written and included in the portfolio individually. The first entry is curriculum vitae (CV), and the second one is a job application email letter of 250-word. The last entry is a 600-word reflection on the whole academic year. The assessment criteria for both coursework is provided in the Learning Management System (LMS). From the beginning of the semester, teachers of the DPI module guide students to meet the coursework requirements. In addition, students could bring their drafts to the progress meetings during the semester. Students were given time and deadline for all three entries to write the entry and bring it to the class for the formative assessment sessions.

For this very reason, teachers of the DPI module created checklists for all three entries to have more productive formative sessions and motivate students to apply checklists and read the assessment criteria while writing the portfolio.  Moreover, students have access to all materials in the LMS of the university. Unfortunately, there was low attendance during the progress meetings; students did not want to have peer-assessment sessions as they could not wholly rely on their peers’ feedback. As a result, most students required the teacher to provide feedback instead of applying the checklist during the lesson. However, all teachers had a backup plan if students did not have any drafts for the self-and peer-assessment sessions. Teachers of the DPI module prepared some samples with a checklist so students could observe a different work and notice what was included or missed.

The initial idea of using the checklist was for not the samples but for the students’ work. The checklist is an effective evaluative tool that might give a student chance to assess the work without any difficulties (Brookhart, 2018). The checklist's language is not complex, and every learner can apply it during formative assessment sessions in the classroom or outside of the class.

Teachers at WIUT have two evaluative tools for both formative and summative assessment processes. For the formative assessment, teachers of the DPI at WIUT use checklists, and for the summative assessment, they use rubrics. Mainly English language teachers at WIUT use a checklist to have more productive formative sessions in the classroom instead of rubrics as the first evaluative tool is user friendly. Unfortunately, most students do not use any of these evaluative tools inside and outside of the classroom.

The evaluative tool - rubrics is only used at the end of the marking process by teachers. This evaluative tool is not applied during the formative assessment session. However, its effect would be more than a checklist. It would not only show students what they have missed but also give students a chance to evaluate the quality of the written work.

As many students do not attend the self-and peer-assessment sessions, they usually do not have the feedback from their peers or teachers. They do not meet the task requirement and receive low grades or fail the subject. These happen probably because they do not use both checklists or rubrics in the classroom or outside of it. However, it is observed by Andrade (2008) that students with proper guidance in the classroom cannot only use the rubric in giving feedback to each other but also learn from it and develop all the required skills for the chosen task. 

 

Two evaluative tools in the formative assessment sessions

There is an essential role of the formative sessions during the learning process (Andrade, 2008), as these sessions might guide students, and suggest or comment on the written work. Both students and teachers might benefit from the formative sessions. Teachers might alter the activities during these sessions and reflect on their teaching strategies. Moreover, teachers could assess what tool is more effective. On the other hand, students might observe their peers’ work, learn how to give feedback and meet the task requirement. From the beginning of the learning process, students might focus on the learning outcomes and achieve higher results if they learn how to apply the evaluative tools in the self-and peer-assessment sessions.

Both evaluative tools checklist and rubric can be employed for the formative assessment sessions with students. The checklist and rubrics are efficient tools as students might see what they have missed in the written assignment (Brookhart, 2018). These tools can guide students to success and might create an opportunity to have a productive learning process.

The problems with the formative sessions in the DPI module at WIUT are that students do not take it as serious and essential as submitting the work at the end of the year. Most students do not bring the drafts, and some of them do not come, resulting in low attendance. Moreover, those students who come to the self-and peer-assessment sessions or progress meetings complain that they do not have engaging activities. Most students are not interested in using the checklists or rubrics during these sessions and wait for the teacher’s feedback. These happen because students might probably not trust each other and rely on each other’s feedback. Finally, they usually complain that the checklist does not show the exact grade or level, which they typically wait for after feedback sessions.

There are several benefits of using the checklist. First and foremost, students can see all the required criteria in it. This evaluative tool can allow detecting what is included and what is not. The last important thing is that students can employ that checklist inside and outside the classroom. The checklist can be used sufficiently during the self-and peer-assessment sessions. However, students cannot evaluate the quality of the written paper. As the checklist does not describe each criterion, students will not be able to analyze how well every required criterion is written.  

Teachers of DPI motivated students to apply the checklist during the progress meetings and showed what things students had not included in the written entry. Some students were encouraged and were very thankful for employing the checklist at the seminars. However, the checklist did not have a description of every criterion for the entry. This evaluative tool was quite valuable in observing the things students had in the writing task and missed. The other benefit of the checklist was its language and appearance. Students were not stressed and could easily understand the items included in the checklist. As the items on the checklist were presented either in question or in simple sentence form, it was effortless from the students’ side to follow and use the checklists during the formative sessions.

Another evaluative tool is rubrics. The instructional rubrics can be used for formative and summative assessment sessions in the learning process. The first benefit of employing a rubric in the formative assessment is that students can quickly evaluate what level of performance they have achieved and what areas they must enhance. As the instructional rubrics consist of the list of criteria and the description of each performance level for every marking scheme, students can easily use them while evaluating their written assignments. Finally, it can give them a clear picture of their future grade.

However, the rubrics might have a vague and general description of every criterion. Most students do not understand the language of the rubrics and, for this reason, they usually do not use it and in the end submit not well-written work. The last challenge with rubrics is that students do not know how to apply them during the self-and peer-assessment sessions. Teachers have to integrate some interesting techniques such as colored pencils or highlighters to apply the rubrics in the formative assessment sessions with students. Rubrics can be applied both at the final stage and during the formative sessions (Andrade, 2001, Brookhart, 2013, Thomas et al., 2011). This is one of the powerful tools that might be used from the beginning of the learning process till the end.

The best and most productive tool is instructional rubrics during the formative sessions. As teachers use the rubrics, they have to be explained to students from the beginning of the learning process. Students should clearly understand what things are evaluated and required for the task at the university. For this reason, teachers have to guide students during the self-and peer-assessment sessions and assist students in applying the rubrics and evaluating their drafts. It is a challenging task for teachers, but it is doable as teachers might use the colored pencils or highlighters technique to make the sessions more engaging and productive. 

 

Conclusion

Teachers and students can employ the rubrics and checklist during the formative assessment sessions for a productive and successful learning process. These tools might lead students and teachers to have a fruitful process. Andrade (2001) and Brookhart (2018) suggested that rubrics and checklists could be written before the assignment and used inside or outside the classroom.  When students are involved in the writing process of the rubric or checklist, they understand the task better and meet the requirements without any difficulties. For this reason, it is highly recommended to write the rubrics and checklist with students. In this way, teachers might teach what students must pay attention to while completing the assignment.

Another recommendation is that teachers might choose the number of criteria for the assignment while writing rubrics and checklists. This might also will be very helpful to students as they might prefer what they want to enhance and evaluate at the end of the learning process. Finally, students might see that the assessment is transparent and concentrate on achieving the learning outcomes. Moreover, with the help of this, teachers might reflect on the teaching process and observe what tools work better or what things should be excluded from the learning process. These all might create the best learning environment where teachers and students can work toward the learning goals. However, teachers should understand that they play a significant role as they might influence the learning process and help students alter their attitude toward the formative assessment sessions.  

 

References

Andrade, H. (2008). Self-assessment through rubrics. Educational leadership, 65(4), pp.60-63.

Andrade, H. G. (2001). The effects of instructional rubrics on learning to write. Current issues in education, 4.

Brookhart, S. M. (2013). How to create and use rubrics for formative assessment and grading. Ascd.

Brookhart, S. M. (2018). Appropriate criteria: key to effective rubrics. In Frontiers in Education Vol. 3, p.22. Frontiers Media SA.

Thomas, G., Martin, D., and Pleasants, K. (2011). Using self-and peer-assessment to enhance students’ future-learning in higher education. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 8 (1), pp.52-69.

 

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