Year
2021Credit points
10Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Prerequisites
EDET200 Effective Teaching 3: Engaging Learners and Managing Learning Environments or EDET211 Effective Teaching 3 Positive Environments to Engage Young Learners
Incompatible
EDFD471 Assessment Practices and Evaluation
Unit rationale, description and aim
Includes: 5 days placement in an educational setting
Pre-service teachers must develop an awareness of assessment as integral to effective teaching. This unit develops pre-service teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the nature and purpose of assessment, and its role in guiding teaching and learning. They will examine contemporary assessment theories, policies, practices and technologies and will apply these in the construction of assessment strategies that meet the learning needs of diverse students. Pre-service teachers are provided with opportunities to analyse, interpret and moderate assessment data to arrive at credible conclusions and to make recommendations for the improvement of teaching practices. They will develop knowledge and understanding of principles and strategies for engaging parents/carers in the educative process and for reporting to parents/carers and other significant stakeholders.
This unit aims to develop pre-service teachers’ understanding and skills for designing effective assessments and gathering, interpreting and reporting assessment data in order to improve learning outcomes.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:
LO1 - Describe of nature, purposes and forms of assessment and its role as integral to the teaching and learning process (GA4, GA5, GA8; APST 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4; ACECQA E2)
LO2 - Apply knowledge of contemporary assessment theories, practices and technologies in the construction of assessment strategies, including informal, formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches, to promote engagement and assess student learning (GA4, GA5, GA8, GA10; APST 2.1, 2.3, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2; ACECQA B1, B2, B9, C4, E2)
LO3 - Demonstrate awareness of processes for collecting evidence of learning, analysing and moderating quantitative and qualitative data to improve student learning (GA3, GA4, GA5, GA8; APST 3.6, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 7.1; ACECQA B9, E3)
LO4 - Explain a range of strategies for reporting to parents/carers and engaging them in the educative process, in the design of a parent/carer communication strategy (GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9, GA10; APST 3.7, 5.2, 5.5, 7.2, 7.3; ACECQA D1)
LO5 - Complete a successful professional experience in a classroom setting engaging in critical reflection and responding to feedback from colleagues and supervisors to improve teaching practice (GA1, GA3, GA4, GA5, GA9; APST 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4.2, 4.4, 5.1, 5.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2; ACECQA C4, F3).
Graduate attributes
GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity
GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making
GA4 - think critically and reflectively
GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession
GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information
GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media
GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.
AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS - GRADUATE LEVEL
On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should be able to:
1.5 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities. |
2.1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area. |
2.2 Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence. |
2.3 Use curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans. |
3.1 Set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics. |
3.3 Include a range of teaching strategies. |
3.5 Demonstrate a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support student engagement. |
3.6 Demonstrate broad knowledge of strategies that can be used to evaluate teaching programs to improve student learning. |
3.7 Describe a broad range of strategies for involving parents/carers in the educative process. |
4.2 Demonstrate the capacity to organise classroom activities and provide clear directions. |
4.4 Describe strategies that support students’ well-being and safety working within school and/or system, curriculum and legislative requirements. |
5.1 Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning. |
5.2 Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely and appropriate feedback to students about their learning. |
5.3 Demonstrate understanding of assessment moderation and its application to support consistent and comparable judgements of student learning. |
5.4 Demonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice. |
5.5 Demonstrate understanding of a range of strategies for reporting to students and parents/carers and the purpose of keeping accurate and reliable records of student achievement. |
6.3 Seek and apply constructive feedback from supervisors and teachers to improve teaching practices. |
7.1 Understand and apply the key principles described in codes of ethics and conduct for the teaching profession. |
7.2 Understand the relevant legislative, administrative and organisational policies and processes required for teachers according to school stage. |
7.3 Understand strategies for working effectively, sensitively and confidentially with parents/carers. |
ACECQA CURRICULUM SPECIFICATIONS
On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should have developed the following specific knowledge:
B Education and curriculum studies B1 Early Years Learning Framework B2 the Australian curriculum B9 curriculum planning, programming and evaluation |
C Teaching pedagogies C4 teaching methods and strategies |
D Family and Community Contexts D1 developing family and community partnerships |
E History and philosophy of early childhood E2 contemporary theories and practice E3 ethics and professional practice |
F Early childhood professional practice F3 professional identity and development |
Content
Topics will include:
- The role of assessment in the planning, teaching, learning and evaluation cycle
- Nature of assessment and its major concepts and purposes, (including formal, informal, diagnostic, formative and summative)
- The role of assessment in the continual evaluation and improvement of teaching and learning and the challenges associated with this process
- Construction of quality and diverse assessment tasks informed by contemporary assessment theories, policies, approaches and curriculum
- Differentiating assessment tasks to meet the specific needs of diverse learners
- Approaches for providing timely, focused and constructive feedback to learners
- Processes for gathering, organising and interpreting evidence of learning, and provision of feedback
- The information processing cycle in the school context: acquisition, validation, processing, storage, output and archiving/deletion
- Data storage and ethical practice related to storage and communication of assessment data
- The use of relevant technologies to record, access, aggregate and evaluate assessment data
- The role interpretation of assessment data in informing the construction of quality learning sequences.
- A range of communication strategies to engage sensitively and confidentially with parents/ carers and involve them in the educative process
- Reporting student progress to learners, colleagues, parents/carers and other significant stakeholders
- Understanding the role of formal and informal external and commercially prepared assessment programs.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit applies a social constructivist approach to develop pre-service teachers’ understanding of principles and practices of assessment and their skills in developing assessment tasks. They will have the opportunity to build on their understanding of assessment concepts and strategies through critical reading, lecturer modelling, active engagement and rehearsing in tutorials. Teaching skills of professional communication will be developed through class discussions and the construction of a parent/carer communication plan. Understanding of assessment, and the ability to locate and synthesise information, will be developed through designing assessment plans for a specific class. Placement in a school will enable engagement with experienced practitioners and to make links between theory and its application to classroom contexts. Pre-service teachers will continue to gather and reflect upon evidence of their attainment of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers: Graduate, in the Digital Portfolio.
The unit will involve lectures and tutorials with discussion, written activities and on-going assessment tasks. Teaching strategies may include:
- Formal online weekly input by the teaching team and moderated by a panel of guests of experienced practitioners and teachers;
- Hands-on tutorials and discussion sessions that promote peer learning; and
- Online activities.
Technology Enhanced Learning
The unit will include a Learning Environment Online (LEO) site with resources and online links, announcements, and a discussion board to post questions and reflections that are related to the unit. The learning and teaching strategies may include:
- Online videos and readings to help students prepare for the weekly schedule
- Discussion board to exchange ideas and refine learning
- Online exercises
- Additional resources such as a range of data analysis tools.
Professional Experience: teaching requirements
The professional experience placement consists of 5 days of school/centre experience, either as individual days or as a single week of continuous engagement. These days serve as orientation for the subsequent unit and placement EDET401 Effective Teaching 6: Professional Engagement and Reflection, and should be arranged at the same school with any requirements of the EDET401 placement applying. Teaching opportunities in this unit may be individual or paired. The professional experience will be in the area of the teaching specialisation of the pre-service teacher:
- Each Primary pre-service teacher will have a nominated primary subject specialisation (such as English, Mathematics, Religious Education, Science/Technology, Health and Physical Education, Creative Arts and Languages). The placement must allow the pre-service primary teacher to consolidate the content of this unit in the particular context of the primary teaching specialisation.
- Each Early Childhood and Primary (ECP) pre-service teacher will similarly have a primary teaching specialisation of English OR Mathematics, preferably in the upper primary school setting. The placement must allow the pre-service ECP teacher to consolidate the content of this unit in the particular context of primary teaching specialisation.
- A pre-service teacher preparing to teach across Primary and Secondary necessarily has a ‘specialisation’ of secondary teaching, and will be placed in a secondary education setting that will support practice teaching in their one secondary subject.
- A pre-service Secondary teacher will be placed in a secondary setting that will support practice teaching in at least one their two secondary subject areas. The teaching placement must allow for engagement with the particular area of specialisation (that is, the ‘first teaching area’ for secondary teachers, and possibly the ‘second teaching area’; the primary specialisation as RE, English, Mathematics, English/Mathematics, Arts, Health and Physical Education).
Recommended Teaching Experiences
The following engagements are recommended across the 5-day placement. They provide a scaffolded, praxis-oriented approach to building experience, competency and confidence, and are designed to align with on-campus content. These engagements are to be discussed, negotiated and planned with the supervising teacher/s.
The principle focus of the five-day placement is observation and familiarisation with the class and school context, in particular the identification of a specific issue or problem in negotiation with the supervising teacher. This may include gathering existing assessment data to ascertain the current level of learner attainment.
Pre-service teachers are encouraged to support the class teacher through assisting individual learners and groups of learners and they may teach one or more individual lessons across the five days.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment tasks and their weightings allow pre-service teachers to progressively demonstrate achievement against the course learning outcomes by demonstrating academic and professional standards. The Effective Teaching sequence of units in this course focus on developing understanding of, and skills across the professional knowledge, practice and engagement needed to meet expectations of ACECQA criteria and the APST: Graduate level. In this unit the assessment focuses on the construction of informed assessment procedures and practices which incorporate contemporary educational thought, understandings of the psychology of learning, and modern technologies. As well as employing the practices of collecting, analysing, interpreting and actioning quantitative and qualitative student assessment data to evaluate student learning.
The three assessment tasks are sequenced to allow feedback and progressive development of knowledge in purpose and forms of assessments and communicating with parents/carers in the educative process Task 1 assesses pre-service teachers knowledge of assessment concepts. It is an early low-weighted assessment task which provides feedback to pre-service teachers within the first six weeks of the standard semester. This task enables the teaching staff to identify pre-service teachers who are experiencing difficulties understanding the purpose of assessment and the importance of quality data. These students will be advised to seek assistance from their tutor. The knowledge assessed in Task 1 is then applied in the development of an assessment portfolio for Task 2 which enables the collection of quality assessment resources for teaching. Task 3 allows pre-service teachers to use their creativity in the developing communication strategies to parents and carers.
A range of assessment procedures are used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes and professional standards and criteria consistent with University assessment requirements. (http://www.acu.edu.au/policy/student_policies/assessment_policy_and_assessment_procedures).
Minimum Achievement Standards
The assessment tasks and their weighting for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome. In order to pass this unit, students are required to submit all assessment tasks, meet the learning outcomes of the unit and achieve a minimum overall passing grade of 50%.
In addition, pre-service teachers must attain a Pass in the two hurdle tasks. These are the preparation for the Professional Experience Placement (PEP) and the Professional Experience Assessment (PEA).
Assessment in EDET400 includes a Critical Task: Assessment Task 2: Assessment Plan and Portfolio. This task is core to the demonstration of a number of Australian Professional Teacher Standards. Pre-service teachers must demonstrate mastery of every summative Graduate Teacher Standard identified and attain a score of at least 50% in Task 2 in order to pass this unit. Learning Outcome 4 (Explain a range of strategies for reporting to parents/carers and engaging them in the educative process, in the design of a parent/carer communication strategy) is only assessed in Assessment Task 3. A pass in Task 3 is an additional requirement for passing the unit overall.
Electronic Submission, Marking and Return
Assessment task submission and return of marked assessment will be done through Turnitin on LEO. Tasks will be marked and returned three weeks after the assessment is completed.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes | Graduate Attributes |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment Task 1: Test Demonstrate understanding of assessment concepts including:
| 20% | LO1 | GA4, GA5, GA8 |
Assessment Task 2: Assessment Plan and Portfolio Critical Task Develop an assessment portfolio, corresponding to a unit of work, that includes the following:
| 50% | LO1, LO2, LO3 | GA3, GA4, GA5, GA8, GA10 |
Assessment Task 3: Parent/Carer Reports and Communications Develop three reports to parents/carers to communicate the learning successes and challenges of their child.
The reports should be based on a plan designed to inform the parents/carers and help them to be engaged with you as their teacher and the school to facilitate their child’s learning and development. Your plan and reports should be realistic and based upon authentic school evidence. They should include a range of strategies for working effectively, sensitively and confidentially with parents/carers.
| 30% | LO4 | GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9, GA10 |
Hurdle Requirement: Professional Experience Assessment Online preparation modules: Prior to commencing the Professional Experience placement, pre-service teachers must ensure all components of the hurdle tasks from EDET100 are complete and current. Professional Experience Assessment Successful completion of the professional experience requirements for the third year of the course including compilation of evidence to support the assessment tasks outlined above. Compilation of evidence will include:
This evidence must be compiled into a well-presented and well-organised Professional Experience folder, which must be updated on a daily basis throughout the placement. Artefacts and reflections should provide evidence of attainment of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers: Graduate, and can be included in the ePortfolio. | Pass/Fail | LO5 | GA1, GA3, GA4, GA5, GA9 |
Task 2: Assessment Plan and Portfolio
Construct a portfolio with several entries that include a performance-based task to engage student learning, self-assessment and formative feedback. It should include a summative task with a variety of question-type to be administered at the end of a unit of work based on the syllabus of one of the secondary year levels in your teaching area. Construct a related test made up of 30 multiple-choice questions to screen students’ relevant prior knowledge and skills.
Describe briefly the unit; introduce the selected syllabus outcomes; and create a justified assessment plan based on your analysis of the syllabus, related literature and your translation of the evidence of learning targets embedded in the outcomes.
Construct a comprehensive rubric to assess the major task. Discuss your review of the quality of the assessment tasks and the review of a peer or an expert school teacher of these tasks.
Task 2 entries should include a preliminary entry to introduce the unit; an entry to document task planning process (within 500 words); an entry to introduce the assessment tasks and the screening test (equivalent to 1000 words); and an entry to discuss the required moderation and reflections (about 500 words). The portfolio should be equivalent to 2200 words. They should be of your own construction. Use APA to document used references.
Task 2 will be assessed for depth of understanding of assessment, quality of task planning and construction, defensibility of the evaluative arguments and conclusions, and the logical organisation of the folio and observation of task requirements.
Representative texts and references
Required text(s)
Australian Curriculum https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) www.acara.edu.au
Relevant State and Territory curriculum documents.
Brady, L., & Kennedy, K. (2019). Assessment and reporting: Celebrating student achievement (5th ed.). Melbourne, Vic: Pearson Australia.
Recommended references
Alkharusi, H., Aldhafri, S., Alnabhani, H., & Alkalbani, M. (2014). Classroom assessment: Teacher practices, student perceptions, and academic self-efficacy beliefs. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 42(5), 835-855.
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2018). Classroom assessment and pedagogy. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 25(6), 551-575.
Brady, L., & Kennedy K. (2018). Assessing and reporting: Celebrating student achievement (5th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.
Deneen, Fulmer, Brown, Tan, Leong, & Tay. (2019). Value, practice and proficiency: Teachers' complex relationship with assessment for learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 80, 39-47.
Furtak, E. M., Kiemer, K., Circi, R. K., Swanson, R., de León, V., Morrison, D., & Heredia, S. C. (2016). Teachers’ formative assessment abilities and their relationship to student learning: findings from a four-year intervention study. Instructional Science, 44(3), 267-291.
Gallagher, K. (2018). Why student creation is the hardest/best form of assessment. Tech & Learning, 39(4), 17
Gardner, J. (Ed.). (2012). Assessment and learning (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Hardy, I. (2015). A logic of enumeration: The nature and effects of national literacy and numeracy testing in Australia. Journal of Education Policy, 30(3), 335-362.
Miller, M., Linn, R., & Gronlund, N. (2013). Measurement and assessment in teaching (11th international ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Readman, K., & Allen, B. (2013). Practical planning and assessment. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.
Romero, L., Saucedo, C., Caliusco, M., & Gutiérrez, M. (2019). Supporting self-regulated learning and personalization using ePortfolios: A semantic approach based on learning paths. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16(1), 1-16.
van Dinther, M., Dochy, F., Segers, M., & Braeken, J. (2014). Student perceptions of assessment and student self-efficacy in competence-based education. Educational Studies, 40(3), 330-351.