One of the many outcomes in the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program is to ensure we are self regulated learners. As part of this skill we need to spend time thinking about our thinking (check out my post about meta cognition), help direct our own learning, and we need to also be able to assess our learning, and then hopefully teach it too.
Self assessment though is not as wonderful as it sounded when we were in high school. Then we would have taken it at face value that we might have been able to get an awesome mark because we marked it our self. Now I am much more critical, worried that I'll sound cocky about my mark, or give it too high or lower than what my instructor would have.
So how do you actually help learners like me self assess? Give them a really good marking rubric (samples are available online), and then ask them to give a rationale based on what they are reading.
Keys to success:
1. clearly define what is expected in all levels of the marking rubric
2. provide the rubric when you introduce the project
3. revisit it with everyone to ensure they are clear on the expectations and that they will be self-assessing
4. have them provide a rationale about why they deserve whatever mark they gave themselves according to the expectations on the rubric.
Completing these steps will take the mystery and some of the scariness out of the process, and allow learners to actually figure out where their projects are.
As the learner, it really is an empowering moment to assess your project, and take ownership over the work you have completed and what it should be marked at and why.
Self assessment though is not as wonderful as it sounded when we were in high school. Then we would have taken it at face value that we might have been able to get an awesome mark because we marked it our self. Now I am much more critical, worried that I'll sound cocky about my mark, or give it too high or lower than what my instructor would have.
So how do you actually help learners like me self assess? Give them a really good marking rubric (samples are available online), and then ask them to give a rationale based on what they are reading.
Keys to success:
1. clearly define what is expected in all levels of the marking rubric
2. provide the rubric when you introduce the project
3. revisit it with everyone to ensure they are clear on the expectations and that they will be self-assessing
4. have them provide a rationale about why they deserve whatever mark they gave themselves according to the expectations on the rubric.
Completing these steps will take the mystery and some of the scariness out of the process, and allow learners to actually figure out where their projects are.
As the learner, it really is an empowering moment to assess your project, and take ownership over the work you have completed and what it should be marked at and why.