Symposium: Alternative Assessment in Reality
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International Conference on Learning and Teaching 2020
The International Conference on Learning and Teaching 2020 organised by The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) was held on 2 – 4 December 2020. A symposium with the theme “Alternative Assessment in Reality” was conducted on 4 December 2020 as one of the conference sessions. There were four speakers who shared their experience on how they changed assessment methods to adapt to changes under the pandemic.
The online group photo
Mr. Dean C K Cox, a senior lecturer from the Department of Journalism of Hong Kong Baptist University, shared his experience of teaching Multimedia Journalism, which was a practical course about using multimedia to tell stories.
Before the pandemic, students learned how to use several professional hardware and software packages for their projects as assessments. Under the pandemic, most of his students are unable to come to the campus. Therefore, Mr. Cox redesigned the course content and assessments. He taught web-based software instead of the licensed software so that students can practice at home. Furthermore, Mr. Cox prepared extra teaching materials for students to learn how to use their available tools (e.g., smartphones) to create professional multimedia works.
Mr. Cox also used shared that he used Padlet as the main tool for students to submit the assignments and exchange their views. For instance, he created a “Wow! What!” session for students to share things that they discovered because of the course. In another Padlet page, Mr. Cox made use of the map function, and invited students to share their stories and location on so that they could get an idea of their classmates’ whereabouts. Some students who lived close to one another might meet up before coming back to the campus.
Mr. Dean C K Cox shared the “Wow! What?” session
Dr. Lam Wai Man Winnie, a lecturer from the Department of Mathematics and Information Technology of The Education University of Hong Kong, shared her teaching experience of the University ePortfolio course, which is a compulsory course for senior undergraduate students to reflect on their undergraduate learning journey, and develop their critical thinking and communication skills via the progress of preparing their ePortfolios. There are two main assessments in this course: a reflective entry and an ePortfolio. Dr. Lam shared serval online platforms and tools that she used for her class including Padlet, Canva, Form Assistant for Course System (FACS), and Moodle.
Dr. Lam used Padlet as a tool for in-class activities to inspire and encourage students to share their thoughts. For instance, Dr. Lam showed a messy wardrobe, and asked her students how they would tidy up the wardrobe. Students then discussed in groups and summarized their ideas on Padlet. Through this in-class online activity, students exchanged their strategies and Dr. Lam then connected their ideas to the way to organise episodes of experience in their learning journey into a thematic ePortfolio.
Dr Lam Wai Man Winnie shared the website she used for inspiring students’ critical thinking
The third sharing was delivered by Dr. Li Kristen Yuanxi, a lecturer from the Department of Computer Science of Hong Kong Baptist University. Dr. Li brought out the idea that assessment can be fun and enjoyable for students by sharing the experiences of two distinct courses: a General Education Course and a Business Core Course. Due to the pandemic, she re-designed the assessment load and methods for each course to create a comfortable and fun learning community for students. She replaced the summative assessments (the mid-term and the final exam) with formative assessments (weekly reflections). She found that students enjoyed these changes and were more engaged.
Dr. Li also shared the “SPA” method she used for assessment, which refers to three assessment dimensions: self, peer, and authority. In her E-Business Technology course, she asked student to reflect what they have learnt, and what they appreciated about themselves after they finished the project and received feedback from the instructors and peers. For the peer assessment, Dr. Li used online white board to share all students’ work to the class. Students could see all classmates’ presentation videos and send feedback to them. A guide was provided for students to give both quality and quantity comments. Last but not least, the instructors should take the main role of authority in assessments. Besides assessing students’ subject knowledge, Dr. Li paid attention on project management skills by tracking students’ group diversity, time management and collaboration.
Dr Li Kristen Yuanxi shared her teaching experience and the elements of her courses
The last sharing session of the symposium, titled “Joys & Pains in Designing Alternative Assessments” was presented by Dr. Yee Ting Sum Lydia, an assistant professor from the Department of Psychology of The Education University of Hong Kong. Dr. Yee suggested three tips for re-designing the course work with consideration of assessment load, class interaction, and authenticity. She illustrated her tips by sharing the experience of the Biological Psychology class.
Under the pandemic, students might be more stressed as they have lost the campus learning environment and need to adapt to many changes in the learning mode. Dr. Yee pointed out that it is desirable to break down the assessments into small assignments to prevent overwhelming students. These assignments could serve formative purposes to help students to follow the course more easily, and to help instructors keep track of students’ progress so that the instructors can identify and clarify students’ misunderstanding at an earlier stage. For example, Dr. Yee used Edpuzzle to track and gain understanding on students’ progress. Edpuzzle is a video app that allows instructors to add quizzes in different parts of video clips. Using quizzes as small assignments help students to check their understanding, and instructors can also get reports on the quizzes’ results of the whole class easily. Based on the performance of the class, instructors can clarify and address concepts that students find hard to grapple with.
To facilitate class interaction, Dr. Yee connected assignments online with in-class discussions or collaborative work to motivate her students. She used Padlet as a tool for students to upload small assignments. Padlet allows students to “like” and comment on their classmates’ posts, which enhances the class interaction. Connecting the assignments with in-class discussions, Dr. Yee chose some popular student posts as a topic and posed guiding questions for students to discuss. Dr. Yee then used polls and breakout room functions of Zoom to arrange collaborative activities for students. She emphasized that it is necessary to set goals for students to achieve together in their discussion. Hence, she asked her students to summarize their opinions into a google document, then shared and presented the google document to their classmates. After the group presentation, others need to provide feedback. Their feedback doesn’t directly affect their classmates’ grades.
With authenticity in mind, Dr. Yee went beyond assigning essays to her students. In this semester, Dr. Yee asked students to design a poster to explain a professional term or concept to the community. The task required students’ organization and communication skills to interpret the professional language into a public intelligible language. Dr. Yee explained that designing authentic tasks like this would help students who may not work in an academic environment in the future. Designing authentic assessments for students might open up more opportunities to develop professional as well as generic skills in context.
Last but not least, Dr. Yee mentioned that spreading out the assessment due dates can avoid students being overwhelmed by the overcrowding of assessments at the end of the semester. It also allows instructors to provide progressive feedback.
Dr Yee Ting Sum Lydia shared an example of the poster design assignment
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