Case Study 3:
Background:
During my Co-Lab unit that I ran this year ‘The Feast’, I oversaw the LO’s for this assessment and feared that one would be very hard for my students to organically meet, LO1. LO1 in this unit was focused on discussing and researching a social justice topic, which I feared wouldn’t come up naturally in a making-based unit. I spoke with my Colab lead, and we came up with a solution for my students so that they could attain the highest grades possible. I feared my students would struggle to evidence this LO during their summative assessments.
Evaluation – Evidence:
We came up with two points of contact for this LO, which they could evidence, one was a class-wide voting system in which the students would pick through democratic elimination, which social justice themes they would like the project to be centred around once agreed upon go and do their own individual research. This would give them a chance to choose what they collectively cared about, have a stake in a wider outcome and discuss how they felt in their summative feedback meeting LO1.
The second solution we incorporated was to have a heavy focus on sustainable materials and have the students focus their entire project around making sustainable sustituaions / solutions for their making. So they had two full points of contact written into the unit for them to reflect upon during their summative hand in.
Moving forwards:
Check the LOs:
Moving forward, I’ve learned twice now under different circumstances that ensuring you as the tutor/ project lead fully understand the entire LOs you’ll be using to mark your students with is the best means to ensure the best outcomes. Especially in a parity situation. Checking the LO’s at the start of every project is vital
Write in points of contact for any difficult to attain LO’s:
Should you have an LO that you fear your student body will struggle to attain on your unit, it’s up to you as a tutor to account for this and make sure they have some points of contact. Writing in sections where the students will meet this section head-on will ensure parity amongst the student body and assurance that you’ve met the students’ educational needs.
Check in during formatives:
Making sure you have multiple fomatives during your unit will give you the opportunity to check in with every student and make sure that they understand the summative criteria. I like to check in that they understand their LO’s, how to reference them, and what they mean in a clearer language and make sure they feel confident in addressing them. It’s also key in this context to make sure they understand those hard-to-meet LO’s and that they’ve understood the points of contact you’ve set up and how to evidence this in their summative assessment.
References:
Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998) ‘Inside the black box: raising standards through classroom assessment’, Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), pp. 139–148.
Sadler, D.R. (1989) ‘Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems’, Instructional Science, 18(2), pp. 119–144.
Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. (2005) Understanding by design. 2nd edn. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
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