Learning Assessment in Covid-19 Times

“A test is not an intention; it is a mechanism. It is still a useful tool, but it is not the only one. Quizzes and tests are not going away.” – Katherina Gallardo.

Learning assessment is a sensitive topic that triggers reflection about how to do it, even more so now that the working conditions that were once in the classroom no longer exist in this time of confinement. Now that online education is gaining traction to ensure academic continuity in the different levels of schooling reviewing the assessment processes in this virtual teaching modality is a reflective and indispensable action, as Ph.D. Katherina Gallardo explains in our June webinar.

In this live session, about 1200 attendees accompanied us. If you did not have the opportunity to attend, watch the video here anytime. There were 50 minutes of presentation and 35 minutes of Q&A session with the audience. Professor Katherina shared simple, practical tips that will show you clearly how to plan and implement evaluations designed considering ethical principles in this new reality of educational scenarios.

“The virtual modality requires much more from the professors, but it also lets them be more strategic in prioritizing what the students will learn. In the case of evaluations, there are learning processes that students will have to exercise and the appropriate mechanisms available to achieve their mastery.”

Below is a summary discussed in the webinar. However, please view the video so that you do not lose any details of this exciting talk. According to Ph.D. Gallardo, it is essential to provide teachers, administrators, and educational staff in general, a holistic appreciation of the aspects of evaluation that change in remote or virtual education, as well as an understanding of the things that do not change within the framework of this new modality.

• Learning assessment is an “art.” Ph.D. Gallardo considers assessment to be art because several variables must be regarded as when evaluating learning. For example, the subject matter, location of the subject in the curricula, institutional regulations, educational model of the school, educational intentions, evaluation mechanisms, and even the teacher’s personal beliefs about the purpose of assessment are variables to consider.

• Learning assessment has three intentions that do not change in a virtual format. Regardless if we work in a person-to-person modality or a virtual one, these three intentions of evaluation do not change; they are maintained. They were formerly known as “types of assessment:”

  • Diagnostic intention. It serves to know the previously acquired knowledge of the students.

  • Formative intention. These are the processes we follow during learning to help students effectively and efficiently achieve the goals or competencies.

  • Summative intention. It means how the student will end up after the school term.

• Planning does change in a remote or online format. We will not be able to repeat what we did in the face-to-face class. We have to prioritize and think of alternatives.

• The application of assessment does change in a remote or online format. It is not just a simple switch from paper to a digital format. There are many tools with which the evaluation process can be facilitated or enriched. It is not about replicating face-to-face procedures and methodologies through a camera.

• Feedback does not change in a remote or virtual format. Feedback is a process that has evolved from the 1970s to date. However, it must always be on time to keep students informed about their progress toward expected goals.

• The language of feedback, the timing, and the means. This relates to the words and verbs that students best understand that work and the language that we should not use. This section also covers the most suitable moments to give feedback (given the pandemic) and the best information channels or media and the formats available to use.

• Prepare a table of specifications. In the video, you can find a real example of a specifications table for a ninth-semester, undergraduate-level Mechanics class. The specification table describes what students will be able to do (the specific objectives or elements of the competency), the topics to be covered, the taxonomy level, the formative intention, and the summative intention.

• Ethical standards of evaluation that teachers should follow. This section covers the ethical principles of assessment in the new reality of educational scenarios. In the course planning, the teacher should consider the evaluation and not leave this until the last moment.

These points may contribute to teachers’ better decision-making in evaluating learning when they plan, execute, evaluate, and report results. The goal is continuous improvement of educational practice, considering the current conditions of confinement and study at home.

Katherina Edith Gallardo Córdova is director of the doctoral program in Educational Innovation in the School of Humanities and Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey. She has been a member of the National System of Investigators since 2014. Her line of research focuses on the assessment of learning.

If your native language is not Spanish, you can activate the YouTube instant translation subtitles included in this article. To enable this option on YouTube, select the Subtitles option (the subtitles will appear in Spanish), choose the options Configuration ->Subtitles -> Translate Automatically and choose the language that you prefer.

Translation by Daniel Wetta.

Rubí Román – (rubi.roman@tec.mx) Editor of Edu bits articles and Webinars "Learnings that inspire"

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