Cycle #2: Reflection

Is there potential for students to engage in assessment of their own competencies?

To answer the question simple, yes.  If students are able to recognize their progress of curricular knowledge based outcomes, they are also able to recognize how well they are applying their skills.  The challenge in regards of the self-assessment of skills is the variety of perspectives of what successful application of skills looks like.  To go further, does successful application of a competency like information management look the same to all students.

When analyzing effective use of skills there is more of a range in what successful application looks like.  First of all, this is a good problem to have because it opens the door to creativity and different forms presenting and/or communicating information.  This openness for applying skills is what creates opportunities for innovation.  Unlike a concept where there is right and wrong or better and best, there is absolutely room for diversity and creativity in how students apply that knowledge. 

Reflecting on how to establish expectations and measurements of success, perhaps it is more important to recognize what ineffective application looks like.  Students may be better able to recognize shortfalls of what they see.  For example, students may have observed a performance that did not meet their standards.  Instead of criticizing, it would be important to determine what was missing and how could it be improved.  

I do believe that with appropriate guidance students have the potential to recognize the difference between effective and ineffective application of skills.  The best way to allow students to develop this ability to self-assess these competencies is to experience it.  While students may have life experiences to grow their skills, it is also important to give all students the opportunity to practice and reflect on their skills in schools through projects and real world experiences.

Cycle #2: Data Collection

How do students view effective information management skills?

Similar to understanding expectations for the knowledge and understanding of curricular outcomes, I think it is equally important to understand the expectations for effective practice of skills and compensation.  Preparing students and collaborating to build what concrete definition of what effective application of a competency looks like is important for skill development and ultimately a contributing factor to exemplary student work.  Both of these components play a crucial role in educating students for their future. 

I was able to pass out the chart related to the competency of information management discussed in the last post.  After a brief introduction and class discussion, students worked in small groups to establish understandings of the indicators of success and share what they thought effective practice looked like.  

Observing the conversations and sorting through the responses, many students have an accurate yet somewhat superficial initial understanding of what effective information management means.  Effective access to information is about finding a variety of information, but once you have those sources what does it mean to access the information within a reading?  Effective synthesis of information does reflect logic, but how does in enhance ones understanding of the topic being studied?  Evaluating information is also more than simply using information and using information ethically is partially about giving credit but also about respect for others work and responsibility for your own.  

*some sample responses

As any other form of assessment, it is important for students to understand what success looks like.  Reflecting on indicators of success from personal and academic experience may not be enough to allow students to envision the successful application of a abstract competency like information management.  In order to promote student engagement by in for their own progression and self-assessment of their skills, there will be more thought put into how those competencies can be modelled for student observation.  Similar to knowledge based formative assessments, when students understand the expectations, they are able to understand where they are in relation to where they want to be and more accurately assess their abilities.  If this is true for knowledge, why couldn't it be true for competencies.  

Cycle #2: The Action (part 2)

Creating opportunities for self-assessment in the area of managing information.

Using the Alberta Education competencies overview I would like to look to explore ways by which students could monitor their progress or research and communicating information.  The managing information competency in this framework includes accessing, synthesizing, evaluating, and sharing information.  Using these indicators, it would benefit students to collaboratively reflect on what exactly indicates effective information management.

See all of the Competencies here

In order to accomplish this, time would be spent understanding what managing information means.  Using the model in the competencies overview, students would reflect on past experiences learning from and working with information.  Students would contribute to an alternative version of the chart above to develop their own expectations of what effective information management looks like.  Students can co-construct goals to ensure they are providing themselves with the direction needed to successfully refine this competency.  The student version of this chart could potentially look something like this:

* Chart has been modified from the Alberta Education Competency Description, Indicators and Examples.

Using this model of assessment students would begin to understand their comfort level with this particular competency.  It also would work to build the understanding of what effective practice of this competency looks like.  From here, students would be able to incorporate their understandings of the competency into their research and communication process as they complete classroom activities or projects.  Ideally their understanding and application of using information would develop and continue to be refined throughout this process. 

Knowledge is not the only thing that needs to be assessed in schools.  If students and teachers can work together develop their competencies of managing information throughout the progression of a task, students can holistically increase skills and build knowledge at the same time.  This process ideally will help students and educators enhance the competencies required to accomplish learning outcomes.  

Cycle #2: The Action

Creating Opportunities for Self-assessment

In the previous cycle of this plan, I worked with a method of assessment where students co-constructed criteria for a final product.  In this cycle, the priority is shifting to how students are monitoring their use off competencies as they are working towards and end goal.  

An image that came across my twitter feed that compared formative and summative assessments to who is tasting a soup.  I thought this analogy related to the idea of promoting self-reflection on how students are progressing through a task.  Before a chef would serve his soup, he would taste, add spices, let it simmer, or potentially even restart.  In the same way, students would be able to monitor their their progress and reflect on what they can add or change as they approach their final goal.  

In relation to learning competencies, I think it would be important to find ways that students could recognize themselves the steps and ideas required for improvement.  The action at this stage is to create opportunities to recognize the quality of their product before it is complete and refine the actions needed to enhance the product.  

Similar co-constructing criteria for a summative assessments, I would want to look for opportunities for students to recognize space for improvement and determine what effective practice of these competencies are.  

In what ways can teachers create opportunities for students to self-monitor their application of skills and competencies in their tasks?