Importance of involving learners and others in the assessment process

Assignment 1

1. Explain the importance of involving the learners and others in the assessment process.

2. Summarise types of information that should be available to learners and others involved in the assessment process

3. Explain how peer and self-assessment can be used effectively to promote learner involvement and personal responsibility in the assessment of learning.

4. Explain how assessment arrangements can be adapted to meet the needs of individual learners.

Assignment 2

1. Explain how to judge whether evidence is:

a) Sufficient b) Authentic c) Current

2. Explain how to ensure that assessment decisions are:

a) Made against specified criteria b) Valid
c) Reliable
d) Fair

Assignment 3

1. Evaluate the importance of quality assurance in the assessment process

2. Summarise quality assurance and standardised procedures in own area of practice

3. Summarise the procedures to follow when there are disputes concerning assessment in own area of practice.

Assignment 4

1. Explain the importance of following procedures for the management of information relating to assessment.

2. Explain how feedback and questioning contribute to the assessment process.

Assignment 5

1. Explain legal issues, policies and procedures relevant to assessment, including those for confidentiality, health, safety and welfare.

2. Explain the contribution that technology can make to the assessment process.

3. Evaluate requirements for quality and diversity, and where appropriate, bilingualism in relation to assessment.

4. Explain the value of reflective practice and continuing professional development in the assessment process.

1. While doing an assessment, involving the learners is an important way of supporting them so that they can deal and ‘take ownership’ of those things which they are learning, thinking, achieving and planning how to go ahead with them. The things which they are learning in these assessments they can apply in their work place and it will help them in growing individually too. This type of assessment will motivate them to do better in their work place this will be a great experience and help them in understanding the matters under the guidance of experts. The assessments will help the learners to reach their goals easily. These assessments help them to learn the way of delivering which they are learning and also in negotiating. The involvement of others in the assessment help the learners to work as a team with the peer groups, colleagues etc by sharing their feedbacks (Wandersman, Chien and Katz, 2012).

2. The types of information  are available to the learners are-

a. Understanding the roles and their responsibilities.

b. Assessing the peer members.

c. Working together with everyone in the organization.

d. Sharing targets.

e. Knowing about the risks and challenging them.

f. Witnessing the assessment procedure.

g. Receiving and giving feedbacks.

h. The policies and procedures of the organization are available to them.

i. The skills which the learner’s are learning can be applied and they can see the outcomes.

3. Self assessment and peer assessment helps a learner a lot in their individual and professional growth. The learners’ can ask about the views of their peer members both formally and informally. The peer members help in boosting up the self confidence. When a assessment is done in a team and the feedback is taken from their peer group then they can easily assess them and can easily ask them where the learner need to improve in their skills (Lambert, and Lines, 2013).. Peer members helps in indentifying and achieving targets. While working in an organization what changes a learner need to make in their work can be easily accessed by their peer members and also by their leaders and they asks the learner what changes they should bring in their work. When a self assessment is done the learner himself can understand what changes need to be done with themselves. With the given time they tries to bring change in their work style and see the change that is giving better results in their work . (Tsimillis and Michael,2014)..

4. Arrangements need to be done for the learners so that they can easily adapt with the arrangements like changing the time schedules, working in different shifts etc. By working at different timings the learners will get to know that at what timings and in which shift they are comfortable (Johnson, Miller and Boyle, A. 2013). Learners working under experts can increase their confidence level which will work as a positive factor for them and this will be benefitting in improving their work style and these changes will bring a positive change within themselves and also in their work environment. The usage of qualified assessment with the organizational policies and procedures according to the organizational context helps the learners in negotiating and assessing (Kidney Cummings and Boehm 2014).

Types of information that should be available to learners and others involved in the assessment process

1. The evidence on the assessments which are being made are sufficient or not that decisions can be made by seen that the requirements which were needed were fulfilled or not and that can be done by reviewing those evidences that the given matters are enough or not . The work is sufficient or not can also be checked after checking the feedbacks after applying them on the learners. (Heacox,2012). The authenticity of those evidences can be checked by getting to know that those are done with 100% seriousness or not. While doing the work whether there was any manipulation done or not can be checked with the accurate facts and figures which is present with the concerned person. Authenticity of the work can be checked by not only checking the facts and figures but also by taking feedbacks from the peer members, colleagues, managers etc and checking them with the evidences of the assessments. After checking the authenticity then come the next stage that the evidences which are being used are of current scenario or not. The authenticity of the work can be 100% true but the references which have been taken should not be an old one. The evidences which have been used need to be current because people mainly relate their views with the current scenarios and they do not go with the old traditional views. As the organization is growing with the evidences of the present scenario so the facts and figures of the current generation maters a lot for the organization and also for their employees (Wandersman, Chien and Katz 2012).

2. The evidences and the references which are being used need to be related with the criteria which have been specified. The reference used in the process are valid or not can be checked when the assessment will be done with the learners. (Hall, Griffiths, Haslam and Wilkin, 2012). When the output of the assessment will be positive and will be going with the current scenario then it can be said that the assessment is valid. The validity of the assessment also matters when it is easily approachable by the learners and will be giving positive results to the organization. When the output will be a valid one then only it will be reliable and the learner’s can apply in their work life. The evidences which are used are reliable or not can be easily identified when they will be used with the current scenario and will be giving proper and appropriate results. The reliable assessments can be repeated in other assessments also if needed and like this the leanings can be transferred from one to another.The assessment which is applied by the learner is fair or not can be determined by seeing the result after doing the assessment. If the result is not fair then changes has to be done so that fair assessment can be done. The learners’ preparing their individual assessments and designing them helps both the organization and the individual to get authentic, reliable and fair facts. This helps the learners’ to achieve their own targets both personally and professionally. The decisions made for the assessments are fair or not can be decided by doing without any biasness and identifying them with the related criteria. If the criteria’s are met then it can be decided that the decision made is fair (Tomlinson, 2014).

How peer and self-assessment can be used effectively to promote learner involvement and personal responsibility in the assessment of learning

1. The assurance of the quality that is being used is very important. The steps taken to measure the quality of these assessments can be done by observing the learners that the evidences they are using are giving proper results or not. If the evidences of these assessments are giving positive results then it can be understood that the level of these evidences are quiet high (Cook, and Polgar, 2014).. It can be checked in some other ways also like interviewing the candidate on whom this assessments are done and also examining the products with which the assessments are done. The standards of these evidences are also checked to see that these assessments which are being used are matching the standards of the organization or not. Awarding the organization by the external bodies and maintaining the laws and regulations helps the organizations to reach their goals. (Brookhart, Moss and Long, 2010).

2. The assurance of these assessment qualities which are being used and the standards can be maintained by applying those assessments in the organization and also on the learners, who will be bringing change in the organization by using those assessments in their work structure(Ollin, and Tucker,2012). When the learners will be applying those evidences in their daily work life then it will be bringing a change in the learner’s work style and these will also bring a positive change for the organization (Fung and Yip, 2014).The learner’s who are bringing positive changes in their work style, in their working environment and also in the internal environment of the organization in a positive way then they can be rewarded by the organization for giving a positive contribution to the organization (Brown, , Bull and Pendlebury 2013). A feedback method can be implemented so that it can also be understood that the assessments which are being done are giving positive response or not (Leekitchwatana, Pimdee and Moto, 2013).

3. While conducting an assessment certain disputes can take place in the practice area and those can be solved by awarding the organization for the good work which has been done to take the organization in the next level (Beaven,2012). To avoid the disputes the experts have to make sure that they are covering the procedures both internally and externally so that it does not get influenced by any external being. The policies and the procedures all need to be documented and confidentially kept so that whenever there is any problem it can be solved. It has to be made sure that no disputes should take place due to discrimination. The results of the assessments procedures need to be transparent so that it is easily understandable and already a trail run has been done before applying it on the learner (Pershing, 2006).

1. The importance of the procedures which is being followed while managing the information during assessment is that whether the action plans which are being taken are accurately reflecting on the activities done in the organization or not. The assessments are being documented so that in the future whenever it is needed it can be referred. The assessments which are already completed are documented or not. When the assessments are being done then those procedures i.e. the methods taken to complete the assessments need to be recorded for future use. Feedbacks need to be taken after the completion of the assessments both in written and orally and those also need to be recorded. The assessments, polices and the procedures which are being used and making a huge impact for the betterment of the organization needs to be awarded (Ahmed, 2008).

2. After conducting the assessment process the feedbacks are collected from the learners and then the decisions are made on the basis of those feedbacks (Yu and Jin, 2014).The feedbacks are collected and thoroughly checked to see that whether the assessments applied are making good impacts on the learners and also on the organization or not. Whether the assessments are motivating the learners to do better in their work areas. While checking the feedbacks it is also seen that if there is any need of organizing further assessment programs or not. Feedbacks gives are result that whether there is any need to doing assessments on the individual learner or not. These feedbacks gives a overall view about the organization that in which areas of the organization there is any need of development and what more targets should the organization need to achieve (Baird, 2014).

How assessment arrangements can be adapted to meet the needs of individual learners

1. From the organizations point of view the policies and the procedures are under the regulatory bodies which are including Ofqual, Ofsted and other awarding firms which are including the health and safety issues, diversity and equality issues etc. The policies, procedures and the legal issues related with the assessments checks that the standardization is maintained or not. Whether the sharing of good practices, views from the peer members , shadowing the works , cascading training, are all maintained by the organization or not. Whether the professional developments which are done continuously are being identified by the exterior influences in spite they are being mentioned internally (Stalmeijer et al., 2014).

2. Contribution of the technologies while doing the assessments is maintained by selecting the suitable software which will be used for online and initial testing. Assessments are done on the audio visual reports, and feedbacks are taken on those though technology media only. Statistical data are easily obtained with the help of technologies. Information technology helps in distance learning and online exams are taken. The authenticities of these assessments are checked and it is known that the sources are reliable or not. The records are kept confidentially in the systems with backups so that if the data are tampered then it can be easily recovered. The data are kept safeguarded under high security so that they are not misplaced. The software’s are updated regularly to keep up with the new generation (Moodysson, 2008).

3. Within the legal framework evaluating the assessments on the basis of equality and diversification is done by applying the Equality Act in the organization. These act need to be applied in every organization so that the equality and the diversification is maintained. The work environment gets affected when the diversification and equality is not maintained. Conflicts within the peer group occurs which badly affects the organizational environment (Ollin and Tucker, 2012). Organization uses policies and procedures to maintain the balance and actions are taken if any person goes against the policies. Codes of practices are maintained which are related with this types of issues. In organizations people with different types of physical problems work together. It is seen that in an organization with the medically fit people many people with physical problems works with same speed and giving better results to the company in comparison to the normal people. The organizations need to find out the strengths of these disabled people (problem like- audio and visually disabled) and make them work and they will giving the organization outstanding results. But to get best results the organization has to compromise with them in certain sectors like flexible timings, providing additional facilities whenever needed. Encouraging them by giving them awards and rewards so that they can work better (Dubuisson-Quellier, 2013).   

4. Reflective practices for continuous professional development need to become a habit. Using of tools like describing, revising and analyzing need to be done while doing the self -assessment. For reaching the goals the individual need to do the SWOT analysis so that by himself only he will get to understand his positive and negative aspects (Martin, 2007).Other than individual view about himself he can also take feedbacks from his colleagues, other learner’s, managers, peer members etc who will be giving their views so that the individual can change his weakness into his strengths. By doing the analysis by himself also taking views from others and also the organizational reports helps the individual to predict his skills and knowledge. Based on the analysis from the expertise the individual can boost his self confidence, monitoring his knowledge and can do the modifications wherever needed. This analysis helps the individual to grow his skills, knowledge and self confidence which will benefit both the individual and the organization (Whitty, 2013).

Judging evidence sufficiency, authenticity, and currency

References

Ahmed, N. (2008). Emerging systems of educational quality assessment in developing countries Quality Assurance in Education, 16(2)

Baird, J. (2014). Teachers’ views on assessment practices Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 21(4), pp.361-364.

Brookhart, S., Moss, C. and Long, B (2010) Teacher inquiry into formative assessment practices in remedial reading classrooms. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 17(1), pp.41-58.

Dubuisson-Quellier, S. (2013) A Market Mediation Strategy: How Social Movements Seek to Change Firms’ Practices by Promoting New Principles of Product Valuation. Organization Studies, 34(5-6), pp.683-703

Fung, D. and Yip, V. (2014) The effects of the medium of instruction in certificate-level physics on achievement and motivation to learn. J Res Sci Teach, 51(10), pp.1219-1245

Martin, D. (2007). Principles and Practices of Case Management in Rehabilitation Counseling Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publisher, LTD.

Moodysson, J. (2008). Principles and Practices of Knowledge Creation: On the Organization of “Buzz” and “Pipelines” in Life Science Communities. Economic Geography, 84(4), pp.449-469

Ollin, R. and Tucker, J. (2012) The vocational assessor handbook London: Kogan Page.

Pershing, J. (2006). Handbook of human performance technology San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

Stalmeijer, R., Whittingham, J., de Grave, W and Dolmans, D (2014) Strengthening internal quality assurance processes: facilitating student evaluation committees to contribute Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, pp.1-14

Wandersman, A., Chien, V. H., and Katz, J. (2012) toward an evidence-based system for innovation support for implementing innovations with quality: tools, training, technical assistance, and quality assurance/quality improvement.American journal of community psychology, 50(3-4), 445-459.

Tsimillis, K. C., and Michael, S. (2014). Quality management and quality assurance in medical laboratories Laboratory management information systems: current requirements and future perspectives, IGI Global, 136-153.

Kidney, G., Cummings, L., and Boehm, A. (2014) Toward a quality assurance approach to e-learning courses

Wandersman, A., Chien, V. H., and Katz, J (2012) Toward An Evidence-Based System for Innovation Support (Tools, Training, Technical Assistance, Quality Improvement/Quality Assurance) for Implementing Innovations with Quality to Achieve Desired Outcomes American Journal of Community Psychology, 50, 445-459

Tomlinson, C. A. (2014). Differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Ascd.

Hall, D., Griffiths, D., Haslam, L., and Wilkin, Y. (2012) Assessing the needs of bilingual pupils: Living in two languages. Routledge.

Heacox, D. (2012). Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners (Updated Anniversary Edition). Free Spirit Publishing

Cook, A. M., and Polgar, J. M. (2014). Assistive technologies: Principles and practice. Elsevier Health Sciences

Lambert, D., and Lines, D (2013) Understanding assessment: Purposes, perceptions, practice. Routledge.

Johnson, S., Johnson, R., Miller, L. and Boyle, A (2013) Reliability of Vocational Assessment: An evaluation of level 3 electro-technical qualifications

Ollin, R. and Tucker, J. (2012) The Vocational Assessor Handbook: Including a Guide to the QCF Units for Assessment and Internal Quality Assurance (IQA). Kogan Page Publishers.

Beaven, D. F (2012) U.S Patent No. 8,095,413 Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Liang, D., Pedrycz, W., Liu, D., and Hu, P. (2015). Three-way Decisions Based on Decision-theoretic Rough Sets Under Linguistic Assessment with The Aid of Group Decision Making. Applied Soft Computing

Liang, D., Pedrycz, W., Liu, D., and Hu, P. (2015). Three-way Decisions Based on Decision-theoretic Rough Sets Under Linguistic Assessment with The Aid of Group Decision Making. Applied Soft Computing

Clemen, R., and Reilly, T (2013) Making hard decisions with Decision Tools engage Learning

Guion, R. M. (2011). Assessment, measurement, and prediction for personnel decisions Taylor and Francis

Therivel, R., and Paridario, M. R (2013) The practice of strategic environmental assessment. Routledge

Boud, D. (2013). Enhancing learning through self-assessment Routledge

Race, P (2014) The lecturer’s toolkit: a practical guide to assessment, learning and teaching. Routledge.

Falchikov, N. (2013). Improving assessment through student involvement: Practical solutions for aiding learning in higher and further education. Routledge.