How to choose the best skills evaluation approach for your students?
The student’s ability to deal with the challenges of the future and their ability to analyse different situations and express their ideas precisely depends upon a few things. The most crucial one is the institute where they are receiving their formal education and the teachers. In fact, teachers have the main responsibility of identifying the inherent skills of particular student and helping them enhance them further. Simultaneously, they also work toward teaching them new skills which could later be very helpful in the future.
Hence, the traditional educational system that largely depends upon the completion of the syllabus solely has started to lose its significance. Instead, institutes have been expanding their vision in terms of preparing students for the future. Mentoring them in various specialized abilities while instructing them on core subjects and topics is one of the fundamental tasks. Besides, in their instructional strategies, teachers have been emphasizing the practical application of the core topics and checking them through online assessments as well.
But, how can the teachers assess how far the students have progressed? More importantly, how can a teacher choose the best skills evaluation approach for students?
A strategic skills evaluation approach
What is the point of evaluation? The crux of evaluation lies in using methods and measures to understand how much the students have understood and judge student learning. Besides, while choosing the best evaluation approach, teachers must consider a few crucial factors such as:
- Determining the education system’s purpose
- Identifying and culminating relevant information
- Encouraging valuable ideas that are beneficial to learners
- Classroom management or classroom decision making.
It is important to note that evaluation is an important aspect of curriculum and an overall learning and instruction strategy as it is connected with feedback and development cycle. Therefore, it should be in sync with responsive and up-to-date teaching methodologies. Moreover, the best way to evaluate the skills is by implementing Bloom’s Taxonomy in the classroom. The framework helps to identify students’ learning levels and figure out corresponding strategies that would help to meet different learning demands.
Check the students’ recalling capability
The first step relates with the first stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy, wherein the teacher could check the recalling capability of students. For instance, he/she could ask them to recite something that they have learned in the past during a lecture or maybe the teacher had given them homework. So, they can carry out certain assignments such as asking them to describe, define or identify certain events.
This is the most basic level, wherein students themselves can determine if they can remember knowledge gained in the past. Some of the simple exercises that teachers can use are simple question and answer sessions and multiple choice questions.
Determine their comprehensive skills
Suppose the teacher has taught a core concept to the students and they have memorized it after studying. But it is of no use until and unless they gain a basic understanding of what has been taught; hence, teachers need to choose an appropriate approach to determine the comprehensive skills of the students.
For instance, teachers can ask students to explain or summarize a story or a lecture.
Gauge their application capability
To accomplish one of the primary objectives of extending the learning process beyond the classroom, teachers need to gauge student’s application capability. For this, teachers need to include real-world examples during their instruction and explain how core concepts can also be used in daily lives. Consequently, they can assign group projects or assignments and ask them to carry out tasks such as demonstrating the findings of a physics formula and how it is relevant to specific operations in the real world.
Identify the analytical skills
At a certain stage, students progress into a level, wherein they can draw connections between similar or dissimilar ideas and utilize their thinking skills to break down complex concepts into parts. So, if the teacher observes that students are not just being passive learners, rather they are doing their research and analyzing different concepts, they must use strategies to identify their analytical skills.
For example, teachers could ask them to conduct a logical deduction of how AI-powered machines work.
Assess their judgements
Towards the end of course or program, students usually would have learned, applied and analyzed a material and would know to differentiate between facts and opinions. So, at this stage, teachers can evaluate their judgments by asking them to critique or support a decision. Also, they could ask them to find a solution to any given problem; it could be related to any real-world issue.
Mastering the skill
In the final stage, students would be ready to display what they have learned so far; by this time, they would succeed in mastering a concept or a skill efficiently. Therefore, they could implement one of the many tasks in the project-learning instructional approach. According to this approach, teachers can ask them to design a detailed plan to create something from scratch such as an eco-friendly power generator. Simultaneously, they can ask them to write something as simple as an elaborate essay regarding any topic.
In conclusion
Instructors can implement skills evaluation strategies at different levels of student learning to check their progress. Besides, one of the most common and important frameworks to check their progress is Bloom’s Taxonomy. It helps to not only evaluate their achievements but also inform teachers accordingly regarding the various learning gaps.