Graded Assessment

We have spent the semester learning about the different types of assessment, their primary uses, and the methods by which they can be carried out. Additionally, we have focused on the pros and cons of different methodologies, and extinguished any misconceptions in the surrounding realm. Co-creating quizzes allowed each member of the class a hands-on experience working with assessments in the way of creating questions that will provide a means to measure and judge outcome achievement. Snowman and McCown (2013) suggest that assessment is one of the most integral aspects of teaching. As future educators, it is imperative we learn the skills needed to set our students up for success. Participating in activities of this nature provides us with …show more content…
As Snowman and McCown (2013) point out, there are many benefits to using peer-created and graded assessments. As explained by TeachSource, having students assess their classmates encourages them to view the information in very different ways, and to consider what they think the most significant pieces are (317). A project of this nature not only familiarizes students with tasks they will eventually (presumably) come to excel at, but it also introduces the concept and practical use of alternative forms of assessment. By seeing how these ideas play out first hand, we will come to be more comfortable “thinking outside the box” to constantly create new ideas for ways to assess, and apply them in our own classrooms. With assessment holding such high stakes in education, it is imperative that we gain experience working with the types of material that will equip us with skills for future …show more content…
The lack of consistency in both creating questions, and grading was actually, as a student, my biggest challenge. At first, the thought of classmate written quizzes was exciting. I initially thought it would be accompanied by lower stress levels and less overall pressure, but alas, just as they say a person is their own worst critic, I believe the same holds true for classmates. From the student perspective, there were some very apparent strengths and weaknesses of this activity. As a student, you begin to take comfort in a sort of consistency and predictability with a teacher’s method of assessing. They stay more or less consistent, with a moderately clear path of predictability. Throughout the semester we become more and more familiar with the way a teacher presents, assesses, and grades. We know the type of questions they will ask, the information they expect you to know, and the degree to which they expect you to reproduce it. With quizzes of this nature where different groups are compiling questions, it becomes impossible to gauge what they are looking for. Other issues arose more than once with grading not being uniform between groups, and sometimes not even within the groups. The rubric was a fair guideline, but was very obviously interpreted differently some of the