Reflection #3 AFL verses AOL

I must admit I am usually a “sucker” for the new and upcoming ideas in education, but I must say the idea of an e-portfolio is not something I’m gravitating to all that quickly. I can definitely see where e-portfolios would be an asset if you are looking at someone’s education holistically, but not over a remotely short period of time. When I say holistically, I mean over a longer period of time, not during just a course or a year. In my opinion the term “assessment for learning” in and of itself insinuates a broad base of knowledge over a vast amount of time. For example, at my former school I taught a Gifted and Talented pull out program. The kids were able to choose a course or idea for study each year. They would then do various projects centered on that area. Our GT program required the students to keep a “portfolio”, binder, of everything they had done in grades 9th – 12th. In their senior year, the portfolio should have represented all the areas of study they had done, the areas of interest that had sought out and maybe even point them in a direction for a career or further study at the post secondary level. I definitely believe this was an example of “assessment for learning.” There were no high stakes decisions or grades tied to this portfolio, but was meant only to be a showcase of things the student had done through their GT experience. The flip side of that is if I were told I had to keep an e-portfolio under the guise of “assessment for learning” for simply one course, I would be infuriated as the learner. It would be like keeping a binder in high school in which I’m required to keep track of items just for the professor’s sake. I’m beyond that as a learner. It would reek of the very things the article listed in the table when comparing “assessment for learning” verses “assessment of learning”. However, if I chose to keep all the papers, research and projects I had accumulated throughout graduate school as a tool for self-evaluation, direction for doctorates or even for evaluation upon receiving my entire Master’s degree, than that might be a different story. As I mentioned before, I usually get completely excited about the innovative ideas on the forefront of education, but I just did not feel that when reading this article. Frankly, as I read through the “ten researched based principles for AFL, the first thing that went through my mind was very negative. • AFL should be part of effective planning of teaching and learning • AFL should focus on how students learn • AFL should be recognized as central to classroom practice • AFL should be regarded as a key professional skill for teachers • AFL should be sensitive and constructive because any assessment has an emotional impact • AFL should take account of the importance of (and foster) learner motivation • AFL should promote commitment to learning goals and a shared understanding of the criteria by which they are assessed • AFL develops learners’ capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and self-managing • AFL should recognize the full range of achievements of all learners • Learners should receive constructive guidance about how to improve The two tenets I highlighted made me think we do enough in today’s society to make everyone think they are great. We give everyone a trophy in little league. We give everyone a ribbon at the science fair. We make sure everyone gets something at the awards assembly. Now I have to realize that my assessments have an “emotional impact” on my students, and I have to teach them to be self-managing and reflective without hindering them emotionally as well? Wow. I need to tell my principal, superintendent and TEA that their assessment of our schools is having an emotional impact on me. Forgive my sarcasm, but I see this as feel good approach to assessment. I’m not saying the idea in and of itself is bad, but that assessments are just that: assessments. We are assessing where a child has been, where they are now, and where they need to be in the future. We can label it AFL or AOL, but in the end, assessment is needed. Life requires it. Now with that being said, I do identify with the tenets stating, AFL should “be recognized as central to classroom practice, effective planning of teaching and learning, learner motivation and constructive guidance about how to improve.” I try to foster a “risk free” environment in my mathematics class. I want students to try big and feel ok when they mess up big. One thing I started doing a few years ago was a “weaning” process in their learning. Home/class work they could use notes, each other and me. The next step was quizzes on which they could use notes and each other, but not me. Then tests were on their own with no outside help of any kind. It was amazing how the middle step influenced and increased student centered and student motivated learning, and directed my planning and showed students where they needed to improve. By using each other, but not me, they got to see if they knew something well enough to help others. They got to see which skills they had to go look up because they forgot which in turn showed them what to study instead of me telling them. So in my opinion, my teaching strategy or classroom management strategy is achieving AFL without requiring an e-portfolio or trying to incorporate same fancy digital storytelling or the like.