Assessment and constructive alignment
"Assessment is at the heart of the student (learning) experience" (Brown. S & Knight. P, 1994)
The next 'building block' in getting our course design right is to achieve constructive alignment - a phrase coined by John Biggs.
"The fundamental principle of constructive alignment is that a good teaching system aligns teaching method and assessment to the learning activities stated in the objectives so that all aspects of this system are in accord in supporting appropriate student learning." (Biggs, 1999).
In other words, once we have written our intended learning outcomes we should then decide what are the best teaching and learning methods that are likely to help the students achieve those outcomes. And then we should make sure that the assessment tasks we choose will tell us if the outcomes have actually been achieved or not. (Benfield, 2005).
Matching Levels of Learning to Performance Measures
| Level of Learning | Performance Measure |
| Knowledge | Written or oral responses: short answer, multiple choice, true/false, matching, essay |
| Comprehension | Written or oral responses: short answer, multiple choice, true/false, matching, essay |
| Application | Actual performance, demonstration, simulation, written or oral responses: short answer, multiple choice, matching |
| Analysis | Actual performance, simulation, demonstration, essay questions, practical projects, short-answer questions |
| Synthesis | Actual performance, simulation, demonstration, essay questions, practical projects, short-answer questions |
| Evaluation | Actual performance, simulation, demonstration, essay questions, practical projects, short-answer questions |
The above table is taken from the interactive resource covering instructional design.
http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/eLearningForDev/default.htm
Go through the design chapter (lesson 7) to see an example of how to choose the correct assessment methods to suit the learning outcome.
Finally try the review quiz (formative assessment) in the above design chapter to see how computer aided assessment is most commonly used at the end of an activity. Is the level of feedback received here encouraging? Discuss.
