Guidelines for developing and using e-assessments with vocational learners : project overview

Abstract

"Mā te rongo, ka mōhio; mā te mōhio, ka mārama; mā te mārama, ka mātautau” From practice comes understanding, from understanding comes knowing, from knowing comes expertise.

SUMMARY: This project brought together a team of vocational educators from three Institutes of Technology or Polytechnics (ITPs) and an iwi-led tertiary partnership, to create a set of guidelines for the development and implementation of e-assessments for learning. As New Zealand qualification outcomes have shifted from competency-based to graduate profile outcomes-based qualifications, there is a need to support students’ learning towards meeting graduate profiles. Assessments for learning are key components of sound learning programmes. Assessments for learning, also called formative assessments, are planned learning activities which lead to occasions for learners or teachers to check on learning progress. Opportunities for feedback provide learners with advice to judge their learning and plan towards future improvements, leading to increased learner achievement and efficacy.

The affordances provided by digital devices, tools and apps, increase opportunities for the implementation of useful assessments for learning which meet learners’ needs. Digital technologies also allow access to some of the difficult to describe, or measure, skills and dispositions, which underpin vocational education. These ‘invisible’ attributes contribute towards learners ‘becoming’ (i.e. attainment of an occupational identity) as they progress towards meeting the graduate profile outcomes defined by NZ qualifications.

The guidelines are a distillation of the learnings achieved through iterations of Participative Action Research (PAR) cycles by each sub-project team. These guidelines can be used to support the development, implementation and evaluation of e-assessments for learning within vocational education

For this project, seven sub-projects were developed, which implemented eassessments for learning activities using a range of pedagogical approaches and digital tools. These e-assessments for learning, supported feedback mechanisms to learners. E-feedback was made accessible to the learners through the affordances provided by digital technologies. For example, e-feedback videos or learning analytics from VR simulators were used to accelerate the learning of skills and dispositions. Learners were able to access e-feedback from a range of supporters including their tutors/teachers, their peers, and other experts. These opportunities for multimodal feedback (through images, audio recordings, VR environments, etc.) provided learners with important information to assist with deliberate practice.