ObjectiveThere are few reports on how students self-assess their performance on a family medicine clerkship. We studied what students perceived as their strengths and areas of needed improvement at ...the mid-point in our family medicine clerkship.MethodsWe introduced a form for family medicine clerkship students to self-assess their strengths and areas of needed improvements using the clerkship objectives as a standard. We calculated the frequency in which each clerkship objective was reported as a strength or an area of needed improvement. For students’ open-ended comments, two reviewers independently organized students’ comments into themes, then negotiated any initial differences into a set of themes that incorporated both the reviewers’ findings. We performed χ2 tests to determine any significant differences in the frequency of responses between male and female students.ResultsDuring the study period (July 2012 to June 2014), 372 students submitted completed self-assessment forms. The most frequently reported strengths were professional objectives (48.9%) and interpersonal communication objectives (43.0%) The most frequently reported areas of needed improvement were the ability to explain key characteristics of commonly used medications (29.3%) and the ability to develop a management plan (28.5%). There were no significant differences in the frequency of responses between male and female students.ConclusionWe now have a better understanding of students’ perceived strengths and areas of needed improvement in our family medicine clerkship. We have shared this information with our community faculty preceptors so that they will be better prepared to work with our students. Family medicine clerkship preceptors at other institutions may also find these results useful.
This paper describes project work undertaken in order to map out and analyze language teachers’ experiences and views of various assessment principles and procedures with a particular focus on those ...that promote learning and relate to grading. A questionnaire survey in a nationally representative sample of 605 language education teachers in Sweden was conducted. In a second stage, a sub-sample of 20 teachers was then strategically drawn from the total sample for participation in a repertory grid interview study which delved deeper into the issues.
Results from the combined analyses of the questionnaire and interview study demonstrate that the most common forms of assessment reported by both lower and upper secondary language teachers are ‘observation of free oral communication’, ‘own tests’, and ‘essay on given topic’. Elicited interview data reveal that command of grammar is ranked as the third most important criterion for assessment. This corresponds to questionnaire data about the tasks teachers use in their own language tests, where translation is common. In addition, non-language factors are reported to carry considerable weight in teachers’ grading of student achievement.
Formative assessment policies and self-regulation theories argue that student self-assessment of their own work and processes are useful for raising academic performance and self-regulatory skills. ...However, research into student self-evaluation raises serious doubts about the quality of self-assessment as an assessment process and identifies conditions which must be met if students' judgments are to be useful, valid, and reliable. This paper recommends that student self-assessment should no longer be treated as an assessment, but instead as an essential competence for self-regulation. As such, we describe a potential curriculum approach that could guide teachers to appropriate use of self-assessment tools.
The most important instructional decisions, those with the greatest influence on student success, are made by learners themselves (Stiggins, 2008). Formative assessment, done well, contributes to ...student ownership of learning more than any other classroom-based instructional or assessment practice (Bloom, 1984). It is an economical, highly effective, and uniquely flexible method that can improve learning (Leahy, Lyon, Thompson, & Wiliam, 2005). Simply put, the teacher’s purpose in formative assessment is to give students the means, motive, and opportunity to take control of their own learning. And, through their involvement in formative assessment, students develop self-efficacy for specific learning and, more generally, they develop skills that contribute to increased self-regulation and self-assessment of learning. In order for students to be meaningfully involved in formative assessment, they must be guided by teachers who hold the beliefs, knowledge and skills that engender active student engagement in the learning process. This paper highlights interim findings from a five-year professional development initiative involving the Armstrong School District, a large, rural school district in Western Pennsylvania, and the Center for Advancing the Study of Teaching and Learning at the Duquesne University School of Education. The initiative rests on the fusion of formative assessment, teacher-student communication, and student ownership of learning. The professional development program employs online modules, peer study groups, classroom walkthroughs, and teacher inquiry into their classroom practices and the beliefs that drive them. The program explores seven formative assessment components: 1) Identifying and Clearly Communicating Learning Targets, .) Feedback that Feeds Forward, 3) Student Goal-Setting, 4) Student Self-Assessment, 6) Strategic Questioning, and 7) Formative Discourse. All components are linked to specific aspects of student motivation: intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, self-regulation, goal-setting, and student attributions. The paper describes the impacts of formative assessment on student ownership of learning, student achievement, motivation, and active engagement as well as provides insights into teachers’ experiences with student involvement. Findings show that not only have the teachers come to value and promote student ownership of learning using high impact formative assessment strategies, but that their efforts have resulted in high student engagement in learning and increased student achievement.
Background
This study explored the credibility of Swedish third-grade students’ self-assessments of their reading achievement by relating those assessments to two different criteria—teachers’ ...judgments and students’ reading test scores. Student gender and socioeconomic status (SES) were introduced to determine to what extent, if any, these variables were associated with the accuracy of the self-assessments once students’ attitudes toward reading had been controlled for.
Methods
The data, drawn from the Swedish participation in the 2001 iteration of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), included information obtained from students (
N
= 5,271) and teachers (
N
= 351). The main method of analysis was two-level structural equation modeling (SEM) with latent variables.
Results
The magnitude of the correlation between student self-assessments and teacher judgments/test scores was similar and amounted to about 0.6. The relationship between teachers’ judgments and students’ test scores was slightly higher. Neither gender nor SES seemed to be significantly related to the self-assessments, indicating that the students assessed themselves in a fairly equal manner across groups.
Conclusions
The findings demonstrate that, despite their young age, third-graders’ self-assessment of their reading literacy skills can be considered as fairly reliable indicators of those skills. In Sweden, the fact that Grade 3 students and their teachers have spent almost three years together in school may contribute to a shared understanding of what literacy knowledge and skills are important.
Student self-assessment is widely reported to offer numerous advantages to the learner. It is a popular practice for empowering students and the advantages are claimed to incorporate increased ...dialogue between students and teachers and the development of skills that encompass critical awareness and reflectivity. It is, potentially, a process that may enable health care practitioners to be lifelong learners, equipped with the skills for autonomy in learning and professional practice. As such it might be viewed as an essential element of the curriculum. This paper reports on a study designed to evaluate the implementation of self-assessment among student health care practitioners. The pilot study examined the impact of self-assessment on learning and how the process was perceived by students and staff. Findings indicated that a varied approach had been taken to its implementation, which had significant repercussions in the way in which it was perceived by students. Similarly, there was a varied approach taken by students to the process of self-assessment and this had significant repercussions for its overall value as a learning tool. The outcomes of this study provide a sound rational for maintaining and expanding the practice of student self-assessment and important lessons for the process of doing so.
english Background: Peer assisted learning is known as an effective educational strategy in medical teaching. We established a peer assisted teaching program by student tutors with a focus on ...clinical competencies for students during their practical training on paediatric wards. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the effects of a clinical skills training by tutors, residents and consultants on students evaluations of the teaching quality and the effects of a peer teaching program on self assessed clinical competencies by the students.Methods: Medical student peers in their 6 year were trained by an intensive instruction program for teaching clinical skills by paediatric consultants, doctors and psychologists. 109 students in their 5 year (study group) participated in a peer assisted teaching program for training clinical skills in paediatrics. The skills training by student peer teachers were supervised by paediatric doctors. 45 students (control group) participated in a conventional paediatric skills training by paediatric doctors and consultants. Students from both groups, which were consecutively investigated, completed a questionnaire with an evaluation of the satisfaction with their practical training and a self assessment of their practical competencies. Results: The paediatric skills training with student peer teachers received significantly better ratings than the conventional skills training by paediatric doctors concerning both the quality of the practical training and the support by the teaching medical staff. Self assessed learning success in practical skills was higher rated in the peer teaching program than in the conventional training. Conclusions: The peer assisted teaching program of paediatric skills training was rated higher by the students regarding their satisfaction with the teaching quality and their self assessment of the acquired skills. Clinical skills training by student peer teachers have to be supervised by paediatric doctors. Paediatric doctors seem to be more motivated for their own teaching tasks if they are assisted by student peer teachers. More research is needed to investigate the influence of peer teaching on the motivation of paediatric doctors to teach medical students und the academic performance of the student peers.german Hintergrund: Peer Teaching wird in der medizinischen Lehre erfolgreich als Unterrichtsinstrument eingesetzt. In der Klinik für Kinderheilkunde und Jugendmedizin und der Klinik für Kinderkardiologie der Universität zu Köln wurde in der ersten Hälfte des Sommersemesters 2008 ein Pilotprojekt durchgeführt, bei dem studentische Tutoren geschult wurden, um im Blockpraktikum (BP) Kinderheilkunde praktische Unterrichtsinhalte zu vermitteln. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie im WS 08/09 war es zu prüfen, ob das neue tutoren-gestützte Konzept im Vergleich zu einem konventionellen BP zu einer höheren Zufriedenheit bei den Studierenden und zu einer besseren Selbsteinschätzung der von ihnen erlernten praktischen Fertigkeiten führt.Methodik: In einem einwöchigen Training wurden Studierende, die das BP Kinderheilkunde erfolgreich absolviert hatten, durch Assistenz- und Oberärzte der Kinderklinik zu Tutoren ausgebildet. Inhalt des Trainings waren pädiatrische Untersuchungstechniken, Kurzseminare über Didaktik und der Umgang mit Kindern, Eltern, Ärzten und Pflegepersonal. Untersucht wurden 109 Studierende im WS 2008/9, die das neu konzipierte BP mit studentischen Tutoren absolvierten. Als Kontrollgruppe dienten 45 Studierende, des Sommersemesters 2008, die ein ärztlich geleitetes BP auf den Stationen der Kinderklinik absolviert hatten. Anschließend wurden mittels eines Evaluations- Fragebogens die Zufriedenheit der Studierenden mit der Lehrveranstaltung bewertet und die Selbsteinschätzung der von ihnen erlernten praktischen Fertigkeiten dokumentiert. Ergebnisse: Der Praxisbezug des BP, die gewonnene Sicherheit im Umgang mit Kindern, und die Betreuung durch die Assistenz- und Oberärzte der Klinik wurden in dem BP mit studentischen Tutoren signifikant besser beurteilt als in dem rein ärztlich geleiteten BP. Als sehr gut wurde der Einsatz der studentischen Tutoren bewertet. Die Selbsteinschätzung der erlernten Untersuchungstechniken war im BP mit Tutoren signifikant besser als im konventionellen Kurs. Für die erfolgreiche Durchführung eines studentischen Tutoriates sind eine gute Schulung der Tutoren und eine kontinuierliche Supervision durch die Ärzte der Klinik notwendig. Schlussfolgerung: Die Vermittlung praktischer Lerninhalte durch studentische Tutoren verbesserte die Evaluation und die Selbsteinschätzung der Studierenden. Dieses Konzept kann als Modell eines erfolgreichen klinischen BP auch für andere klinische Disziplinen empfohlen werden.
Pattern generalisation has become an important feature of mathematics classrooms around the globe. Sometimes these activities focus purely on given numerical terms, but the use of pictorial or ...figural patterns is now becoming part of the standard repertoire for such generalisation exercises. From a pedagogic point of view, the investigation of pictorial patterns potentially allows for a meaningful way of arriving at and exploring algebraically equivalent expressions of generality.
Today employees in IT related areas are expected to know the newest technologies and to be able to apply it independently in their projects. This requires a deeper understanding and additional ...competences that are not taught in lectures or addressed by Project Based Learning (PBL) approaches. In this paper, an approach to teach software engineering concepts using the Scrum framework in real life projects is presented. It extends the PBL concept with respect to competences. Feedback from students, customers as well as our own experience confirm the benefits of the presented approach.
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