Curriculum, Pedagogy and E-Assessment

 

Curriculum, Pedagogy and E-Assessment

Curriculum is  a set of plans to meet educational goals. It is a framework that defines a certain subject: what to teach, how to teach and why to teach. It is also a structural series of intended learning outcomes.The aims of the curriculum are to help the student do original and creative work and to bring about a holistic development of a students' personality. Pedagogy is the method of teaching. There is not only one teaching pedagogy. We follow different ways of teaching practices like inquiry based learning,project based learning,collaborative learning,art pedagogy,steam pedagogy,culturally responsive pedagogy etc. We need to integrate ICT into these all practices whichever we follow. Technology helps to promote deep learning and encourage development of critical thinking skills. E-assessment is the way of accessing the learners through digital platforms. We can transform the way of present traditional learning and assessment through e-assessments. I am a student of PGD STEAM 2022,Kathmandu University.E-Assessment is one of the courses that I studied in the second semester. I learned 5 modules in the course e-assessment and now I am going to reflect my understanding about those 5 modules of the course.

Module 1 Assessment in digital age

This module focuses on different digital platforms with its strengths and weaknesses.We started our module with e-learning ecologies which is the integration of all e-learning strategies. It is the combination of blended learning or totally virtual mode also. We discussed the need for a learning management system as the assignment part and assessment part. There should be the active participation of collaborators and one who interacts to create dynamic learning experiences. Learners and educators should understand the importance of technology. There was discussion of different pedagogical approaches like design thinking,experiential learning,critical thinking,collaborative,project based etc. with academic policies, cultural and social norms. E-learning strategies help to create a supportive, flexible and responsive environment. It can happen anywhere at any time which is very flexible too. It helps to overcome social needs also. The best example is the development of using QR code in the market. During the pandemic time we used to ignore the touch of money for payment. And QR became familiar to overcome the challenge in that time. We also discussed didactic pedagogy and Socratic teaching approach. Learners and educators understood the need of technology in teaching learning practices. Before the use of ICT there was teacher-centered instruction where there was transmission of knowledge from teachers' minds to students as knowledge of reproduction. We need to integrate technology in our teaching-learning process to develop knowledge of reconstruction. It helps to develop the ability to apply that knowledge in a practical situation.Socratic teaching approach is the oldest and powerful teaching practices that focus on students queries rather than giving answers directly.

We discussed the importance of using technology in teaching learning practices. It helps to construct knowledge through exploration, reflection, creating own understanding through interaction. Digital technology creates different capacities for interaction giving immediate feedback and constructing different skills.It helps to develop our self understandings through self reflection on the status of our learning achievements. The main use of technology is to understand the individual interest, behavior of students and access them to foster a learning environment. We can’t imagine our content plans without the use of technology.

Assignment is the part of assessment. Assessment is the method of assessing the progress of students and ongoing process throughout a year. E-assessment is an electronic assessment designed to administer and evaluate assessments. It helps to increase efficiency, accuracy and convenience. There are some e-assessment challenges too like technical issues, assessment design, cheating, security concerns, accessibility, training etc..Although it has some challenges we must use it everyday as it has more strength than weakness. We discussed the importance of using technology in our daily life and started to explore different tools.

We explored the QR code generation process in class. QR code is a graphical representation to connect out internet resources. We also discussed some stages of ICT Integration. The first stage of ICT integration is emerging to ICT like learning basic skills, managing laptop, using projector in class. The second stage is the learning and applying stage. We can choose the suitable tools for making learners comfortable. We should understand when we should apply it. The third stage is infusing. We can use ICT in a student centered learning environment. The last step is transforming. We can create a new learning environment by the use of ICT. We also explored slidesmania tools. We can select the template and edit our presentation. Another model was about PAGER which was developed from teacher centered to student centered.

Module 2 Assessment Tools in Blended Learning

This module emphasizes various assessment tools in a blended learning environment. AAL,AFL and AOL have an important role in promoting students' learning. Blended learning is the combination of online and offline instruction where the students interact with teachers,peers and the material both in physical classroom and online mode. It helps to address individual interests that develop students' learning, develop social interaction and develop active participation of students. There are different platforms and contents for blended learning. Like synchronous(google meet/zoom/msteam) and asynchronous (google classroom).  We explored google tools like chrome extensions, google classroom,google docs,google form preparation and sharing tips as editor, viewer and commenter. We discussed the storing capacity of our drive different between our personal drive and organizational drive where we can store limited and unlimited documents. I installed a beep extension that helped to record audio clips. I learned to design a badge and certificate that I could help to motivate students to do better for getting badges and certificates in different criteria. I got to know various features of canva which are very useful to us. I learned canva and google slides to create a certificate

Google Drive, Google Sheets (Autocrat Extension) to issue certificates automatically once the form is submitted. We discussed different mapping stages onto learning and teaching practices. Digital pedagogy was also introduced to us. I realized the purpose of teaching using digital tools.We discussed assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment as learning. I understood the importance of focusing on assessment as learning as it helps to construct independent learners. Formative assessments are more emphasized than summative assessments. Assessment of learning focuses on summative works like tests and terminal exams. Assessments for learning which is a kind of ongoing process and known as formative assessment. examples: quizzes, self reflection,peer reflection, informal questions etc. It helps educators understand students' understanding and progress and also give feedback in need. Learners can evaluate themselves and develop their learning too.

 

Module 3 e-Assessment,Strategies,Design and Implement

This module focuses on the importance of developing a comprehensive e-assessment strategy, designing e-assessment activities and implementing e-assessment technologies that affect our learning environment. e-Assessment refers to any assessment created or delivered with a digital platform. Hyperdocs is a digital document like docs or google slides where we can keep our components of the learning cycle together. It helps to design a digital lesson. I can engage students to explore different e-assessments. They can develop a new perception that they can apply in a real life context. I can use different tools that I explored in this course in hyperdocs. Students can have active participation and grow their learning through the resources attached in hyperdocs.  I learned the use of edpuzzle which can be followed to keep some videos inserting some questions in between as learning content. I can plan different digital activities for learners so that they can have self reflection and peer reflection. I can also plan some forum discussion activity so that all students can share their individual understanding and also grow their learning through others sharings. I can plan e-assessment using different digital tools like edpuzzle,google classroom,hyperdocs,google form etc in which we can upload some resource materials for exploration and plan some assessments too. I can give some short online courses to my students so that they can be updated. I can attend fundamental training of google to improve my self learning. I got the knowledge about flip.com which could be used to keep some materials and let the students record some audio-video clips.

We discussed the importance of AI in our daily life. AI can perceive the world using sensors and engage in natural interactions.It has broad tools. AI helps to make our work more comfortable. I learned about bardgoogle and chatgpt which are very much helpful to us in our personal and professional life. Some people tell that AI destroys the creativity of an individual but it is very useful if we utilize it in a proper way. Technologies are never invented for destruction but it depends upon the user how we are using those technologies. We should avoid misuse of technologies and promote their use to grow our participation in learning.

 

Module 4 Learning Analytics in e-Assessment

This module focus on different learning analytic tools and techniques used in e-assessment. We can use different tools for data analysis. We discussed visualization of collected data. I learned a tool “Datagifmaker” that can be used for data analysis in digital form. Normally we knew about bar diagram and pie-chart but here we could get various forms of data representation like in linear form,spiral form etc…Students can enjoy the data presentation also as they were being monotonous by same methods before. Different google form options were revised in this module. During the preparation of questions or data collection google form can be used as it is very useful for such activities. There are options of multiple choice questions,dropdown options,checkbox,short answer,paragraph,images etc.We can make a quiz also which can auto generate the score if the participant fills the form. The students can try a quiz for several times and evaluate themselves too through the google form. We can upload worksheets, images and videos. We can edit the settings as per our need. We can limit to one response,restrict to organizational address,limit file responses etc…Google form is widely used in different sectors for entry record,data collection,survey etc.

 

Module 5 Alternative assessments

This module emphasizes an overview of different alternative assessments including e-portfolios,journals,projects,group work and other. All educational sectors are not following the same ways of assessment. They have their own concerns that’s why we should share our own practice and listen of others too for further development. There are different challenges and strength using these alternative assessments. Projects and group works help to develop our experiential learning and collaboration skills. I learned about a book creator app which is an ebook creator. There is both paid and unpaid version of bookcreator. I can invite students to my library also. I can give projects to students to create a book. I explored one article “Assessment using e-portfolios,journals,projects and group work” which was very informative. We discussed the importance of group work,projects and journals,e-portfolios. I explored google sites, blogger and wakelet and had some learnings on these tools. We can explore different resources and give materials to our students too from these tools.

All these 5 modules helped me to develop my personal and professional learning. I got a chance to explore many tools and practice in class also. I got feedback from my friends and facilitator,Sushil sir, too which helped me to overcome my weaknesses. We should promote the use of  technologies in our teaching and learning practice and it helps to develop the ability to apply that information in practical situations.E-assessment has the capacity to transform our present way of accessing learning with effective assessment tools and activities. E-assessments also help to meet contents and outcomes of curriculum. We can’t skip the digital platform in this 21^st century that’s why we must use blended learning in teaching-learning practice and enhance 21^st century skills on learners.