Bakhmat L.V., Panchenko V.V.

Municipal Establishment “Kharkiv Humanitarian-Pedagogical Academy”

of Kharkiv Regional Council

Self-Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Assessing learning process is one of the most important questions in education. Teacher-, peer and self-assessment are powerful means for challenging students’ ideas about progress and attitude. Despite the fact that teachers use highly effective and hopefully engaging methods of delivering lessons, the real outcomes can differ greatly among students. That’s why the need for stimulating self-assessment of learning progress has been recently stressed by lots of education specialists worldwide.

For students, it’s easier to say what they did instead of what they learnt. As for teachers, it’s their job to assess learning results. Definitely, for them it’s easier with simple tasks such as spelling; this way, it’s easier for learners to see their weaknesses, too. When assessing more complex and creative tasks, it’s challenging for students to understand evaluation results. They need not only correct answers, but also detailed feedback for managing self-assessing process. It’s possible through teacher-student dialogues.

Benjamin Bloom divided assessment into that for learning and of achieving because the two can differ incredibly. To enhance learning results, Paul Black and Dylan William pointed out four necessary elements, including clear-cut feedback and self-assessment, comprehensive teaching and guidelines, friendly atmosphere in class and collaborative learning. It’s also essential for learners to understand goals, take active part in assessment and be advised on the ways to improve. The so-called Columbus syndrome (when you don’t know where exactly you are going and what you are expected to get there) should have no place in learning process. By asking and answering questions like Where am I? Where should I get? What should I do next? learners have a chance to realize what is already learnt and what topics should be covered and what methods are the best to use.

The basics of self-assessment date back to childhood and early school days. An experiment was carried on among the pupils of the first grade. They learnt the letter B and had to choose three criteria for “the ideal B”, which were 1) they should be tall, 2) they should rest on the line, 3) the “stomachs” should be rounded. After assessing their work, pupils noted that the main mistake was turning Bs the wrong way (d instead of b). During a heated discussion they agreed on changing the criteria for effective self-assessment. This example shows the possibility of assessing one’s learning results in the primary school and the importance of setting efficient criteria. After reflecting on their writing, they found a way to write better. Professor Rahman notes that self-assessment is especially significant for distant learners, who can be either empowered in setting pace and selecting modules or can be restricted by inefficient self-assessment criteria.

Another example is self-assessment of presentations on English where students should pay attention not only to context, but also to the language. Standards grow along with general knowledge of English. When evaluating the language spelling, sentence structure and vocabulary are essential; for writing, paragraph building and linking words use are of importance; pronunciation and fluency are noted for speaking.

Self-assessment can be divided into two types: formative and summative. Formative self-assessment is available in activities such as in-text questions, unit assignment, etc. Its main purpose is to recognize whether a learner can continue to the next unit or should improve mastery of the material recently learnt. Summative self-assessment is to take place at the final stage of learning a module or a course. It is more widespread than formative and includes detailed subject matter. It determines either success or failure of accomplishing a course or a training program. Speaking of teacher’s summative assessment, it can be a final exam - in both written and practical forms.

Detailing tasks for self-assessment, the following should be pointed out:

· in-text questions are intended for learners to pay special attention to certain problem and perfect for peer discussions; as a rule, it’s done orally

· special assessing tasks can be multiple choice, matching, true/false. Normally, they require written answers

· assignments are to project gained knowledge on learners’ own situations. They have time limitations and can be observation projects, mini projects, etc. Instructor feedback is required for learners to understand their weakness of comprehending module material and to get competencies

· end of module tests are to evaluate learner accomplishment of module material (summative assessment)

· end of unit tests also provide summative assessment and should be checked by instructors to evaluate learning outcomes.

The key principle of self-assessing learning progress is finding the best one can do. As the learning concept is considered to be the ability to change, nowadays it’s a must to educate lifelong learners, who can adapt quickly to innovations and face challenges.

The main idea of effective self-assessment is to equip learners with efficient techniques and to stimulate lifelong learning with monitoring results closely. Self-assessment is a critical tool in working towards increased reflectiveness and education effectiveness.