SELF-ASSESSMENT - using ICT to self assess.

Andrea Thorburn
Dunedin North Intermediate
Year 7 and 8

DNI Dance Wiki

AIM

To find a way to improve self-assessment using ICT (especially for dance)

WHY?

We ask the children to assess themselves ALL the time, using many different methods examples: rubric, continuum, levels… and for many different curriculum areas. For some students they are fantastic at being able to self-assess whereas for others it’s just a guessing game. I wanted to improve this and decided to start with the area of dance because I take a dance and drama enrichment class.

OLD METHOD

The class would observe each other when practising their dances and give critical feedback so that everyone could improve their dance for the final performance.

After the final performance the class would give feedback to the pair regarding what they did well and what they still needed to work on. Students would then fill in the self assessment sheet.

NEW METHOD

In groups of 4, students watched each other practising their dance, when one pair felt ready they would get the other pair to film them and vice versa. The students could then watch their dance on computer and analyse it themselves, then go away practise some more and perfect it. When they thought they were finally ready they would ask the other pair to video them again and that would be the final dance for assessment.

They watched the final dance on computer and used it to fill in their self assessment sheets.(Along the way the class still gave critical feedback – they are just so used to it) I then put the dances onto a wiki so that parents/caregivers can watch them. (www.room13dance.wikispaces.com) Some parents said no to their children being on the wikispace.

DID IT WORK?

Yes, the self assessment sheets had more written comments on them compared to other times. The students felt they could write more for the comments because they had seen it themselves rather than been told by class members what they had done well and what they needed to work on. 15/16 students said it was a lot easier to assess themselves by watching it on video. 14/16 students said it was fun using the video camera to film others. The feedback from parents was very positive, they found the wiki beneficial and it helped them interact with their children more about school. They would also like it used for other curriculum areas too.

WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

• Spend more time on video techniques.
• Book video for first thing in the morning so that I could make sure it was charged over night, rather than middle or end of day when other teachers had used it and not charged it!
• Begin it very early in the term so that the holidays don’t interrupt the flow.

WHAT ELSE COULD THIS TECHNIQUE BE USED FOR?

• Any practical assessment eg: P.E./Science Experiment/Drama/Music/Oral Language…
• 1 student had a wonderful suggestion that inquiry presentations could be filmed and put on a wiki for parents to see.
• Using videos not only to make movies but to enhance self-assessment and for a chance for parents to view what their child is doing at school was incredibly valuable and I will use it a lot more in the future.
• I would like to see videos as another common tool in the class, just like digital cameras have become common place.