40 Getting learner self-assessment going
Students can learn a great deal from self-assessment. It is important not to mix up
learner self-assessment and learner peer-assessment; both processes pay
dividends, but they are quite different. The following suggestions aim to give
you some ideas on how you can put learner self-assessment to optimum use in
your programmes.
1 Self-assessment does not have to ‘count’. Many teachers are afraid to
introduce learner self-assessment, in case there should be allegations that
learners are being too generous to themselves, compromising the reliability
of the assessment. (In practice, in fact, most studies show that if anything
learners tend to be over critical, not over generous, when assessing their own
work). Beginning self-assessment as a developmental process only, without
it contributing to a final mark, can be reassuring both for learners and for the
school administration.
2 Self-assessment is an excellent way of alerting learners to what is
important. Applying assessment criteria to their own work helps learners to
see how assessors’ minds work, and helps them to tune their work to match
what is being looked for by assessors.
3 Train learners in self-assessment. It is worth doing at least one or two whole
class exercises, then facilitating learner self-assessment, so that any learners
who are uncertain how best to go about measuring their own work can be
helped. Such exercises can also help to convince learners that their own self-
assessment can be just as accurate and valuable as assessment by an expert,
such as a tutor.
4 Be ready for ‘...but your job is to assess my work.’ Some learners may hold
the view that assessment is nothing to do with them. This is partly a question
of educational culture, and you will need to be sensitive about the
appropriacy of an innovation like self-assessment. However, you may be
able to win learners over, by alerting them to how much they can learn from
measuring their own work, and reassuring them that you will still be
assessing it, too, but that you will be able to help them all the more when
you see their own perceptions of how their work is progressing.
5 Self-assessment can be done in the comfort of privacy. It is useful to get
learners to self-assess some of their own work without having any inquest or
debriefing. This allows learners to note areas of weakness without anyone
else being aware of them, and to address these areas privately before
undertaking more public kinds of assessment.
6 Explore the benefits of a self-assessment tutor dialogue. For example, get
learners to self-assess exercises or tests before handing them in, and then
give them feedback on the precision of their self-assessment. This is a good76 ASSESSMENT