IMPLEMENTING SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT REMOTELY DURING TIME OF COVID 19

It is important to realize that every challenge could potentially be treated as an opportunity. In days to come remote and online learning may become the norm. Children should be enthusiastically encouraged to understand their levels of learning by innovative and creative approaches by implementing School Based Assessment(SBA) online.

This post describes the different ways and means in which teachers working remotely may employ SBA to make learning meaningful and beneficial.

But first, what is School Based Assessment?

School Based Assessment (SBA) is assessment effected by the teachers along with their students to understand the levels of learning outcomes attained. In SBA teachers in conjunction with their students decide - ‘why’ to assess, ‘what’ to assess, ‘how’ to assess and ‘where and when’ to assess. The students, in being an active participant in the entire process of assessment (not just learning), can relate to it more effectively. The transparency involved in the process empowers students to understand the importance of assessment and not treat it merely as a one-time activity to get over with. This initiation and continuation of a dialogue between the student and the teacher about assessment helps to take the fear out of the assessment process.

SBA goes beyond development of the assessment items by the teachers, and is more to do with engaging fruitfully with the students in the process of assessment.

In current times, SBA is relevant in the circumstances when the learning is happening remotely. During the period of learning remotely, teachers may engage students using different modes of interactions available online. Teachers may share links of audio, video, textual resources and some activities and experiments that can be done staying at home. Though the sharing of these resources is important, it is equally important for the teacher to understand whether the students are gainfully using the resources shared, the extent of their usage and finally their effect on improving the learning levels. It is thus pertinent to gauge how far these resources have helped the students develop their skill and competencies and values and attitudes. SBA helps the teacher to do this and much more.

Now that we have an idea about SBA, let's look at ways in which teachers can continue to implement this assessment remotely and online.

1. Social media can be extensively used by teachers. Teachers may use Skype, WhatsApp or just a simple telephone call to link with their students while they are at home. By giving them challenges, interest and value can be added to students' learning adventure. Use of “Games and Sports Integrated Assessment” is a great way to help them learn joyfully and without burden. Leaving your students with a question along with some cues using any Social Media app could fuel their thought process and help them ruminate over the questions and find plausible answers on their own. Challenging students' mental faculties helps to keep their interest alive in the subject domain.
2.  Story telling can be used in a variety of ways to assess the students not only in the cognitive domain but also the affective. Two or three stories can be emailed or shared using WhatsApp and students asked to choose any one. Stories can also be used to assess the domains pertaining to mathematics and sciences. Researches have stated that if the culture of the community is to enter the culture of the school, its stories must come too and, more profoundly perhaps, its oral storytelling traditions must become an acknowledged form of meaning making, ( Zipes (1995)). Huggins (2017) discuss the purpose of storytelling from the game design environment that has the mission to inform, inspire and entertain in order to channel teens’ interest. For example, Facebook can be used creatively by teachers to proactively connect with the children. Assessment using story telling enables development of vocabulary repository, scientific attitudes, creativity and values. A few of the common stories in mathematics are: “Story of Mathematics (BBC Hindi).” “Story of base 10 numeration system.” “Why x represents the unknown.” “The Birth of Zero.” “The Man Who Knew Infinity.” “The Millennium problems.” “Why there is no Nobel prize in mathematics”.
3. Use of technology in an interesting manner for creating Assessment Tasks is what the teachers should be trained to do. Moodle, an open-source learning platform has the ability to do live video conferencing with digital whiteboards and break-out rooms. It may be used by teachers to prepare assessment tasks, tackle small groups, give students feedback, do peer and group work, and create resources for School Based Assessment. These things can also be done through Google Classroom as well. One of the best uses of technology could be ‘ASYNCHRONOUS LEARNING’. Since, teacher may connect with few students in one go, give them some work and encourage peer- learning while s/he connects with another group. Using technology for learning purposes does not necessarily mean increasing screen time. Teachers can assign students tasks that get them up and moving and away from their devices remotely.

How can teachers augment SBA as they teach online?

As part of SBA, maintaining a reflective portfolio by the students could be encouraged. After any interaction such as reading a text, watching a video, doing an simple experiment at home or any other activity, students may reflect on their learning. They may document the 'evidences of their learning' in a portfolio by summing up what they have learnt, how it is related to the previous one read, what all resources (dictionary, atlas, subject dictionary, newspaper, magazine or internet) s/he had used for learning? What more can be used in further enhancing the learning. How confident s/he feels? How will the learning be useful in life? And so on.

It is crucial that students understand and appreciate their learning journey so that they can understand the progress made and continue to feel motivated.

 In addition to measuring specific learning outcomes such as reading and arithmetic knowledge, the assessment of the transverse skills and attitudes should not be neglected. Some important assessment tasks could include assessing the following:

• Reasoning, making logical connections, critical thinking
•  Questioning by expressing curiosity, asking questions
• Analyzing and drawing inferences

 In order that the long hours of staying indoors and learning remotely do not become dull and dreary, through SBA “Art Integrated Learning” could also be encouraged. This would allow children to learn about how the process of learning is just as important, if not more important, than the product. It could help create a well-balanced, critical-thinking person. Art Integrated Learning also helps to make learning fun, multi-disciplinary, connected and creative, it gives students a way to think about the world differently, to make connections, and to contemplate their place within it. In higher grades, offering art, as a separate course may also help students to connect with their own self in a constantly changing world.

As we quickly transition towards an increased emphasis on learning online, empowering students' to do their 'learning assessments'- creatively and intuitively will help to develop individuals truly skilled at adapting to the challenges of the future.