Portfolio Assessment 1

Animator: Dr. J. Cubillos
Reporters: Nezha Belkachla and Abdelouahab Senhaji

The workshop started with three big questions that were discussed in small groups: What is an assessment? Why do we assess? And what are the benefits of assessment? A rich discussion followed and different ideas emerged. An assessment is defined as an imperfect tool, an indicator of learning and teaching, a measurement…used to diagnose, to adjust one’s teaching, to get feedback, to judge…, which leads to different benefits.

Then, the animator elaborated on a test plan, which is timing, content, objectives, technique and the criteria.

Most of the workshop discussion then focused on the traditional and current views of assessment.

The traditional views consider an assessment as equal to testing. It is teacher-centered, has no relation with teaching methods, focuses on sub-skill assessment, and its goal is judgment, evaluation, grades, ranking, placement, graduation…

The current views of assessment consider assessment as an on-going process that is student-centered and whose goal is to develop, not to judge. It is also directly connected to teaching methods. And in contrast with the traditional views, the emphasis is on performance.

The animator then, with all the participants, elaborated on some basic testing terminology and a home assignment was given. The activity proved to be very enriching for the whole class.

By the end, the animator conducted a survey about “ How learner-centered is your classroom assessment?”