Good Afternoon I have a learning disability and realize that every student learns differently, so the first day of class, I do a survey and one of the questions is, what is the best way you learn? Hands on, lecture, etc. The second part is is there a learning style that helps you learn or that I need to be aware of? I find this helpful and less invasive then going around the room asking each student. They are more honest on paper then verbally especially if they learn a different way or have a learning disability
Self assessment tends to be easier on the student. If I critithe work I have to also make sure I praise them for what they do right.
I believe it to be useful with showing your students progress or lack of progress. You praise the students whom self assessments which shown to be success and recommend actions for the one who may be lacking in areas.
Hi Travis, Yes, adding our feedback to student self assessments is very valuable. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
I have found that students will be harder on themselves during assessments than their instructors. It gives us a chance to let them know where their strong points are even if they don't see it for themselves.
Rebecca, Thanks for your post to the forum. The great thing about self assessments is that they do enable students to identify their own strengths and weaknesses.
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Self-assessments allow the students to realize where their struggles are and how they can improve upon them.
Adult learners always want to know how they are doing. Self assessments aide in this by giving the students a chance to evaluate themselves. With this tool, it helps the adult learner to set goals for themselves, and to be aware of their weaknesses. It also is a great tool for the instructor to build a rapport with his or her students.
In Culinary education self-assessment helps the student recall previous information and apply it to the results of the practical competency being assessed. This allows the student to formulate a plan for a greater level of understanding and success moving forward in the course.
We use self-assessments for students to evaluate their own skills-competency in the dental hygiene clinic. In fact it is required from our accrediting board. The only problem is they don't really assess themselves honestly. It seems to be more of a burden for them then a help and consequently they just check off Satisfactory for every process in the skill we are evaluating. How can we tailor this part of our education to create a more viable assessment?
Hi Robin, My suggestion is to expand the assessment by adding a rubric for each question. It will be more time consuming of course, but will get you, and your students, better information.
Susan Polick
I think it helps them focus their efforts more - spending more time practicing on the areas where they are experiencing more difficulty. This ability will be very useful as they progress in their career in making decisions as to when they will be ready for advancement.
I think that student self-assessment can be viewed either way: it reflects a higher level cognitive skill when students can assess their performance for a certain timeframe objectively and subjectively, to some students who lack the skill of reflecting back what was learned or who lack the skill of communicating or expressing themselves, it would be helpful to provide them with a checklist of performance objectives to help them identify where they did well or the lack of it.
Hi Teresita, Thanks for your post to the forum. I think the Check-lists for self assessments is a great idea! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
I think student self-assessments are espeically important in career college settings because the students are learning to be independent practitioners. This means that once they are in the field if they want to be a successful practitioner, they need to evaluate their own performance in oreder to best take care of their patients/clients. They may not constantly have someone watching them telling them how to improve and if they make a wrong decision, it could affect the health and or safety of their patient. Health care fields are constantly evolving these days so in order to stay employable they need to stay on top of current research and techniques, agian which is up to them to do on their own.
You can ask the student's for feedback on your teaching technique to see if there's something better or different you can do to help them
Hi Dorothy, I agree- students do appreciate our interest in their feedback.
Susan Polick
It can help the student stand outside of himself and see his progress. This can be very encouraging.
Hi Charles, Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, because this is student driven, it can be very effective. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Self assessments are a great learning tool for students in my program. I teach ultrasound so I have the students working on portfolios every time I introduce a new protocol. I offer images to the students that they will need to then replicate on their own. By comparing their work to that of a professional in the field they can assess their own skills and ask for my help when they are having trouble.
