CATCH 21st Century Skills for changing the approach to university teaching

2019-1-TR01-KA203-074482

DIGITAL TOOLS FOR (SELF-)EVALUATION

AND (SELF-)ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING
Lecture 5
Module: USING TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL FOR LEARNING

Introduction to the topic

Choosing effective methods and corresponding tools for evaluation of the learning process and
assessment of the results is in the core of tracking the implementation of the learning plan. It
provides the both parties – the trainer and the learner with flexibility to take decisions during
the process, keeping learner on the right way to the achieving learning goals.
In this chapter you will be familiarised with a variety of methods for evaluation of learning
process and assessment of the results, when and how they could be performed and what digital
tools could support these processes.

Theoretical part

Digital tools that are aimed at measuring and assessing learners’ progress and
results

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2019-1-TR01-KA203-074482

There are many digital tools that are aimed at measuring and assessing learners’ progress and
results. For example, different types of quizzes are easily and almost entirely assessed
automatically. For example, the Learning Management Systems (LMS) have a big variety of quiz
assessment questions (Picture 5) that can be administered and graded automatically, or graded
by a teacher.

Picture 1. Part of the quiz types of questions available in the LMS Moodle
While the quizzes are used for assessment with standardised tests, the so-called Authentic
Assessment uses mostly Rubrics (scale of criteria with levels) as a method of assessment. They
can be used as a method of self-assessment as well.
A rubric describes:

1. The assessment criteria against which the learner’s achievement will be

measured
2. The described achievement levels for each criterion, marked from excellent to
poor
3. There are two types of rubrics – holistic, and analytical.
 A holistic rubric lists only the assessment criteria for the learner’s work, all
criteria with a numeric uniform scale for assessment, ranging from excellent
to poor;

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2019-1-TR01-KA203-074482

 An analytical rubric lists not only the assessment criteria, but defines for all
criteria a same number of achievement levels (from excellent to poor, and
quantified with points) with a short textual description for each level of
what is to be achieved, and what – not, in order a learner to be assessed at
that level for the given criterion.
Most commonly, the analytical rubrics are organised in tables, where each table row represents
one criterion with its levels of achievement. The criterion is placed in the left most cell of the row,
and the levels of achievement with their descriptions are placed each after other in the same row
in ascending or descending order of their scale points. An example of a rubric is given in Table 1
below.

Table 1. Example of a Rubric. Assessment of computer presentation (an excerpt)

Presentation assessment Levels of performance
Criteria Weight Excellent (3 p.) Good (2 p.) Poor (1 p.)
Wording in slides x2 Wording is concise, Wording is mostly to Wording is chaotic in
meaningful, to the the topic, but not meaning. Often lacks the
topic, and logical. concise. Some slides point. Most of the text is
Adheres to the rule 7±2 are too excessive in “copy-pasted” directly
rows on a slide text. from sources.
Colour Design x1 Consistent, no more Pleasant colours, good No consistent colour
than 4 colours used, contrast between text scheme, colours are
pleasant, not irritating, and background, but arbitrary, partial lack of
with good background not consistent, too readability due to
v/s text contrast many/less colours. similar colours of text
and background.
……………. ……… …………… …………… ……………
……………. ……… …………… …………… ……………
In some rubrics, one can add a “Weight” column, when there are criteria that are more important
than others in the rubric. Thus, the points for a criterion can be doubled, or tripled, or so, if needed.
With carefully developed rubrics one can assess and self-assess complex learning tasks, multi-
level competences, projects, collaborative work, learning portfolios, his/her learning initiatives,
and any other kind of non-routine and composite learning undertakings.
There are many software tools for creation of rubrics. Some of them are listed below.

Online free rubric makers1

 iRubric (custom): https://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm?

 RubiStar (customizable templates): http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
 Teachnology (premade and customized): https://www.teach-
nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/general/
 PBL Checklist (project based learning):
http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/checklist.shtml
 RubricMaker (customizable templates): https://rubric-maker.com/

1
https://www.pbisrewards.com/blog/free-online-rubric-maker/
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 CATCH 21st Century Skills for changing the approach to university teaching
2019-1-TR01-KA203-074482

As a rubrics creation instrument could also be used any table-composing software (e.g.
spreadsheet or word processor). But in order to assess (semi-)automatically with rubrics it is
necessary to use dedicated software. For example, in some of the well-developed Learning
Management Systems (LMS) rubric assessment methods are integrated for the learners’
assignments, so as, not only creation of rubric features are integrated, but also the consequent
assessment with the created rubric is (semi-)automated, where the assessor needs only to click
On Picture 2 below a screenshot is presented of the LMS Moodle rubric creation functionality,
where one can create a rubric for the assessment of a given learners’ assignment, and each learner
can be semi-automatically assessed with this rubric.

Picture 2. Designing Rubric with scale of criteria with levels in the LMS Moodle on the respective
level for each criterion in order to obtain calculated assessment results.

Monitoring and tracking of learning process.

Monitoring and tracking of learning process could be organised and performed with different
types of software - dedicated, or mostly related to planning and performance of projects/tasks.

Dedicated software for performance, monitoring, and tracking of learning process.

Software for Learning Portfolios (ePortfolios) are one of the dedicated types of software that
can be specifically used for monitoring and tracking of the learning process. This software allows
collection of a learner’s works (of different digital/ised types) throughout a lasting periods of
learning endeavours and performance – e.g. learning/training course periods, self-organised
studies, etc. The collected works for a given period of study time show the learner’s progress
during the course time and allows one to ascertain and track the study progress and mastering of
the subject on the base of the collected evidences of learner’s assignments. The portfolios can be
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2019-1-TR01-KA203-074482

organised in different ways, with different levels of complexity and included assessment
instruments (e.g. developed rubrics for portfolio assessment). The organisation,
content/collection requirements, and assessment criteria for a given portfolio can be developed
and requested either by teachers/trainers in a course, or can be developed, self-imposed and
followed by a learner themselves.
The Mahara ePortfolio System (https://mahara.org/) is a good example of an open-source and
free ePortfolio system that is used both by learning/training organisations and individual users.
The majority of the well-developed LMS platforms also integrate ePortfolio functionalities. There
are a number of other ePortfolio software instruments (standalone or web-based) as well, part of
them paid, and other part – with free and paid options, the free options being often with somewhat
restricted functionalities.
Another good example of performance, monitoring and tracking software for learning processes
is the free software StudySmarter (https://www.studysmarter.de/en/). It contains nice
opportunities not only for monitoring and tracking of learning by student (day by day, and hour
by hour), but also for uploading and creating of learning artefacts and materials, aimed at specific
study material.
Other types of learning-directed software that integrates planning and performance
functionalities can be used as well, although not especially developed for monitoring and tracking
of learning process, or developed for specific types of learning processes. Such an example is
already cited EC-project’s online platform DojoIBL (https://dojo-ibl.appspot.com/), developed
specifically for the needs of the Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) processes. It allows free creation of
different work phases with unlimited number of tasks in each phase. Each task can contain several
types of activities. In this way a consequent system of phases can be organised for the purposes of
performance, monitoring, and tracking of learning process.

Planning software that can be used for monitoring and tracking of the learning process.

In fact, monitoring and tracking of a learning process can be organised by using any of the
(project) planning software, since the monitoring and progress of work is an inherent part of the
functionalities of any planning software. Most of this software however have the following
drawbacks when used for monitoring and tracking of learning, namely:

 It is paid software in the majority of the cases;

 It is too complex (or more complex than needed) when used only for
monitoring and tracking of learning processes
An example of such popular paid software is Microsoft Project.
However, good planning software with both free and paid options for use, could also be find and
used. Two such examples are:

 ClickUp: https://clickup.com/
 Airtable: https://airtable.com/

Funded by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. However, European

5 Commission and Turkish National Agency cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.
 CATCH 21st Century Skills for changing the approach to university teaching
2019-1-TR01-KA203-074482

These software are web-based, both relatively easy to use, user friendly, and not with
overwhelming functionalities. In addition, their free use versions are meant for personal use and
have some restrictions in part of their project-aimed functionalities.
One can use (and is advised to use!) any of the listed above software also in complex learning
conditions, which require complex organisation of learning, e.g. for problem-solving, coping with
complexity, challenges, and changes in learning.

Conclusion
Completing this chapter, you are able to choose appropriate tools for tracking your learning
achievements. If you participate as a learner in a guided digital course, you are able to use I
efficient way the assessment tools, provided by trainers, to track own progress and to drive your
learning. You are able to interpret and react to the results and feedback of the authentic
assessment, presented by rubric. Not at last place, you are equipped with digital tools for
collecting a learning portfolio and providing evidence for recognition of the learning results.

Funded by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. However, European

6 Commission and Turkish National Agency cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.