assessment

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Andrew Halliwell

In design and technology, assessment is as crucial as iterative design and critical product analysis. By using self- assessment and peer-assessment, design and technology teachers can make informed decisions about what skills and concepts to teach, and determine whether students are developing, consolidating, or have a secure grasp of their understanding and abilities. This guide focuses on the significance of two key assessment methods in design and technology: self-assessment and peer-assessment.

Alison Hardy

Assessment is a crucial aspect of teaching and learning in Design and Technology (D&T) education in England. It serves as a follower, checker, validator, informer, and future director of where learning can be taken next.

Assessment in D&T is not only about measuring pupils' knowledge and skills but also about developing their design and technology capability. There are two things to assess in design and technology:

1. Whether pupils have learned knowledge, skills, and processes.

Constructive feedback/formative assessment  from a teacher provides the stepping stones for learners, giving them confidence they are progressing. The principles for this,  we suggest, apply across cultures, settings, ages and phases.

Formative feedback is one of the basic tools in a teacher’s toolkit - a positive word from a teacher, praising work done and constructively showing how a child can improve their work, may be remembered for a lifetime. Negative unconstructive feedback can damage self belief and motivation in some learners.

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Classroom-based formative assessment is a popular topic in educational discourse with a wide literature base. There is still work to be done, however, on subject-specific formative assessment practices and the contexts of which they occur to impact positively on the teaching and learning cycle. As such, we very much welcome examples of classroom-based formative assessment. These could be, for example: video or audio recordings; PowerPoint slides; student work; and so on.

Feedback is key for reducing the gap between where the learner currently is to the desired outcome. It is, therefore, a central part of the formative assessment process. The important point, however, is that it is not only the giving of feedback which improves learning, but that the feedback received is acted upon by the learner and/or the teacher.

A frequent key question for teachers is: “Are we ready to move on yet?” In many classrooms, it might be the case that a teacher asks the class a question; several students put up their hands; the teacher picks one of these students; the student gets the answer correct; and the teacher feels confident that the class is ready to move on. The big problem here is that we are not sure as to whether the other, say, 30 or so students have understood the concept, too. In other words, we have not gathered quality evidence that we are indeed ready to move on.