Methods of assessment in PBL

The main purpose of an assessment process is to enhance student learning. Therefore, assessment is an integral part of PBL as well as in other methods of teaching and learning as it provides ongoing feedback to the students. Boston (2002) defines formative assessment as a diagnostic assessment which provides feedback to teachers and students over the course of instruction. In contrast, summative assessment, which generally takes place after a period of instruction, requires making judgements and giving scores about the learning that has occurred (Boston, 2002).

The literature on PBL indicates the importance of using suitable assessment procedures as traditional paper pencil tests are not suitable for assessing PBL.

In PBL students have to be aware of what they already know, can do and where the gaps are in their knowledge and competence. Assessment, therefore, needs to be developed that encourages open and honest reflecting about how well students are learning and not just how much they have learned. In addition, in developing assessment criteria it is important to place an emphasis on providing constructive feedback. Therefore, new methods of formative assessment are needed to be able to assess the student progress in PBL in order to give them relevant and meaningful feedback.

In assessing students in a PBL course, a range of assessment tasks may be used. Macdonald and Savin-Baden (2000) describe details about assessment in PBL and point out:

 Assessment should ideally be based in a practice context in which students will find themselves in the future.

 Assessment should reflect the learner’s development from a novice to expert practitioner and so should be developmental throughout the programme of studies.

 Students should be able to engage in self-assessment and reflection as the basis for future continuing professional development and self directed learning.

 Lecturers need to ensure that there is alignment between the objectives of the course and the students’ anticipated learning outcomes, learning and teaching methods adapted and the assessment of learning strategies, methods and criteria.

MacDonald and Savin-Baden (2000) list some of the forms of assessment that have been used successfully in PBL.

 Self assessment  Peer assessment  Reflective journals  Reports

 Group presentations  Individual presentations

Further, they state that through peer, self and collaborative assessment students can make judgments about how well they are learning and not just how much they have learned. Self assessments allow students to think more carefully about what they do and do not know and what they still need to know to accomplish certain tasks. In other words, students’ judge their own work through self assessment. Boud (1995) has defined self assessment as the involvement of students in identifying standards and/or criteria to apply their own work and making judgements about the extent to which they have met these criteria and standards.

Peer assessment involves students making judgements about other students’ work. This provides learning and supportive environments for each other. Within the one year teacher education programme at York University, Canada, the practice of peer pairing has been introduced as an effective practice for encouraging pre-service teacher education (Wijayawardana, 2000). In peer pairing the partners work together and provide helpful feedback to each other. However, it is important that all students should emphasise respecting each other and providing constructive feedback. Through reflective journals students can write their experiences, questions and understanding about how they are engaging with the PBL process. Knight (2002, cited in Yuzhi, 2003) describes a number of assessment methods that can be used in PBL. However, it is important to ensure that the assessment is aligned to the learning outcomes and the principles of PBL.

Yuzhi (2003) describes assessment criteria for the PBL approach used in Hunan University in China as follows:

 effectiveness of the work;

 responsibility and independence;  information processing skills;  problem solving skills; and

 interpersonal communication skills.

However, developing assessment methods and criteria for assessing students in PBL is not an easy task. Woods (2000), who used PBL in chemical engineering course at McMaster University, defines assessment as a judgement based on the degree to which the goals have been achieved based on measurable criteria and on pertinent evidence. It is important, therefore, to adopt a more strategic approach to develop formative assessment procedures in PBL to enhance student learning to fulfil the goals of successful PBL application.

This examination of the literature serves to provide justification of the study in that it highlights a crucial role the teacher education has to play a in the successful development of education innovation and PBL approach, which could make a difference in the classroom as it provides constructive and transformative learning experiences. PBL is different from traditional direct instruction and begins with an authentic problem without any prior preparation by the students. Further, this approach develops skills required for lifelong independent learning.

There is evidence from teacher education in New Zealand that PBL helps students to take an active role in their educational experiences as they are actively involved in the learning process and they learn in the context in which the knowledge is to be used. In addition, PBL approach helps them to plan their integrated lessons in the classroom. Further, this literature review provides evidence that PBL has the strength to develop the skill of transforming knowledge into a new setting of learning environment, a skill that the students can carry with them throughout their teaching careers.

According to Savin-Baden (2000) PBL can be implemented in diverse contexts describe:

“Problem Based Learning is thus an approach to learning that is characterised by flexibility and diversity in the sense that it can be implemented in a variety of ways in and across different subjects and disciplines in diverse contexts. As such it can thereafter look very different to different people at different moments in time depending

on the staff and students involved in the programmes utilising it. However, what will be similar will be the focus of learning around problem scenarios rather than discrete subjects.” (p. 3)

Pre-service student teachers in Sri Lanka have to be successful in their teaching in different classroom settings and in different geographical regions after their training. Therefore, it is important to develop the skill of transforming knowledge into new domains as pre -service student teachers have to play a crucial role in teaching ERA curriculum in different geographical environments and this study was focused on main features of PBL that would be suitable for ERA teacher education Curriculum in Sri Lanka.