THE ROLE OF A STUDENT IN THE FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

I proceeded to ask the focus groups what the role of a student was in the formative assessment process and its implications for learning. One key issue emerged from all the focus groups. Students considered themselves to be the ones to implement and then benefit from the assessment system. In this regard one participant in FG1 said:

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“My role as a student is to participate by writing the quizzes, tests and assignments that will have been given. This helps me to do better in my school work.”

Apart from writing the given assessments, the element of having the opportunity to study and understand the concepts was pointed out by FG3. It was felt that this contributed to the overall performance of each student. Another participant in FG4 succinctly put it this way:

“My role in the formative assessment process is to meet requirements. One must be faithful and do justice on your assessment. It removes bottlenecks in assessment performance because you do not have to wait for the final examination.”

Another benefit of formative assessment to students was the actions and activities expected of them. It turned out that the students were contented to do anything in class as long as it gave them marks. This is one of the conspicuous features that may be observed in the way the formative assessment process at Solusi University was being portrayed. There was a general acceptance by the students of being recipients and performers of the assessments.

The impression that students had of their role in formative assessment was also clearly expressed by the lecturers themselves. I asked them to explain what the role of a student was in the formative assessment process. The following were the key responses by each lecturer:

LEC1: “The students must demonstrate maximum potential in all the quizzes and exercises.”

LEC2: “It rests with the students to take responsibility to learn and do well.”

LEC3: “They are stakeholders and participants. They must understand questions and respond accordingly.”

LEC4: “The students must complete given work within given time for a good result.”

Hence both groups of participants shared similar sentiments on this aspect. The responses from the lecturers also show that students were expected to do the quizzes, assignments and tests for scores. This leaves out the fundamental features of self-regulated learning which go beyond theoretical knowledge (see Chapter Three, Sections 3.3 and 3.4).

The overall picture therefore suggests that the role of formative assessment in learning was to apprise the students of their performance (getting a good mark or grade). This is reflective of

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a scenario in which formative assessment emphasises content competency to the exclusion of metacognitive self-regulatory strategies, (Hudesman et. al., 2013: 3). Such is the case especially in quizzes when students can merely reproduce the subject content in order to get good marks. Rather students should also be tested for their ability to implement new knowledge and adapt the acquired skills to varying conditions. Self-regulated learning strategies account for efficient deep learning which equips the learner for real world settings (see Chapter Two, Section 2.6 and Chapter Three, Section 3.6).

I went on to ask the focus groups whether they knew of any document that informed them about assessment practices in the university. I gave them the option of mentioning the nearest one if there was no such document. One common issue that emerged from all the groups was that there was uncertainty as to which document was being used to guide assessment practice in the university.

Nevertheless, two documents were mentioned as being the nearest to guide the assessment process. In connection with this the participants in FG1 and FG3 considered the Course Outline to be the document that informed them about assessment practice. On the other hand, participants in FG2 and FG4 unanimously agreed that the Academic Bulletin was the document that was being used to guide assessment practice. The Course Outline and the Bulletin are the very important documents that are in the hands of students and their lecturers. The students were aware of the areas in these documents which speak directly to formative assessment.

I also asked the lecturers to indicate whether they knew of any document that informed them about assessment practice in the university. They all responded alike that there was no document to guide assessment practice in the university. The Bulletin though was mentioned in relation to the percentage allocated to formative assessment vis-a-vis the final examination. The major portion of the Bulletin is about course descriptions for the various programmes of study. In this regard LEC1 had the following to say:

“No, except for the Bulletin wherein are the percentages for continuous assessment. It’s ok that way I think.”

These responses by the lecturers and the students were an indication that there really was no document to guide formative assessment practice at Solusi University. What seemed to be

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embedded in the minds of the respondents though was tied to marks and grades. This could be seen from the references to percentages for mark allocation in the Bulletin to be used to guide assessment practice.