Symposium Sessions (1.5 hours)Enhancing Learning through Assessment02:50 PM - 04:20 PM (Asia/Singapore) 2018/11/12 06:50:00 UTC - 2018/11/12 08:20:00 UTC
A teacher has to identify and explore how feedback can be given in relation to Higher Order Thinking Skills and Differentiated Instruction. In my dissertation I explored how feedback can be provided at the task, process, regulation levels to help students enhance their learning. However, my presentations and sharings with teachers showed that many were focusing only on feedback provided at the task level rather than the process and regulation levels. Moreover, teachers were not adjusting feedback to suit the abilities of students. The weaker students were not given enough scaffolds and the better students were also at the same time being given unnecessary scaffolds. What the weak and the higher ability students need is feedback that targets their need. Feedback provided at the regulation levels, especially, allow students, particularly the higher ability, to become self-directed in their learning. Students become independent and responsible learners. Instead of feeding students with comments on how they had scored for an essay or question, the focus can move on to helping the student during the writing process where information is provided or questions are asked to get the student to think about how he/she can improve. Feedback ends when a piece of work is marked and given back to the student. But that is exactly when feedforward starts. Students can be given rephrased questions and told to think about how their answer would change. This becomes a new challenge for students. Something they can look out for and help them expand their possibilities and learning.
In my session I will focus on 1. the Dilemmas of Feedback and 2. Practical ways in which Feedforward can be promoted for better ability students Over a period of 3 months my weaker students have shown tremendous improvement in their Geography content and my better ability students have noticed a positive change in their Geography essays. They evaluate better and have become very aware of the analysis of essay questions for Geography.
