This study sought to improve the language learning outcomes at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. Young men and women between the ages of 19-24 are taught a foreign language in an accelerated environment. In an effort to improve learning outcomes, computer-based practice and teaching of language performance criteria were provided to missionaries in an effort to allow them to progress at their own pace outside of the classroom. The effect of computer-based practice and the teaching of language performance criteria were assessed in a 2x2 factorial design. The dependent variable was speaking proficiency in the Spanish language. This variable was assessed in two different ways: (a) human-rated speaking proficiency and (b) computer-scored speaking proficiency. Results suggest that the teaching of language performance criteria increases speaking proficiency over those who are not taught the criteria. Missionary trainee responses also indicate that the training of criteria helped the trainees to evaluate their own performance and the performance of other language speakers. Missionary trainees also reported that this training helped them to see their own progress and to set appropriate learning goals.

Thesis (M. Ed. (Mathematics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The purpose of this study was to document my enactment of the five key strategies of assessment for learning in my mathematics classroom to account for learners' mathematical understanding. I used a constructivism teaching experiment methodology to explore learners' mathematical activities as they interacted in the classroom. Twenty-five learners from my Grade 10 mathematics class took part in the study. Data were gathered through classroom observations, written work samples from learners, and the teacher's reflective journal. My enactment of the five key strategies enabled learners to participate in classroom discussions, collaborate with their peers, and use self-assessment tools while engaging in classroom interactions. The major findings revealed that, through my enactment of the five key strategies, learners developed conceptual understanding, procedural fluency and strategic competence of the concepts taught. In addition, practices such as the development of lesson plans detailing how the five key strategies will be enacted in the classroom, use of comment – only feedback for grading learners’ work, creating a conducive learning environment to allow the use of peer and self-assessment allowed for a meaningful enactment of assessment for learning in my classroom. Strategies four and five, whose primary goal is to encourage learners' participation in the lesson, were critical in promoting learners' mathematical understanding.

In 2006 the Gauteng Department of Basic Education (GDoBE) launched a pilot project to introduce Assessment for Learning (AfL). This initiative was prompted by learners’ poor performance; especially in subjects such as Mathematics and English. The AfL project was introduced in selected primary and secondary schools. Grade 5 teachers for all subjects and Grade 10 teachers for all subjects within selected primary and secondary schools formed part of the pilot project. These teachers were oriented and introduced to AfL, after which workshops to strengthen teachers’ understanding and skills of AfL were conducted. Lead educators (District Learning Area facilitators or Subject Advisors), were required to monitor and support participating schools and teachers in implementing AfL. Based on a literature and empirical study, the researcher explored the comprehension and implementation of AfL by selected primary school Mathematics teachers that participated in the AfL pilot project of the GDoBE. The empirical study was approached by means of a qualitative research design in the form of a multiple case study. Individual interviews, observations and focus group interviews were used to collect data from purposive selected teachers from three Gauteng Districts (Johannesburg West, Johannesburg North and Ekurhuleni South). Both Township and ex-Model C primary schools were included in the study and eventually a total of 11 Mathematics teachers from these schools participated in the study. The research results revealed that the sampled teachers’ comprehension of AfL can be rated as satisfactory since they realise its potential in terms of learning and learner development. Moreover, these teachers show an awareness of the relation between formative (AfL) and summative assessment (assessment of learning (AoL)). With regard to its implementation, it is clear that a lack of support from colleagues, School Management Teams (SMTs) and District officials impede on the successful implementation of AfL. Other factors hampering the implementation of AfL include time constraints, uncertainty about appropriate resources and the simultaneous implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) and the Gauteng Primary Literacy Mathematics Strategy (GPLMS). It is further noted that the elements of AfL, which includes the sharing of learning intentions, questioning, feedback and peer and self-assessment, are all mediocrely implemented. / MEd (Learning and Teaching), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

In 2006 the Gauteng Department of Basic Education (GDoBE) launched a pilot project to introduce Assessment for Learning (AfL). This initiative was prompted by learners’ poor performance; especially in subjects such as Mathematics and English. The AfL project was introduced in selected primary and secondary schools. Grade 5 teachers for all subjects and Grade 10 teachers for all subjects within selected primary and secondary schools formed part of the pilot project. These teachers were oriented and introduced to AfL, after which workshops to strengthen teachers’ understanding and skills of AfL were conducted. Lead educators (District Learning Area facilitators or Subject Advisors), were required to monitor and support participating schools and teachers in implementing AfL. Based on a literature and empirical study, the researcher explored the comprehension and implementation of AfL by selected primary school Mathematics teachers that participated in the AfL pilot project of the GDoBE. The empirical study was approached by means of a qualitative research design in the form of a multiple case study. Individual interviews, observations and focus group interviews were used to collect data from purposive selected teachers from three Gauteng Districts (Johannesburg West, Johannesburg North and Ekurhuleni South). Both Township and ex-Model C primary schools were included in the study and eventually a total of 11 Mathematics teachers from these schools participated in the study. The research results revealed that the sampled teachers’ comprehension of AfL can be rated as satisfactory since they realise its potential in terms of learning and learner development. Moreover, these teachers show an awareness of the relation between formative (AfL) and summative assessment (assessment of learning (AoL)). With regard to its implementation, it is clear that a lack of support from colleagues, School Management Teams (SMTs) and District officials impede on the successful implementation of AfL. Other factors hampering the implementation of AfL include time constraints, uncertainty about appropriate resources and the simultaneous implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) and the Gauteng Primary Literacy Mathematics Strategy (GPLMS). It is further noted that the elements of AfL, which includes the sharing of learning intentions, questioning, feedback and peer and self-assessment, are all mediocrely implemented. / MEd (Learning and Teaching), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Mathematics has been singled out as a challenging discipline to teach fully online (FO). Yet both the demand for and development of FO mathematics courses is increasing with little known about the quality of these courses and many calling for research. Whereas most research has investigated the nature of these courses by examining instructional outputs such as student grades this research seeks the same insight but by examining instructional inputs. Specifically, it seeks to investigate the nature of current assessment practice in FO mathematics courses. To conduct this investigation, deep learning (Marton & S??lj??, 1976a, 1976b) is used as the principle theoretical framework. From the growing body of literature associated with deep learning, two studies are selected to investigate current FO mathematics instructors assessment practices. An additional framework based on empirical findings related to the use of different kinds of feedback is also used. In total, six study measures are used to conduct a mixed methods study in two parts. The target demographic and course context are tertiary instructors from Western nations that teach introductory level mathematics (particularly statistics and calculus). The first study explores current FO mathematics assessment practices using an online survey (n=70) where the majority of participants originate from US higher education institutions. In the second study six of the US survey participants are interviewed about how their assessment practices and approaches used in their FO mathematics courses differ from those used in their face-to-face (F2F) mathematics courses. This study represents the first known attempt to investigate the nature of tertiary FO mathematics instructors assessment practices using appropriate theoretical frameworks. In particular, it investigates mathematics instructors experiences of the affordances and constraints of the FO course context when adapting their F2F practice to this new environment. Findings suggest the FO course context is a challenging environment for instructors to orient their teaching and assessment practice in a way that helps develop students understanding of mathematics. Analysis of interview responses suggests the problem lies with the nature of interactivity provided in the FO course context.

Syftet med denna studie var att utveckla fördjupade kunskaper om bedömningshandlingar i matematikklassrummet utifrån ett elevperspektiv och två frågeställningar ställdes: Vad kännetecknar de bedömningshandlingar som kommuniceras under matematiklektioner? Hur uppfattar elever de bedömningshandlingar de tar emot och ger under matematiklektioner utifrån sitt lärande och sin utveckling? Studien genomfördes i form av en fallstudie i en skolklass årskurs fyra. Klassrumsobservationer och elevintervjuer användes för insamling av empiriskt material. Resultatet visar att de bedömningshandlingar som kommuniceras i matematikklassrummet till stor del är handlingar som i forskning beskrivs som gynnsamma för lärandet. Några observationer och uppfattningar skiljer sig i resultatet. Det är tydligt att arbetet med normer och regler för kamratbedömning och kamratsamverkan i klassrummet kan utvecklas mer. Frågor används frekvent i klassrummet och en stor del av frågorna handlar om läs- och begreppsförståelse, vilket kan göra att de matematiska processerna kommer i skymundan. En avsaknad av tydliga mål och kriterier syns under lektionerna. Några elever uttrycker att de uppfattar eller sätter egna mål för undervisningen, något som kan ge dessa elever fördel i undervisningen. Utifrån denna studie kan tre områden ses som gynnsamma att reflektera över för utveckling i matematikklassrummet: Normer och regler för kamratsamverkan, vilka frågor som ställs och hur mål och kriterier kommuniceras.

Syftet med denna litteraturstudie har varit att ta reda på vad forskning säger om hur elevers lärande kan synliggöras och stödjas med formativ bedömning, samt hur elevers delaktighet i lärandet kan stöttas med formativ bedömning i NO-undervisning i skolans tidigare år. Metoden för detta arbete har varit en systematisk litteraturstudie vilket innebär att sökning och analys av tidigare forskning har genomförts på ett systematiskt sätt. Litteraturen har sökts i databaserna Summon, ERIC Ebsco, avhandlingar.se, DiVa och NorDiNa. Sökresultatet mynnade ut i åtta vetenskapliga artiklar som ligger till grund för studien. För att synliggöra och stödja elevers lärande visade sig bland annat klassrumsprocesser, gruppdiskussioner, elevarbeten, lärarens ämneskompetens, tydliggörande av mål samt begreppsanvändande vara betydelsefulla faktorer i relation till formativ bedömning. Formativ bedömning väcker intresse som en metod gynnsam för lärande, och fler studier behöver göras för att öka kompetensen och säkra kvalitén med denna metod.

This dissertation deals with the didactic consequences of assessment for learning (AfL) in the subject of physical education and health (PEH) at three upper secondary schools in Sweden. The purpose of the study is to investigate how assessment for learning is realised in PEH and what triadic relations between the teacher, student and subject content are established in the formative assessment practice. The empirical material consists of group reflections within a Teacher Learning Community (TLC) as well as field studies, including lesson observations and semi structured interviews with both students and teachers. In the first step of the analysis the material is categorized by means of the five key strategies (Wiliam, 2010a), in order to identify different ways of working with AfL in upper secondary PEH. The second step is a combination of a governmentality (Foucault, 1978/1991b), a performativity (Ball, 2003) and a didactic (Hudson, 2002) analysis, which illuminates what triadic relations are established under different conditions of governance. The findings highlight five fabrications of AfL in PEH, named after their most prominent features or functions, AfL as: i) Empowerment, ii) Physical Activation, iii) Grade Generation, iv) Constructive Alignment, v) Negotiation. ”Among the products of discursive practices are the very persons who engage in them” (Davies & Harré, 2001, p. 263). Accordingly, different teacher and student subjects as well as characteristics of the subject content are constituted in each of these fabrications. Moreover, the so called ‘backwash effect’ (Torrance, 2012) implies that the contrasting versions of AfL promote different kinds of learning, such as: i) increased autonomy, ii) participation in a community of practice, iii) criteria compliance, iv) acquisition of prescribed abilities, v) group development. However, the big idea of AfL is to adapt the teaching to the students and not the students to the knowledge requirements. Hence, this dissertation could serve as a basis for discussion on possible didactic implications of AfL in PEH.

The complexities of how people learn have plagued researchers for centuries. A range of experimental and non-experimental methodologies have been used to isolate and implement positive interventions for students' cognitive, meta-cognitive, behavioral, and socio-emotional successes in learning. But the face of learning is changing in the digital age. The value of accrued knowledge, popular throughout the industrial age, is being overpowered by the value of curiosity and the ability to ask critical questions. Most students can access the largest free collection of human knowledge (and cat videos) with ease using their phones or laptops and omnipresent cellular and Wi-Fi networks. Viewing this new-age capacity for connection as an opportunity, educational stakeholders have delegated many traditional learning tasks to online environments. With this influx of online learning, student errors can be corrected with immediacy, student data is more prevalent and actionable, and teachers can intervene with efficiency and efficacy. As such, endeavors in educational data mining, learning analytics, and authentic educational research at scale have grown popular in recent years; fields afforded by the luxuries of technology and driven by the age-old goal of understanding how people learn. This dissertation explores the evolution and application of ASSISTments Research, an approach to authentic educational research at scale that leverages ASSISTments, a popular online learning platform, to better understand how people learn. Part I details the evolution and advocacy of two tools that form the research arm of ASSISTments: the ASSISTments TestBed and the Assessment of Learning Infrastructure (ALI). An NSF funded Data Infrastructure Building Blocks grant (#1724889, $494,644 2017-2020), outlines goals for the new age of ASSISTments Research as a result of lessons learned in recent years. Part II details a personal application of these research tools with a focus on the framework of Self Determination Theory. The primary facets of this theory, thought to positively affect learning and intrinsic motivation, are investigated in depth through randomized controlled trials targeting Autonomy, Belonging, and Competence. Finally, a synthesis chapter highlights important connections between Parts I & II, offering lessons learned regarding ASSISTments Research and suggesting additional guidance for its future development, while broadly defining contributions to the Learning Sciences community.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-10-27T12:27:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Edislene Sedemaca.pdf: 2111597 bytes, checksum: 5a1ea87e42dadbe329e66d441c68d333 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-27T12:27:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Edislene Sedemaca.pdf: 2111597 bytes, checksum: 5a1ea87e42dadbe329e66d441c68d333 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-21 / The main objective of this study is to investigate how teachers of Portuguese Language and Mathematics from a school in the city of Barueri state analyze and use the results presented in the Assessment of Learning in Process (AAP) to reassess their practices and to make decisions regarding the improvement of the quality of the students' education. The present research had a qualitative approach, characterized by data collected from semistructured interviews with four teachers who teach in High School, two of Portuguese Language and two of Mathematics and some observations in Classroom of Collective Pedagogical Work (ATPC) with The intention of knowing if there is room reserved at that moment for the discussion, the analysis and the interpretation of the results of the AAP. The specific objectives are to analyze if teachers are interested in making the AAP an instrument for replanning their practices, dedicating themselves to the student recovery process; To investigate how the results of AAP are interpreted by the teachers and what their reverberation in the actions practiced in the classroom. The AAP is an evaluation sent by the State Department of Education of São Paulo (SEE-SP), applied at the end of the three school years and aims to help teachers to diagnose the level of learning of students enrolled in the state school system. From the answers collected in the semi-structured interviews, seven categories of data analysis were attributed. In this way, we categorized the data collected, based on the interviewees' speeches and also on the main texts studied, that is, we separated units that served as classification criteria or facilitative codes to decode the data collected. Once this technique is adopted, we systematically try to verify the presence of structured elements in the categories by means of careful reading. After this procedure, we transcribed the answers of the interviewees and made the proper analysis. Once this work has been done, the data from the interviews will be presented and interpreted according to the following categories: 1. The role of the Pedagogical Coordinator, 2. Collaborative Work, 3. ATPC and School Planning as a training space, 4. The AAP as Formative evaluation, 5. The acting from the results, 6. The AAP as external or internal evaluation? 7. The Time to fulfill the Curriculum. For purposes of theoretical basis, we used several authors, among them: Hadji (2001), Bonamino (2002), Esteban (2003), Gatti (2003), Fiorentini (2006), Santos Guerra (2007), Luckesi (2011) e Alavarse et al. (2013) / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal investigar como os professores de Língua Portuguesa e de Matemática, de uma escola da rede estadual de ensino da cidade de Barueri, analisam e utilizam os resultados apresentados na Avaliação da Aprendizagem em Processo (AAP) para reavaliar suas práticas pedagógicas e tomar decisões quanto à melhoria da qualidade de educação dos alunos. A presente pesquisa teve uma abordagem qualitativa, caracterizada por meio de dados coletados a partir de entrevistas semiestruturadas com quatro professores que lecionam no ensino Médio, sendo dois de Língua Portuguesa e dois de Matemática e algumas observações em Aula de Trabalho Pedagógico Coletivo (ATPC) com a intenção de saber se há espaço reservado nesse momento para a discussão, a análise e a interpretação dos resultados da AAP. Os objetivos específicos consistem em analisar se há interesse dos professores em fazer da AAP um instrumento de replanejamento de suas práticas, dedicando-se ao processo de recuperação dos alunos; investigar como os resultados da AAP são interpretados pelos docentes e qual a reverberação deles nas ações praticadas em sala de aula. A AAP é uma avaliação enviada pela Secretaria de Educação do Estado de São Paulo (SEE-SP), aplicada no final dos três bimestres letivos e tem por finalidade auxiliar os professores para diagnosticar o nível de aprendizado dos alunos matriculados na rede estadual de ensino. A partir das respostas coletadas nas entrevistas semiestruturadas, foram atribuídas sete categorias de análise dos dados. Desse modo, separamos em categorias os dados levantados, baseando-nos nas falas dos entrevistados e também nos principais textos estudados, ou seja, separamos unidades que serviram como critérios de classificação ou códigos facilitadores para decodificar os dados coletados. Adotada essa técnica, procuramos, sistematicamente, por meio de uma leitura atenta, verificar na fala dos sujeitos da pesquisa a presença de elementos estruturados nas categorias. Após esse procedimento, transcrevemos as respostas dos entrevistados e fizemos a devida análise. Feito esse trabalho, os dados provenientes das entrevistas serão apresentados e interpretados de acordo com as seguintes categorias: 1. O papel do Professor Coordenador Pedagógico, 2. Trabalho Colaborativo, 3. ATPC e Planejamento Escolar como espaço de formação, 4. A AAP como avaliação Formativa, 5. O agir a partir dos resultados, 6. A AAP como avaliação externa ou interna?, 7. O Tempo para cumprimento do Currículo. Para fins de embasamento teórico, utilizamos vários autores, dentre eles: Hadji (2001), Bonamino (2002), Esteban (2003), Gatti (2003), Fiorentini (2006), Santos Guerra (2007), Luckesi (2011) e Alavarse et al. (2013)