Assessment for Large
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| Challenges involved in teaching large classes are commonly faced by teachers, particularly in the era of widening provision of higher education opportunities and the diversified student backgrounds. Mass lecturing is the teaching and learning activity traditionally used and is found not suitable for this new era. Therefore, adjustments in teaching approach together with more institutional support in terms of resources and manpower are necessary. Effective and efficient use of assessment is predictably required.
For some cases, individual teachers are unaided in dealing with the assessment issues such as:
- Heavy workload to manage valid assessment and do quality and consistent marking
- Time consuming to give sufficient and prompt feedback
- Over-reliance on or misuse of technology
- Poor coordination of tutors and the main teacher
Even though the principle of good teaching is the same between large and small class size, a different approach should be adopted to achieve active learning. Some ideas can be helpful and considered:
- multiple use of assessment including innovative use of classroom space for group discussions
- design of web-based learning together with mixed media of video, music or slides for active learning
- problem-based/ case-based study format promoting peer assisted learning
- mechanism (e.g. duty roster among tutors) for sufficient tutoring and feedback
- proper use of online assessment to avoid excessive marking loads. If possible in some cases, it can also offer quick analysis of the performance of a single student, a class, or a number of classes to ease teachers’ administrative workload.
What concern you most among the above possible use of assessment? Do you have any experience of successful use of particular assessment that may help to deal with problematic issues of large teaching classes? Or any unsuccessful attempts?
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