A.

General information about this sharing

 B.

Key OBA features

In learning construction technology in the field of BRE (Building and Real Estate), students often have to prepare photo-records of construction project progress in the form of Site Diary - Photo Album, which is a required professional competence for graduates. While the learning outcomes of this subject are known to students, I encountered the problem of making the assessment criteria explicit to the students in this Site Diary - Photo Album assignment:

"The assessment criteria are in my head and now I need to put them explicitly in words for distribution to students." How to formulate 'explicit' criteria from 'implici' criteria in teacher's mind. Could explicit criteria really help students to attain the intended learning outcomes?

 C.

Intended learning outcomes

The subject learning outcomes addressed by the Site Diary??Photo Album assignment:

1. Relate basic construction vocabulary for various building elements/components.
2. Possess a knowledge of functional requirements of various building elements
3. Relate the inter-relationship among building elements.
4. To contribute as a team member and to lead effectively
5. To communicate effectively (via the photos and corresponding annotations)

 D.

Design of teaching, assessment, and assessment criteria (if applicable)

(i) Site Diary - Photo Album as a suitable assignment to attain the subject ILOs

For the assignment "Site Diary - Photo Album", students are asked to form groups and to choose a site and take photos periodically about the activities carried out on site for a period of six weeks.

In taking photos, students have to make careful observation and to record progress of the construction project. In recording progress, relevant working parties of the project can thus be informed of the progress. In preparing the photo-records of construction project report, students' professional competence could be developed. The authentic Site Diary - Photo Album report can motivate students to develop deep learning.

(ii) Criterion-referenced assessment and student learning

In a hustle and bustle construction site, it is a daunting task for the fresh year one students to record the progress of construction. Students simply do not know what sort of photos to take that makes a good Site Diary - Photo Album. They need clear assessment criteria before they can start doing this assignment. For this, criterion-referenced assessment can help students for it provides detailed and transparent criteria and standards that will set clear learning goals for them, which, in turn, enhance their learning.

The assessment criteria were decided according to the subject intended learning outcomes:

The effectiveness of a photo-album was determined by its ability to communicate the construction progress clearly to the parties concerned. Besides, the essential criteria for a photo-album to communicate construction progress effectively are relevance of the photos, annotation and explanation of the photos, and organization and presentation of the photos. At any rate, in criterion-referenced assessment, the subject intended learning outcomes is the ultimate criteria.

(iii) Performance standards for each criterion

The provision of assessment criteria of "Site-Diary - Photo-Album" is not enough. To avoid misinterpretation of the assessment criteria, the performance standards/outcomes have to be made explicit too.

1. For performance standards for the photographs, possible misinterpretation might occur if outcomes were not clarified. Students might stress on the quantity and quality of the photos rather than on effective captures of the on-site activities or the building elements that were essentials to show the progress of the construction activities.
2. For annotation and explanation of the photos, students might focus simply on accuracy in terminology and emphasis on elaborating details of building elements rather than on accurate and meaningful annotation and explanations which illuminated the functions of the construction methods and the phases of construction progress.
3. For organization and presentation of the photos, students might focus on visual appeals rather than on effective presentation on the progress of the construction activities.

(iv) Major issues to consider in writing up the criteria and standards:

In writing up the criteria and standards for the assignment, it should be user-friendly. That means there should not be too many criteria and levels of performance in the rubrics. "restrictive" criteria and standards should be avoided.

 E.

Evidence of success

Students' feedback and their performance have proven that the learning activities and assessment tasks are effective to help students achieve the subject learning outcomes:

Students' Comments Collected via Focus Group Interviews

• "It made things clear. It's better than just asking us to do and the format and focus of each of our work would be different."
• "This is easier with something to follow. Otherwise we'll follow the others, being not sure what the teacher wants. We are just trying to have thicker assignment than the others."
• "Now with the criteria in hand, we would do better but not do more, and not doing it without thinking."
• "I like the table. And I really think that every assignment should have one, with 'pass'. 'fail' and 'excellent'.
• "It is of course better not to grade on a curve."
• "I read the criteria before starting the work to see how to obtain a pass and how to get a good grade. And then I would work following the guidelines."

   

 F.

Reflection

 G.

Acknowledgements