Performance Assessment

Benefits

• It requires learners to actively demonstrate what they know
• It simulates real world tasks
• It requires thinking skills
• It mixes different learning styles together (visual, mental, auditory: VAK model)
• It provides a more complete picture of learners’ achievement
• It can be used for diagnostic, instructional, and monitoring purposes
• It has multiple correct answers ^[1]

• Clearly formulate the learning objectives for the unit/module.
• Establish which kind of skills/ knowledge you want to assess (e.g. reasoning, memory, process).
• Decide what learners will need to demonstrate (e.g. decision making skills, problem solving skills, communication skills) and which are going to be the outcomes of the activity.
• Decide if the performance assessment suits the established goal and type of skills to be assessed.
• Define the criteria that you will use to measure/evaluate the performances, and make sure that these criteria reflect the most valued elements of learners’ performance.
• Design the task by thinking about a meaningful context for engaging learners. Take into account that it has to bridge prior knowledge and interests with essential skills and competencies.
• Generate an exemplary response
• Decide which kind of scoring is most appropriate for the task. Remember that providing feedback in terms of levels of competence is more important than providing just numerical scores.^[2]

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