3.4.8 Practical Implementation of Self-Assessment Journals

It is absolutely necessary to take some time away from the instruction of major course topics to teach students the self-assessment concepts, such as a basic knowledge of learning skills, learner performance, learning styles, the methodology of learning and the self-assessment process. But first, students must believe that self-assessment is an essential part of the project and subject of the course they are studying. To make self-assessment even more relevant to the information technology (IT) project assignment, students are also introduced to the specific methodologies of information processing, learning new tools and problem-solving (3.3.4 Problem-Based Learning).

Fully orienting the project self-assessment process toward the subject of information technology has positively impacted the minds of the students more than any other change in the five-year development of the problem-based project/self-assessment model. Once students realize that self-assessment is an integral part of real-world project development, most complaints subside. The mindset of today’s students is that everything must be relevant to the course subject; otherwise, they think self-assessment is busywork.

Students immediately become aware of the expected course learning outcomes and objectives from the course syllabus, which is included in the course manual along with the project descriptions. The success of these course objectives/learning outcomes is affected a great deal by how well project development outcomes relate to course objectives, and vise versa. If the objectives coincide, students will have fewer negative concerns about the self-assessment aspects of project development. To illustrate, refer to Table 1, noting that each IT project supports several learning outcomes.

Table 1   IT Learning Outcomes & Projects

Students of all ages need to improve their learning performance. Yet students with good grades often “feel they already know how to learn,” so implying that students should use self-assessment just to improve learning skills instantly turns many learners against the process. After trying several approaches, I found it imperative to teach the SII Method of self-assessment (4.1.9 SII Method for Assessment Reporting) as an essential condition of computer project development in the workplace. For example, students are more likely to accept self-assessment as a necessary tool if I explain SII as “Strengths” in terms of skills suited for a particular project, “areas of Improvement” in the context of skills use for accomplishing certain steps of the project, and “Insights” from the perspective of learning something valuable about the topic by employing definite skills. At that point, students seem to gravitate by themselves to improving learning and assessment skills as they work on their projects.

The self-assessment process also needs to be conceptually associated with the course subject to obtain greater student acceptance of the process. By customizing the self-assessment journals to a specific discipline (computers and information technology in my case), students more readily accept self-assessment. Substituting words like “self-analysis,” “critical thinking” and “problem-solving” for self-assessment also shifts student attitude toward the positive side.

Students learn about these assessment concepts from class discussions and special reading assignments in the Information Technology Self-Assessment Learning Journal (2004). For ease of understanding, this book contains a flowchart that outlines the content and links the learning skills, approaches and methodologies necessary for self-growth in IT (Figure 1 in 3.4.5 Effective Design of Problem-Based Projects).

The flowchart (Figure 1) visually illustrates the “project self-assessment process” to students. This flowchart is extremely helpful for explaining the project process to students, particularly when clarifying specific questions about the journals and project research. After several early semester class discussions about the project requirements, students may also refer to the course website to review slides detailing key points of the project self-assessment process.

Five broad IT-related project descriptions (which outline the project requirements, assessment of project and skills progress, development of action plans, critical thinking ideas, and evaluation criteria) are published in each semester’s course manual and explained during lectures. With a selected project and these initial learning skills in mind, students then benchmark themselves by completing a “start-up self-assessment” journal. In addition, students can refer to the “Project Report Evaluation Criteria Rubric” in the course manual so they understand exactly what is expected for each grading category of the project. For a more detailed example showing application to a specific project in information technology, see 3.4.5 Effective Design of Problem-Based Projects.

General Adaptation: The extra time spent, both in and out of class, adapting self-assessment techniques and tools to fit the subject and objectives of the course in the curriculum will pay large dividends in motivating students to accept the work of journalizing. Because many students will at first say, “I know how to learn” and think self-assessment is a waste of time, relating self-assessment to course terminology, concepts, and practical application of real-world, supervised project situations is the best motivator for today’s students.

Relating the Self-Assessment Process to Project Development Outcomes

A significant part of the self-assessment process is the weekly review by lab instructors of the completed self-assessment journals. Obviously this self-assessment process takes increased time to implement, especially with large classes. However, the procedure for handling self-assessment feedback can be effectively implemented by the lab instructors. Through group training and counseling in self-assessment practices, graduate student lab instructors become quite good at providing feedback and counseling students about project and skills development. Each week the lab instructors review project and skills activity and provide appropriate feedback concerning strengths, areas of improvement, and insights. After signing and dating the journals before the next lab, the weekly journals are returned to the students for their next analysis and eventual preparing of the project report.

Regular feedback on assessment encourages students to improve their journalizing and assessment from week to week, even though a student’s primary concern may be the project grade (4.1.10 Assessing Assessments). The written feedback process stimulates many students to do a better job of analyzing their past week’s project progress, skills improvement, action plan follow-through, and utilization of their insights for creating new actions plans.

General Adaptation: Explaining self-assessment as a means for students to improve their own project before it is actually evaluated (graded) serves as a motivation or reward to many students. That is another reason for not putting a point grade on the journals until the final project portfolio is graded. In traditional class settings of 25-30 students the practice of using self-assessment in connection with problem-oriented project development can be extremely rewarding to instructors, too. Providing feedback on self-assessment journals becomes a very satisfying mentoring opportunity, especially upon reading the project reports of students who feel they gained the added benefits from practicing a personal development methodology and developing lifelong learning strategies for their future endeavors, regardless of career choice.

Student Perceptions of the Self-Assessment Journal Process

The perceptions students have about self-assessment have changed greatly over the past five years in this computer course. Initially, the introduction of general self-assessment journals in writing a self-growth paper on learning computer-related skills produced student comments like, “What does self-assessment have to do with computers?” and “I already know how to study.” With the offering of five broad, computer-related project options about two years ago the tide of student opinions eventually changed.

Now, after trying several project models and using different lecture approaches for introducing self-assessment almost every semester, students are saying something like, “Self-assessment is a very good tool for my future because I am the only one that knows what’s going on in my head, and ....If I don’t do that, who will?” This male student, who chose to do the computer applications project, continues, “Self-assessment is the only way to rate your progress and determine what can be done to improve your skills.”

A female student, who also learned different computer programs, reports, “The self-assessment process ….greatly influenced the learning process of these two applications. I had never experienced the formal self-assessment process prior to this project, and I am now visualizing my use of this process for future activities.”

Another a male student, who did a futuristic research project, confesses, “Prior to this assignment I had always disregarded my ability to procrastinate and put things off until the last minute. But the [journal] reports forced me to look firsthand at myself and realize why I put things off. Coming to this class I never expected to have an epiphany about myself. I’ve realized how self-destructive my behavior is toward completing my goals.”

“Self-assessment is an important issue….in everyday life. If there is no reflection, or time to assess the situation at hand, past or present, there can be no learning, no evolving of the person, or the spirit,” according to an insightful female student, who also reported on futuristic information technologies. “This is a skill [personal reflection] that I will take with me to graduate school and beyond.”

“My ability to self-assess has improved,” says a professional, nontraditional female scholar from Europe, who chose to do a skills growth project. “I am now able to step back a little more from feeling that any such [assessment] is a judgment, and I can see it more as a learning tool. I feel very positive about the things learned, both personally and in the domain of computer skills for professional use.”

A female student, who completed a skills growth project too, articulates, “I did not understand the subject of the journals, so I completed my first two journals incorrectly.” After studying the process again, she states, “I began working with an open mind. A consistent habit of assessing my [project] progress and studying my skills has helped me become regularly aware of how I am managing my studies and my work habits. Writing the journals gave me time and space to focus on my progress and appraise my activities.”

Concluding Thoughts

The self-assessment journal process could be incorporated into courses in several ways other than problem-based self-assessment projects; for example, in case study analysis, research paper reviews, engineering designs, service learning events, or any other assignment activity requiring quality performance. And, students who learn to perform well as self-assessors seem to move through the learner levels to becoming self-growers at an accelerated pace. The main factor to remember in implementing a self-assessment journalizing process into course projects is that it is a difficult, time-consuming process. So start slowly, using only a few elements, and progress through the process with regular self-assessment of the course.

References