Assessing Computing: the need for a manual override option

January 26, 2015

When I was crazy about film-making as a teenager (see I was a teenage geek) I never liked using fully automated cameras. Yes, they were convenient, and they saved you the bother of having to think too much, and the results were passable. But they left no room for exercising one’s professional judgement. Using a camera with a manual override button enabled you to find out what the camera “thought” the aperture and other settings should be, and then use them as a basis for your own decision.

Why can’t assessment be like feedback in eBay?

November 26, 2014

Can eBay teach us anything about assessment? At the Naace 2009 conference, John Davitt made an interesting point. As I recall, he said that when he started selling stuff on eBay he received more feedback on his performance than he’d ever seen in a school.

Schools’ approach to assessment without Levels

November 7, 2014

When Michael Gove told everyone that Levels were not fit for purpose, so we don’t have to use them, we were given a great opportunity to rethink how we assess students and how to report our judgements. Unfortunately, I have had the distinct impression that many of us were finding it hard to do so. It seems that I was not imagining it.

5 key questions to ask when evaluating students' work in Computing

October 21, 2014

When it comes to judging students’ work in Computing and related subjects, there are five things that are crucial to take into account.

Assessing Computing: Grids and Badges

October 20, 2014

Since Michael Gove, England’s then Education Secretary, announced that Levels were not fit for purpose – the purpose being to assess and describe students’ proficiency in National Curriculum subjects – there has been a proliferation of attempts to assess Computing without using Levels. Many of these have taken the approach, quite naturally, of devising a progression grid of some sort. All the ones I’ve seen break the grid down into the Computing Programme of Study’s component parts

Assessing without Levels

October 6, 2014

Since the Government in England announced that Levels aren't fit for purpose, and so shouldn't be used, lots of people have come forward with their own ideas. With the old system of Levels, the description of each Level was given. You didn't have to think about what Level to give a student who could do certain things: all you had to do was look at the Level descriptors, find the one that was the best fit, and that was it: job done.

Assessing project-based learning in Computing

September 29, 2014

How do you assess project-based learning? John Partridge explains how he has approached this issue.

Digital Education latest edition!

July 16, 2014

For the final edition of this free newsletter, we have a great line-up of experts and articles:

Awarding Levels in Computing for the purpose of number-crunching

July 7, 2014

It’s all very well coming up with weird and wonderful ways of acknowledging students’ achievement, but at some point somebody, unfortunately, is going to ask you for a number. The number is important to them because they can enter it into spreadsheet and show, hopefully, that the numbers go up over time.

A is for Assessing Computing: 16 criteria and 5 considerations

July 4, 2014

A student writes a program. What are you going to assess it on? There are at least 16 criteria you could take into account. Not all of these will be apposite – it depends on what you’re teaching and who you’re teaching. Also, I’ve framed the list below in teacher language; it’s up to you to adapt it into language that is more appropriate for your students.

The 6 Fundamental Computing Assessment Scheme Questions

July 3, 2014

Whether you decide to create your own assessment scheme from a blank sheet of paper, so to speak, use a ready-made scheme created by someone else, or do a bit of both, there are 6 questions you need to ask:

Digital Education Coding Resources Special

July 2, 2014

The new edition of Digital Education, the free newsletter for those with a professional interest in educational ICT and Computing, has a special focus on resources you can use to teach coding. Here’s what it contains:

9 Approaches to assessing Computing and ICT–#9: Cognitive Development

June 15, 2014

The DfE recently announced the winners of its Assessment Innovation Fund. I’ve been reporting on the winners and the descriptions of their approach. These descriptions are more like thumbnail sketches at the moment. I have used them to suggest ways in which they might be adapted for use in assessing ICT and Computing. I hope you find these suggestions useful, or at least a good starting point for your own further work.