Vignette 8: Decisions, Decisions

In the vignette it asks what is fair and an accurate representation on achievement. I think what is fair and accurate is taking only the final product grades for use in calculating achievement grades. It is not fair to take student work and use for grades when they are in the learning stages of achieving concepts. So Mr Brit should only use the final products whether that be an essay, test, or project mark. In the text the reason it says you are not suppose to count formative assessment is because the students are in the process of grasping the concepts. If you count the formative grades it may stunt their cognitive growth. The students will not really get involved and play around with their learning as they will be worried about making mistakes. The fear of getting a bad mark may hold back their risk taking ability.

I can see the point the text is trying to make and I agree with it for the most part. The one area I am not sure about is how do you make the students want to do the other work if the know it is not for marks. We learned in class that you are not suppose to use participation in you final grades either. I do not see the problem with having a small percentage based on participation
of the final mark. It does not have to be based on if the student got the answers right or wrong but rather if they have tried. I think it is one way to help students realize they need to be participating to fully understand the concept being learned. We will see if this becomes clearer as this course progresses.

One last comment is I found it surprising in the text that they included quizzes as a formative assessment tool and not as something to use in the final grade. I have had courses where quizzes were used as a grade gathering tool. On one hand I can see why they would put this under formative assessment as a quiz can be used to see if students are learning the material necessary to go on. One the other hand I think it can be used for marks in the sense it is like a mini test. Especially if the students know it will be used for marks and are forewarned that it is coming. This way a teacher can test them on smaller portions of a unit especially if it is one that spans over a month. So I think quizzes are on of those tools that can walk the fine line between a formative and summative assessment. Depending on how it is utilized, depends on which side it falls on.