Pascale Swanson

Tag: AaL

  • Assessment as Learning (AaL) in Instructional Design and Learning Experience Design

    Assessment as Learning (AaL) in Instructional Design and Learning Experience Design

    Pretty designer thinking at her desk in her office

    A few weeks ago I wrote a post about three types of assessment common in the Ontario school system: Assessment as Learning (AaL), Assessment for Learning (AfL), and Assessment of Learning (AoL). That post described all three and explained their importance. If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest you start there.

    After that post, I have spent a few weeks on this topic, each week breaking down one of the different types of assessment, as it pertains to instructional design and learning experience design. First, I began with AoL, and then AfL. Now I’ll move on to AaL.

    But before I delve into AaL as it is used in instructional design and learning experience design, let’s review where the term came from as it relates to teaching in the primary and secondary school system.

    Description of AaL from the school system

    Just like Assessment for Learning, AaL has a strong focus on the process of learning. AaL is not marked, but instead provides the learner with information about how they are progressing. This allows the learner to make their own personal evaluation about their knowledge and whether they are ready to move on to new content, or if they need to revisit what they have just learned. Additionally, AaL is where the metacognition piece comes in.

    AaL in instructional design and learning experience design

    Unfortunately, AaL is rarely used when it comes to instructional design. But this doesn’t need to be the case, interactive eLearning activities and reflection questions can be effective methods for AaL. Let’s look at some considerations for AaL in instructional design.

    1. Assessment must be based on the learning outcomes

    As with all other posts about assessment, I will begin with the most important piece: it is essential to create assessments that are strongly based on the learning outcomes. At the start of the course design process, you should have written some learning outcomes for the course. These outcomes, the instruction, and the assessment should be closely aligned. For more information on this topic, check out the AoL post.

    Although AaL doesn’t give a score, if the learners aren’t being steered in the correct direction for learning, they will suffer during AfL and AoL. Learners often pick up on the types of questions they are being asked and will focus their efforts in those areas. Therefore, your AaL should be based on the learning outcomes.

    2. Clear purpose and plan

    Ensure that your learners know why you are doing the AaL. Let them know that there won’t be a score for the activity, but that it will help guide them in their learning. Additionally, let them know how they will be receiving feedback and what to do if they want to review certain course material or if they want to continue on with the rest of the course.

    3. Styles of questions

    For instructor-led training, reflection is one of the classic forms of AaL. When done properly, learners not only reflect on what they know, but also how they know those things and how those things related to other things they know. These last two questions can help drive the metacognition piece of AaL.

    One consideration for reflections is the terminology. Many people cringe when they hear the word ‘reflection’ (myself included). If you can disguise the reflection as some other form of activity, learners maybe more invested in answering the questions.

    For example, I recently created a 3-day training course that contained 24 chapters. At the conclusion of each chapter was a reflection activity. However, these were called ‘reviews’. Most people are familiar with the concept of review questions at the conclusion of a chapter, so there is less push-back from the learners. However, the questions were framed in such a way that they prompted reflection and metacognition.

    Other strategies include scenarios and group teaching activities such as jigsaws.

    In an eLearning course, reflection questions are also possible, but there is a wide range of other options available. I like to use super simple scenario questions that have immediate and personalized feedback. These are then followed up with questions about how the learner arrived at the answer they chose.

    For example, I would create a question where two people are discussing an issue and the learner must choose who they agree with. They then receive feedback about whether or not they were correct (this would be AfL). To then push this into the AaL realm, follow-up questions should be included on why the learner chose their answer and/or how this scenario relates to other real-life events.

    4. Feedback

    Similar to AfL, AaL is all about feedback. I recommend checking out the AfL post for more information on providing effective feedback.

    5. Frequency

    AaL works best when done frequently. Ideally after each topic or even sub-topic. This encourages the learners to continually think about the answers they are choosing and why they have picked those answers. Furthermore, it helps pinpoint essential information that they can expect to see on the AfL and AoL.

    Conclusion

    That’s it for the final post on Assessment as Learning, Assessment for Learning, and Assessment of Learning. As I mentioned at the start of the first of these 4 posts, even though I am no longer a teacher, I really love this model of assessment. It takes formative/summative assessments one step further and incorporates reflection and metacognition.

    How would you use AaL, AfL, and AoL in your instructional design or learning experience design environment?

  • Assessment ‘As’, ‘For’, and ‘Of’ Learning

    Assessment ‘As’, ‘For’, and ‘Of’ Learning

    Student filling out answers to a test with a pencil.

    Before beginning my journey as an learning experience designer, I was a teacher for many years. Shortly before I left the profession, the big, exciting idea surrounding assessment and evaluation was the triple threat of Assessment as Learning (AaL), Assessment for Learning (AfL), and Assessment of Learning (AoL).

    Most teachers, especially those who had been working with the former formative/summative assessment model didn’t really like the AaL/AfL/AoL model. I, on the other hand, loved the model. Not only does it include the concepts of formative and summative assessment, but it also brings in the idea of metacognition. Research has shown that learners with strong metacognition skills (i.e., they very aware of their own personal methods and preferences of learning) are more successful in school.

    My love for this model is so strong that even as a learning experience designer, I continue to use it to craft my assessments. So, how does it work? Well, it’s based on three different types of assessment, each with it’s own purpose.

    Let’s start with the one that is the most common, and therefore the easiest to understand.

    Assessment of Learning (AoL)

    AoL is a formal assessment of what a learner has learned by the conclusion of the chapter, module, or course, etc. This is often in the form of a test or exam. Behavioural-based courses may also use a marked branching scenario for the AoL. At the primary or secondary school level, it could also be some sort of project or presentation.

    In the teaching world, AoL is also known as evaluation (note this is different than the term evaluation in the instructional design world). It is also known as summative assessment in the former formative/summative assessment model.

    Assessment for Learning (AfL)

    AfL is a less formal (or entirely informal) assessment of what a learner has learned from an individual topic or task. This type of assessment is either unmarked (contains only feedback), or a mark is given simply for the learner’s own knowledge – but it does not count toward a final grade score. This is often in the form of a quiz or game.

    As you might have noticed from the name, the focus of AfL is on the process of learning. Assessment is (or at least should be) strongly tied in with the learning process. The AfL step helps learners identify their strengths and weaknesses, and it ultimately helps the learners focus on what they need to know to succeed.

    AfL is also known as formative assessment in the former formative/summative assessment model. In the instructional design world, this is sometimes known as a knowledge check.

    Assessment as Learning (AaL)

    AaL is where the metacognition piece comes in. Just like the AfL, AaL has a strong focus on the process of learning. These types of assessments are not marked, but instead provide the learner with information about how they are progressing. This allows the learner to make their own personal evaluation about their knowledge and whether they are ready to move on to new content, or if they need to revisit what they have just learned.

    In this case, feedback is crucial – in particular, immediate and personalized feedback. This is because the learner is basing their personal evaluation of their knowledge on the feedback provided to them. Having to wait to finish an entire quiz before finding out if they were correct on question number one is not effective. Similarly, receiving general feedback that doesn’t address their own issues is not effective.

    In addition to immediate and personalized feedback, an important aspect of AaL is the frequency of use. AaL is most effective when it is used regularly. For example, following each topic. This helps the learner build competency and confidence when they are progressing well. Additionally, it helps learners target in quickly on their weaknesses when they are getting stuck.

    A final important aspect of AaL is the ‘how’. Without asking learners how they know what they know, you are missing the valuable metacognition piece. Ideally, AaL will engage learners in the learning process by helping them understand where their thoughts and assumptions come from. When done well, it can also help learners understand how they learn best (and no, I’m not talking about the debunked theory of learning styles, I’m referring to things such as how they favour piecing together information, what type of context building works best for them, how they effectively retrieve information from their long term memory, etc.)

    Conclusion

    In my opinion, compared to other assessment models, such as the formative/summative model, the AaL/AfL/AoL is the complete package. When used properly, both the learner and the teacher, facilitator, or content developer are well aware of how the learner is progressing. They are also aware of what steps need to be taken for each specific learner to be successful because they have already zeroed in on the exact stumbling block of the learner.

    Keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks as I delve into each of these assessment types more thoroughly, including how to incorporate them in an instructional design environment and how to adapt them to fulfill effective learning experience design.