Abstract
This chapter has two clearly defined objectives: (a) to analyse how higher education (HE) teachers participating in an in-service teacher education (ISTE) inter-level seminar evaluated the Action-Research (A-R) processes they carried out; (b) to determine the advantages that HE teachers find after carrying out formative and shared assessment (F&SA) processes, as well as the disadvantages and proposals for improvement to overcome them. For this purpose, a case study was conducted in an ISTE inter-level seminar on F&SA with 10 HE teachers. The teachers found the A-R processes very useful although they believed that they should systematise them continuously during the whole teaching-learning process; moreover, they considered that F&SA practices have many advantages and some disadvantages for which they proposed solutions to overcome them.
TopIntroduction
This chapter considers the importance of applying Formative and Shared Assessment (F&SA) systems successfully in Higher Education (HE), for which In-Service Teacher Education (ISTE) is emphasised through Action-Research (A-R) processes.
F&SA is a proposal that seeks to enhance student learning with their participation (Hortigüela-Alcalá et al., 2015; López-Pastor, 2009). Formative assessment aims to improve three perspectives: (a) student learning; (b) teacher teaching; (c) the teaching-learning process itself (López-Pastor, 2009). In order for Formative Assessment to also be Shared Assessment, student participation in their own assessment should be promoted, individually or in groups, and self-assessment, peer assessment or collaborative assessment processes should be used (López-Pastor, 2009).
This F&SA process is especially significant in HE, because it is based on a continuous process of learning and educational improvement, and in addition, is a learning process in itself for future teachers who are studying Initial Teacher Education. After learning and experiencing these assessment systems, the students can apply them once they have finished their studies and become teachers. However, not all teachers who teach in HE are familiar with F&SA. A good way to obtain this training is through ISTE using A-R processes that allow them to learn continuously in their actual teaching context (Kennedy, 2005).
ISTE seems desirable for developing F&SA in HE. However, there are hardly any references that study how working groups function in ISTE, especially in HE; and even fewer in inter-level working groups, where teachers from all educational stages participate. Therefore, the objectives of this study were as follows:
- (a)
To analyse how teachers participating in an ISTE group on F&SA value the implementation of Action Research processes in HE.
- (b)
To determine the advantages and disadvantages of F&SA for HE teachers participating in an ISTE group.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Higher Education: The stage of education that is the last stage of academic learning, which comes after secondary education and usually refers to the university stage.
Workload: The amount of work a person has to do (in education this can refer to both the student and the teacher), usually measured in hours.
In-Service Teacher Education: A process of continuous learning for teachers who are already teaching at any stage of education.
Shared assessment: Assessment in which students participate in their own assessment process, sharing it with the teacher, in order to check how they are progressing, their skills and areas for improvement.
Collaborative Learning: The process of knowledge acquisition between two or more people in the same group, setting or space; it can be between teachers and/or learners.
Self-Regulation: The ability to control and/or manage a person's work time.
Teaching Research: The process of educational enquiry with the aim of improving one's own practice and/or acquiring new knowledge on any educational subject.
Formative Assessment: That which aims to improve student learning, to improve the teaching of the teacher and to improve the teaching-learning process itself.