A cyclical self-assessment process: towards a model of how students engage in self-assessment

Abstract

While significant progress has been made on understanding the effects of student selfassessment, the processes by which these effects occur is much less studied empirically. The present research identified the actions involved in a cyclical self-assessment process. In this qualitative study, seventeen undergraduate students from a teacher education institute took part in in-depth interviews focusing on the common actions students normally undertake to self-assess. The findings identified the following three actions that are commonly undertaken in the self-assessment process: (1) determining the performance criteria, (2) self-directed feedback seeking, and (3) self-reflection. The paper discusses the implications of the findings and concludes with suggestions for promoting student self-assessment.

Developing a Short Form of the Self-Assessment Practices Scale: Psychometric Evidence

“…Self-assessment is a fundamental skill required at each phase of self-regulated learning (Yan, 2019) and is crucial for life-long learning (Boud, 1995;Tan, 2012). Through self-assessing their own performances, students can identify their strengths and weaknesses, and adjust their learning strategies accordingly to learn more (Boud, 1995;Yan and Brown, 2017). Recent review studies (e.g., Brown and Harris, 2013;Panadero et al, 2017) revealed a general consensus in the literature with regard to the positive impact of self-assessment on academic achievement, self-regulation, and motivational aspects of learning (e.g., self-efficacy), although the effect sizes varied across studies.…”

Two sides of the same coin: Student-teachers’ perceptions of a cyclical self-assessment process

“…(student blog1, post 2), or "we had great discussions together over how self-assessment works and how it helps our understanding and learning"(student blog 9, post 2); and (2) students who were involved in self-assessment as a means of ticking off a check list, focused on the related rubric criteria and the feedback of the lecturer to get a high grade too: "self-assessing the group project was like 'ticking off a checklist' and seeing if we had included all the necessary characteristics" (surface learning approach)(student blog 34, post 2).The study of Yan & Brown (2016), also demonstrated that both feedback and reflection are indispensable elements to self-assessment. As highlighted by Dinsmore and Wilson (2016), students who were not engaged in meaningful reflective thinking were less likely to make strategic adjustments to their learning strategies since they were unaware of their strengths and weaknesses: "When I see the self-assessing sheet I do not strive for passing, I look to see what the A level grade is.…”

“…For this study the self-directed feedback seeking of the Yan and Brown (2016) proposal, was oriented by an in-class general feedback, to support the pre-service teachers in their first self-assessment experience. Overall, results conveyed two main insights: (1) students who were involved in self-assessment as a process of self-reflection that provoked a deep content learning approach, high engagement and high final grades: "by doing this when we went to self-assess ourselves it gave ourselves another opportunity to critically analyze our project and ensure we had all aspects of the criteria included"…”

“…The students (n=61) from one intact class of the Bachellor of Science in Physical Education were required to follow an adaptation of the cyclical self-assessment process (Yan and Brown, 2016): (1) requirement to self-assess; (2) determine the criteria;(3) first submission; (4) general feedback; (5) self-reflection and self-assessment; (6) second submission; (7) specific feedback and grade; (8) final self-reflection, selfassessment and self-grade. Data were collected from students' learning blogs (n=61), and video blogs (n=13) and were coded by the first author.…”

“…Nevertheless, student teachers' responses to selfassessment vary widely. Some perceive the process as positive for learning and engagement (Yan & Brown, 2016). Others perceive stress, uncertainty about capability, and anxiety about failure (Struyven, Dochy, & Janssens, 2005).To the uninitiated, selfassessment often appears as an amorphous, unique process (Taras, 2010).…”