Study of Faculty Development Program on Continuous Assessment Technique (CAT)

Sharad Aher Ph.D

Professor,

Chandrashekhar Agashe College

of Physical Education, Pune

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Abstract

There is widespread criticism of the examination pattern in the current Education process as it has many flaws. Therefore, it is important to overcome all of these limitations of traditional evaluation, for this, alternative and authentic assessment is very much needed in the present educational process. Keeping this in mind, a workshop on Continuous Assessment Technique (CAT) was organized under the Faculty Development Program to change the nature of internal assessment of Chandrashekhar Agashe Physical Education College.  The purpose of this workshop was to introduce different techniques of authentic assessment to all the faculty members and to encourage them to use authentic assessment techniques in internal assessment.  A total of 13 faculty members participated in the workshop.  The workshop was conducted over two days and in two phases.  The questionnaire was filled out via Google Forms to gather information.  Analyzing the information received, it appears that the faculty members have given various opportunities to the students in the internal assessment and have used various tools such as group discussions, orals, presentations, projects in the internal assessment.

Key Words: Continuous Assessment Technique (CAT), Authentic assessment

Background

There is widespread criticism of the examination pattern in the current Education process as it has many flaws. Written tests are very important in traditional evaluation, the rote learning is very important in its evaluation process, and the traditional evaluation process is done in controlled conditions, it is not related to real life situations. Therefore, it is important to overcome all of these limitations of traditional evaluation, for this, alternative and authentic assessment is very much needed in the present educational process

What is authentic assessment?

Authentic assessment is also known as Alternative assessment, Performance assessment or Direct assessment.

A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills

What does Authentic Assessment look like?

An authentic assessment usually includes a task for students to perform and a rubric by which their performance on the task will be evaluated.

There should be more varied modes of assessment beyond the examination hall paper pencil test. Oral testing and group work evaluation should be encouraged. open book exams and exams without time limits are worth introducing as small pilot project across the country. these innovations would have the added advantage of shifting the focus of exam from testing memory to testing higher level competencies such as interpretation, analysis and problem-solving skills. The "one exam fits all" principle, while being organizationally convenient, is not a student centered one. Indian hm system will also need to become more open, flexible, creatives and user-friendly. (NCF, 2005)

In the past few years, it is observed that some college students are unable to achieve good grades or marks in internal assessment and/or perform well academically, one of the many reasons being the assessment techniques used in the education system. 

• Most courses have written exams only when conducting internal evaluation.
• Most courses have only two (three to four in masters) internal exams.

The above two points show that college do not implement the concept of continuous and comprehensive evaluation.  Therefore, more than two evaluation opportunities should be provided to the students and different techniques should be used, not just the written technique of assessment, this will enable the students to demonstrate the knowledge gained. Thus, the need to bring in reforms in the internal evaluation system becomes imminent. Keeping this in mind, a workshop on Continuous Assessment Technique (CAT) was organized under the Faculty Development Program to change the nature of internal assessment of Chandrashekhar Agashe Physical Education College. Purpose of this workshop is to introduce various authentic assessment techniques to the college faculty members, discuss the importance of various techniques of Authentic Assessment and motivate faculty members to use these authentic assessment techniques when evaluating their course outcomes.

Procedure

We had organized a workshop by IQAC to introduce all the faculty members to the various student-centered teaching methods.  Questionnaires were used to collect information. The workshop was attended by 13 faculty members from the college.

This Faculty development program is organized in two phases

Phase I: In the phase I All the faculty members present one authentic assessment teaching or approach. Further assessment teaching  and  approaches were discussed in this workshop Concept of authentic assessment, Difference between traditional and authentic assessment,        Concept of continuous and comprehensive evaluation, Individual and group project, Event task, Interview, Role play or skit, Display, Debate, Presentation, Group discussion, Portfolio, Concept map, Minute notes, Chain notes

Phase I: In the second phase faculty members share various best practices about assessment teaching they have used in their teaching.

Analysis and Interpretation

Table-1

Summary of Descriptive Statistics of Table-1 of Opportunity given in Internal Assessment (N=11)

From table-1 It is observed that the average number of internal assessments was 7 (6.80). While minimum and maximum numbers of internal assessment were found 2 and 16 respectively.

The chart below is about how many times a faculty member accessed a subject while teaching it.  This show’s that faculty members have given more opportunities in internal assessment while teaching the subject.  From this it can be said that the principle of continuous evaluation has been applied.

• The following chart shows the techniques used by the Faculty members in their internal assessment of the subject.  This show’s that after the workshop the faculty members have used various authentic assessment techniques in internal assessment.  From this it can be said that the principle of 360 degree or comprehensive evaluation has been adopted.

References

National curriculum framework (2005). National council of educational research and training.

Miller, T. (2012). NSCA’s Guide to Tests and Assessments United States, Human

Kinetics

Morrow, J., Jackson, A., Disch, J., and Mood, D. (2005). Measurement and evaluation in Human Performance United States of America Human Kinetics.

Retrieved from http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Assessment tools in a 21st Century classroom

Retrieved from https://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/assessment-and-evaluation/classroom-assessment-techniques-quick-strategies-to-check-student-learning-in-class/