Sociology 2012 Implementation Workshop Janet Argeres.

Sociology 2012Implementation Workshop

Janet Argeres

Assessment tasks

•Allows the student to demonstrate the achievement of an outcome.

•Enables judgment and reporting of a level of achievement of the task(s)

VCE assessment principles

Assessment should be fair and reasonable•e.g. must be accessible, within the scope of a study design, have clear instructions.

Assessment should be equitable•i.e. neither privilege nor disadvantage any group of students. For example, the same or similar conditions should be applied between classes, alternatives (e.g. for absentees) are of the same degree of difficulty.

Assessment should be balanced•e.g. provide a range of tasks for students to demonstrate knowledge, skills, understanding within different contexts and modes and allows for different learning styles.

Assessment should be efficient•i.e. provide a useful assessment (for all users) without adding unduly to workload.

School-assessed Coursework• select from the range of tasks in the study design

• provide students with appropriate information: the type of assessment task (some sort of sample is

useful)the date and time allowed for the taskthe allocation of markswhat materials (if any) they can use when completing

the task

• assessment should be completed mainly in class, within a limited timeframe and be able to be authenticated.

• performance descriptors are derived from the outcome statement , key knowledge and skills and provide guidance for the setting and marking of assessment tasks.

• the four outcomes over Unit 3 and Unit 4 make up the 50% that School-assessed Coursework contributes to the student’s score in the study.

Designing the assessment tasksThe Assessment Handbook contains a detailed explanation of the assessment tasks and two sample assessments. It describes the design process in 4 steps:

Step 1: Design the parameters of the outcome and it’s related assessment task optionsStep 2: Examine the assessment adviceStep 3: Determine teaching and learning activitiesStep 4: Design the assessment task

Step 1: Define the parameters of an outcomeThis involves:•Listing the key knowledge and key skills that will be assessed by the outcome – each element of an outcome is assessed. For example in Unit 4 Sociology the outcome is both to analyse the nature of social movements and to evaluate influence on social change•Choosing the assessment task from the options listed in the study design.

Note: It is possible for students in the same class to undertake different options; however, the tasks should be comparable in scope and demand.

Unit 3•an analysis of text-based or visual representation(s)•a multimedia presentation•a report•a test•extended response •a film analysis.

Unit 4•a multimedia presentation•a research report•a test.•an extended response

One task or a combination of tasks can be chosen:

Step 2: Examine the assessment advice• Examine the highest level of performance descriptors

and clarify their meaning.

• A summary of the key knowledge and skills is found in the “Designing the assessment task” section that accompanies each set of performance descriptors.

• The Key Knowledge and Skills in the study design must also be used because they contain the detail that informs the design of learning activities and choices relating to the assessment task.

Step 3: teaching and learning activities• Identify the teaching and learning activities that will

cover the key knowledge and key skills for the outcome. It is important that a variety of learning opportunities are provided to cater for individual learning styles.

• A range of activities is provided in the Advice for Teachers and the two examples in the assessment handbook.

Step 4: Design the assessment task

• Try to use a range of task types across Units 3 and 4.

• Choice of any stimulus material (e.g. representations, quotes) should be relevant to the task and assist students in their response.

• Check that the instructions are clear, complete and unambiguous.

• More than one task can be used for the assessment. For example: In some Areas of Study covering all Key Knowledge might mean an overly complex task.

Unit 3 Outcome 1•explain and apply key concepts which could include: culture and its major components, sociological imagination, ethnocentrism and cultural relativism•analyse and evaluate the implications of historical and contemporary ethnocentric and culturally relativistic representations of Australian Indigenous culture for raising awareness of and/or suppressing that culture•construct an overview of the historical suppression of Australian Indigenous culture.•identify and evaluate the impacts of national and international factors that have supported and/or limited public awareness and perception of Australian Indigenous culture. •source and synthesise a range of relevant evidence to support observations and analysis•critically reflect on their own and others’ approaches to understanding the social world.

Conditions for the task

• Teachers set the conditions/rules, consistent with school policies, e.g. material that can be brought into the room and the use of textbooks.

• If the task requires more than one period to complete, one method of authentication is to collect the work at the end of the session.

Strategies & materials• Select tasks to support different learning styles but

alternative tasks must be equal in difficulty, and

most students will have to sit the exam

• Model outcomes on the exam – sample exam questions will be made available. The sample questions assist in setting the level of difficulty and mark allocation of questions

• Design the assessment to build skills in interpreting questions and marking schemes and tailoring responses accordingly.

• Choose tasks that expose students to writing short, extended and essay length responses (over both Units).

• Construct the assessment task so that at least one question draws on research or activities completed during the Unit.

• Wean students off support notes in Unit 4 assessment.

• Support texts and workshops will be available.

• Activities in the Advice for Teachers in the Study Design could be adapted for an outcome. This section also provides worked examples.

• The Assessment Handbook has two sample outcomes, these could also be adapted. For example, Outcome 2, Unit 4, Social Movements – A test, uses theoretical questions. This could be adapted to an analysis of a social movement the students have studied:

1. Explain the nature and purpose of social movements

2. Compare, using examples, two types of social movement. or

2. Identify the type of social movement in the article. Support your choice with evidence.

3. Distinguish between the deprivation and new social movement theories of social movement creation. Use examples where appropriate. or

3. Which theory – deprivation or new social movement – might best support the creation of this social movement? Explain.

4. Explain the characteristics of a social movement in the bureaucratisation stage of its development. or

4. At what stage in its development would you place this social movement? Explain with reference to the four stages of development.

• Use representations in at least one outcome. Representations can be text or visual or both.

Aboriginal anger at Baillieu change Reid Sexton, The Age, 20 May 2011

Oxfam Australia colleagues Peter Nathan, a Pitta Pitta man from north Qld, and Karrina Nolan, a Yorta Yorta woman from Melbourne [attending the opening of The Lowitja Institute].

http://www.lowitja.org.au/files/docs/KooriMailp32_06042011.pdf

• Analysing and interpreting representations are important skills in the student’s repertoire.

• Text can be edited to reduce the amount of reading students need to do.

• Complex or lengthy texts can be provided to students prior to the outcome so that they can be familiar with the content before they are asked to interpret/analyse.