There is no doubt that assessing Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) can provide a challenge but add to that the need for recording and tracking PLTS and life becomes even more difficult.
Having devised an activity that lends itself to clearly identifying which PLTS have been ‘accessed’ by the learner, how do you assess and record that information in a meaningful and accessible way for the learner? For the moment let’s exclude the task creation and delivery of the task to the learner and just focus upon the assessment and more particularly the recording of the assessment. Ideally, the learner needs access to that assessment and if possible access to some form of feedback that will help the learner to progress.
This is where Moodle can step up to the plate!
Moodle has a feature called ‘Outcomes’. I won’t go into how to create ‘Outcomes’ in this post but you do need know that ‘Outcomes’ are linked to ‘Scales’ or marks that you can apply in assessment. For example, you might decide that you want to apply a Key Stage 3 whole level to PLTS. Also, know that ‘Outcomes’ can be applied site-wide or just within a course. This gives a great deal of flexibility to the teacher and adds an element of ‘personalisation’ for the learning group.
Let’s walk through an example.
Assume a learning activity has been created in Moodle say, a forum that can be assessed. The activity is bascially a research activity and is designed for each learner to contribute their research to the forum leading to the learning group forming a consensus of view. (All sounds rather grand but could be done in primary as well as secondary and beyond.) As well as assessing content, the teacher also wants to assess the Reflective Learner. When the activity is created the teacher can choose the Reflective Learner Outcome as part of the assessment
As learners engage in the activity and post discussion topics and replies to the forum, teacher can also monitor and contribute. When the teacher comes to assess a forum post, they have the ability to assess content and also the Reflective Learner Outcome. It’s also possible to include as many ‘Outcomes’ as you wish provided, of course, they have been created in advance of the activity.
The result of this process is that the learner will see the grades they have achieved in their own Gradebook. This now gives an opportunity for active mentoring and review.
Moodle ‘Outcomes’ can be applied in formal and informal assessments – they can be tailored and personalised to the learning group providing a great deal of flexibility in assessment and feedback. For more information about Moodle ‘Outcomes’ click Moodle Outcomes Documentation and go to the Moodle site.