Assessment is definitely the heart of the whole teaching process. Educators and parents use assessment scores to gauge a pupil's academic performance. However, in recent years there has been a paradigm shift in assessing pupils learning outcomes and providing constructive feedback. The new assessment culture emphasizes “the importance of assessing students’ understanding rather than recall of factual knowledge” (Havnes & McDowell, 2008). In addition, educationalists believe that constructive feedback helps to regulate teaching so that the pace of moving towards a learning goal is adjusted to ensure the active participation of all pupils and support holistic education.
The 10’T programme in which Yishun Primary has embarked on is an alternative pedagogical design that leverages the use of ICT to promote learners’ interest in the Mother tongue language, and to improve on their language competencies in a web-based environment. This pedagogy has also allowed for the assessment for learning in pupils in an unthreatening environment; an environment where pupils are challenged and motivated to learn. It also allows for pupils to use the feedback provided in order to improve in their subsequent performance.
The 10’T lessons are conducted during the pupils’ curriculum time and all lessons have been designed based on the objectives stipulated in the curriculum to ensure complete coverage of the Tamil Language syllabus. During the curriculum time, pupils will be engaged in a wide range of web based extensive reading and writing activities. The reading activities are paced according to the pupils’ differentiated abilities. Pupils will be involved in self and peer assessments while embarking on their assignments. The portal also has functions that allow pupils to record their reading and choose to either send it to their teachers for assessment or even get feedback from their peers. This aural activity encourages learners to track their own progression and exceed their expected performance while inculcating the value of self-directed learning. It also allows for teachers and pupils to identify their learning gaps and improve on their learning through feedback.
The session will involve the sharing of the conceptualization of the teaching approach, which will include the philosophy, the background context and the motivation behind the programme. The presenters will share some of the successful lessons that were conducted. The presentation will also include the assessment and feedback processes and the impact on student learning together with the challenges faced by how these challenges were resolved.
