ECT Brownbag: Ofer Chen

Reflective Practice for Feedback & Assessment in Student-Centered Learning Classrooms

When: Tues, September 29, 10 – 11am EST
Zoom Link: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/91044407438

Teachers assess students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes primarily to support classroom decision making processes. The quality of decision making may depend on the tools used to collect evidence of learning or on the techniques teachers use to interpret such evidence. Assessment events can also be an opportunity for teachers to learn about their own instructional and assessment practices. This self-examination process, a cornerstone of reflective practice (Schön, 1984), is challenging, but it may be especially valuable when guidelines for feedback and assessment are hard to come by. This is likely to be the case in many student-centered learning environments, such as school Fablabs and makerspaces, where stated goals commonly include cultivating learner self-regulation and emotional resilience.

In this talk, I will present the findings of a recent single-case study conducted in the AMPED Research lab. In this in-depth case study, we use mixed-methods to examine how a semester-long computer-supported intervention, designed to promote reflection in teachers during assessment events, affected the grading, feedback, and instructional practices of a teacher in a hands-on design classroom. I will also briefly discuss planned next steps and how this case study informs my future dissertation work.