What are we assessing our students for?

By Prof R S S Mani

There is a visible change emerging in the manner of evaluation and assessments of students in higher education. We must realise that the profile of the current generation i.e. Gen Y (whom I often refer to as the fast food generation) is one who is restless, seeks results in the short run and lives for today. Further with powerful and real time distractions like Social Media and WhatsApp, I feel attention and retention spans have decreased considerably and this impacts the learning process drastically.

Thus, I strongly feel that the traditional examination system which has been in existence since yesteryears needs to undergo a sea change. The entire examination system should focus on assessment of the understanding and not testing the memory or ability for rote learning. Hence, in institutions of higher learning, we must use a multiplicity of methods to ensure more focused and meaningful evaluation processes. Today, there is an increasing emphasis on on-the-job learning projects, presentations, case study discussions and even internships being used more often as an approach to assessment. Many institutions of higher education use methods such as online quizzes, multiple choice questions based exams answered via online learning platforms such as Moodle etc. The positive trend is that dependency on one single class-room based examination at the end of the academic term is on the decline. We notice a trend where multiple exams are used to assess the understanding of the subject knowledge and concepts. Use of presentations, book review, best practices analysis and case study discussions as a method of evaluation too are on the rise.

I strongly feel that institutions of higher education must change the approach to assessment and performance measurement drastically. They must respond to the need of the hour and conceive and use multiple ways to measure student performance. Since one methodology would not suit all measurement processes as the subjects being tackled are diverse, we need to create an array of such assessment tools. Learning Management Systems and tools like online quizzes can help a great deal to make the assessment implementation smooth. The approach here is that those who teach may not evaluate and vice versa. This could lead to the evaluation mechanisms being more robust and tamperproof thus improving the quality of both delivery and understanding. The eternal dilemma that a professor faces too could be eliminated; as he now only needs to be a GOOD teacher and not a POPULAR teacher. Thus, they can insist on highest level of discipline and commitment from the students and ensure maximum learning.

We have instituted several such measures that are proving to be very meaningful and effective:

1.The weightage for term end exams would be maximum 40 per cent; this would ensure that regular evaluation processes such as online quizzes, presentation would be on the rise.

2. Organising seminars, conferences, co-curricular events would be given sufficient weightage.

3. Live projects with industry of duration ranging from 2 weeks to a month could give the students first hand learning and also be used as an assessment technique .

4. Active participation in industry associations like CII, AIMA could be given due credit as part of the evaluation processes.

5. Excellent Performance in inter collegiate events and seminars could also be given weightage.

6. Many faculty encourage students to do joint research on various important areas and these could be a good way of assessing their competence and capability.

7. Another effective tool would be peer based teaching and evaluation processes .In every group there are students who have specific areas of expertise such as presentation skills, power point skills, research skills, report writing skills, accounting packages skills, versatility in MS Excel etc. We can create processes wherein such identified experts could coach those who realise that they need to improve themselves in a certain domain. Both the student teacher and the student learner could be evaluated on the impact of this learning activity and this could be institutionalised over a period of time. This is akin to the concept of train the trainer to further train more trainees. This also adds tremendously to self-confidence of the students and also helps weaker students cope up without feeling threatened.

8. Another specific innovation could be application of the above on an individual basis. Each senior student could be allotted a buddy whom he/she would mentor for one term. He/She would impart at least one skill to the mentee and also learn one skill from the mentee. We must emphasise here that this activity could encompass any area related to academics, co-curricular or even extra-curricular activities. Thus, over a span of 4-5 months, students help each other to acquire new skill sets. Every new term could bring in new buddies and thus over a span of 2 years, a student would have fine-tuned his skills from 4 peers and also helped develop 4 of them. This entire process could be institutionalised and become a great learning tool and the impact could also be assessed and due credits given.

We must also realise that the above steps would increase the work load of the teaching fraternity. But this could be an opportunity to create a new cadre of evaluators thus making the assessment processes more unbiased and transparent. However, the above must be implemented on a consistent basis and thorough follow up be initiated consistently to make a shift in the evaluation processes. It’s easier said than done, but it’s certainly worth the effort.

By the same author: How to make MBA grads Industry ready

About the Author:

Professor R S S Mani is Vice President - Institutional Development, ITM Group of Institutions.