Authentic Assessment

Scenario

Company ABC is an international company which incentivizes employees to improve their language skills in order to communicate with clients from around the world. This project is part of an HR training session where employees are introduced to professional development opportunities and company incentives for improving language skills. The company offers language learning classes and various subscription resources. Prior to beginning the project, students will be able to listen to a mini-podcast about different language learning activities and their pros/cons. The objective of this project is to create a personalized language learning program as an alternative or a supplement to traditional classes.

Audience

Employees of Company ABC who are interested in improving their language skills.

Learning Approach

I chose the Project-Based Learning approach for my assessment. This project would accompany a mini-podcast, which I created for the IDx 300 course, in which I discuss various options for learning languages and their pros/cons. The mini-podcast would serve as the foundation of knowledge from which the students can start their project.

The goal of the project is for the students to create their own learning program. Students are given many suggestions within the podcast and guide for ways they can achieve the goal of the project – but the answer is open-ended and each student will create their own personalized program. The freedom of choice is important because it gives the students the opportunity to acquire knowledge through completing the project (Blumenfeld et al. 1991). The resulting self-designed programs can be discussed with their peers and managers to get feedback.

According to Blumenfeld et al. the following elements are important to maintain motivation in a project:

“(a) tasks are varied and include novel elements, (b) the problem is authentic and has value, (c) the problem is challenging, (d) there is closure, so that an artifact is created, (e) there is choice about what and/or how work is done, (f) there are opportunities to work with others (1991, p. 375).”

To accomplish the project, the learners will have to compete a variety of activities, including: completing the worksheet, answering a quiz, conducting research about possible learning activities, and speaking to company instructors or their managers for advice. The project solves a problem that is relevant to the learners because they need to communicate to clients all over the world. There is also a monetary incentive from the company for the employees to improve their language skills. The task of learning a language is challenging, because everyone learns differently and learning a language to an advanced level always takes a lot of time and motivation. By the end of the project, the students will produce a plan for their studies. The students will have control over how and when they create their program. Finally, the students can collaborate with their peers, company instructors and managers to help them accomplish the project goal.

Source

Blumenfeld, P., Soloway, E., Marx, R., Krajcik, J., Guzdial, M., & Palincsar, A. (1991). Motivating Project-Based Learning: Sustaining the Doing, Supporting the Learning. Educational Psychologist, 26(3), 369–398.

Authentic Assessment

Part 1: Guide

Part 2: Language Learner Quiz

Rate on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = Strongly Disagree, 3 = Disagree, 5 = Neutral, 7 Agree, 10 = Strongly agree) your feelings about the following statements.

1. In the past, when I learned in group classes (at school, university or language school), I enjoyed it. If you haven’t learned in group classes before, imagine how you would feel. __
2. I enjoy teaching myself how to do things. ___
3. In the past, when I learned in group classes (at school, university or language school), I spoke and participated a lot because I liked talking with my peers. ___
4. I value flexibility in my schedule. ___
5. It’s important for me to have a social environment in class. ___
6. I have a good foundation for the language I’m learning. ___
7. I would like to have personal attention from the teacher when I run into a problem. ___
8. I don’t like to mistakes in front of a group of people. ___
9. I like to focus intensely on a goal for short periods of time. ___
10. I need time to process new information or it takes me a long time to learn something new. ___
11. I get overwhelmed in fast-paced courses or when there are a lot of tight deadlines. ___
12. I’m energized and motivated by intense work. ___

Self-study: 2, 4, 6
Group Classes: 1, 3, 5
One-on-one classes 4, 7, 8
Intensive classes 9, 12
Regular pace classes 10, 11

Add up your scores for each category and find the average. You can use these scores to guide your decisions when creating your learning program. You may find that you're equally interested in different types of classes - it's up to you to choose the ones that best suit your schedule and goals.