Abstracts - Earli

Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of assessments: Are they able to accurately estimate thedifficulty levels of assessment items?Gerard van de Watering, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, NetherlandsJanine van der Rijt, Maastricht University, NetherlandsFilip Dochy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BelgiumDavid Gijbels, University of Antwerp, BelgiumIn today’s higher education, high quality assessments play an important role. Little is known,however, about the degree to which assessments are correctly aimed at the students’ levels ofcompetence in relation to the defined learning goals. This contribution reviews previous researchinto teachers’ and students’ perceptions of item difficulty. It focuses on the item difficulty ofassessments and students’ and teachers’ abilities to estimate item difficulty correctly. The reviewindicates that teachers tend to overestimate the difficulty of easy items and underestimate thedifficulty of difficult items. Students seem to be better estimators of item difficulty. The accuracyof the estimates can be improved by: the information the estimators or teachers have about thetarget group and their earlier assessment results; defining the target group before the estimationprocess; by the possibility of having discussions about the defined target group students and theircorresponding standards during the estimation process; and by the amount of training in itemconstruction and estimating. In the subsequent study, the ability and accuracy of teachers andstudents to estimate the difficulty levels of assessment items was examined. In higher education,results show that teachers are able to estimate the difficulty levels correctly for only a smallproportion of the assessment items. They overestimate the difficulty level of most of theassessment items. Students, on the other hand, underestimate their own performances. In addition,the relationships between the students’ perceptions of the difficulty levels of the assessment itemsand their performances on the assessments were investigated. Results provide evidence that thestudents who performed best on the assessments underestimated their performances the most.Several explanations are discussed and suggestions for additional research are offered.Engaging learners in assessment via the use of blogsKan-Kan Chan, University of Macau, MacauJim Ridgway, Durham University, United KingdomThis paper presents the results of a qualitative exploration of student teachers’ practices usingonline web logs (blogs) to support the process of self assessment. Nineteen students on a teachereducation program in Macau participated in the study for two semesters. The concept ofassessment for learning emphasizes constructive feedback and explicit assessment criteria; thiswas implemented in two technology courses. A systematic content analysis of students’ journalsand portfolios reveals students applying a variety of assessment criteria to judge their learning,including: completion of class exercises; the time taken; their ability to work independently; andtheir ability to follow in class. Students were found to value the feedback provided by the tutor andtheir peers. They identified enhanced motivation, and social support, as useful components of thefeedback, as well as the more obvious cognitive aspects. Findings suggest that the availability ofblogs can facilitate students in the process of assessment for some, but not for all, students. Blogscan function well as a platform, but more work needs to be done to establish the circumstancesunder which they can be used effectively, to the benefit of all students.– 778 –