Planning for assessment
Assessment on the DT Hub includes advice and resources to assist you to create quality assessment tasks. View the sample assessment tasks linked to the scope and sequence resource and select those tasks suited to the curriculum content you are assessing. View the checklists, think alouds, and rubrics and modify these to suit your context and your learners.
When planning your assessment in Digital Technologies, there are a number of aspects to consider. The first consideration is what elements of the achievement standard are you targeting? Use our guide to planning an assessment. Clarify the what, why and how of assessment. How will you involve your students? What evidence will you collect?
Clarity around what to assess
Am I clear on what to assess?
What evidence of student learning do I need to collect to assess student achievement against the standards?
Refer to the Australian curriculum achievement standards.
For students to achieve success in learning:
- learning outcomes need to be clear
- learning experiences are designed to assist student achievement of those outcomes
- assessment tasks are designed to allow students to demonstrate achievement of those outcomes.
Clarity around the purpose (why)
Have I identified the purpose as formative or summative?
Have I planned for opportunities to collect evidence of:
- Assessment of learning
- Assessment for learning
- Assessment as learning?
Refer to our unpacking assessment section.
Assessment should be used to measure student progress over time.
It can also assist teachers to reflect and evaluate their teaching strategies to inform future learning.
Clarity around how to assess
Have I chosen an appropriate way to assess students?
Does the assessment task:
- align to the relevant elements of the achievement standard?
- align with what has been taught?
- provide opportunities to demonstrate the extent of their knowledge, understanding and skills?
Refer to our section on Bloom's Taxonomy.
We've linked verbs from Achievement Standards to Blooms Taxonomy. Choose a task based on the relevant Bloom's taxonomy.
Each element of the achievement standard includes at least one key active verb. For example: describe, explain, design, create. These verbs can be linked to the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, for example, explain aligns with Bloom’s ‘understanding’. The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy is a resource that supports you to design assessment tasks relevant to your students’ needs.
Student reflection
Have I provided students an opportunity to reflect on their learning?
Provide feedback to students to help them reflect on their learning.
Encourage students to reflect on the following questions:
- What have I learned?
- How do I know I have learned it?
- What could I have done differently?
- What can I do next?
Refer to our guide on self-assessment for advice on student reflections.
Assessment should include the provision of feedback. Consideration should be given to the way feedback is to be provided. Written or verbal feedback provides opportunities for discussion and reflection. Feedback should always align with learning intentions or assessment criteria (eg. rubric or checklist). Relevant evidence guides the feedback discussion.
Involve students
Do I include students in formulating assessments?
Do I enable students to negotiate the assessment task for example, through the use of rubrics?
Where possible do I allow them to choose the format?
Refer to our guide on rubrics.
Use our guide on rubrics to create your own assessments and include student input.
Assessment should include the provision of feedback. Consideration should be given to the way feedback is to be provided. Written or verbal feedback provides opportunities for discussion and reflection. Feedback should always align with learning intentions or assessment criteria (eg. rubric or checklist). Relevant evidence guides the feedback discussion.
Multiple pieces of evidence
Have I got more than one task on which to base my judgement?
Have I provided multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate success?
Have I provided a range of assessment methods or modes to determine achievement, eg. written; verbal?
Refer to our guide on unpacking assessment.
Use our advice about conducting assessment in Digital Technologies.
Using a range of assessment methods helps teachers develop valid judgements and recognises that learners demonstrate competence in a variety of ways.