Applying self- and peer assessment in Art

 (Module 7b - EDS 113) -  It's almost the beginning of another school year. For the last two weeks, my fellow Art teachers and I have been working on our syllabus and auditing our curriculum. Continuous curriculum evaluation has been the standard practice in the school that I work for. The emphasis on this is now clearer to me as I am almost at the end of my second term of studies. The alignment and congruence of the curricula, practices, and the school's mission should be relevant to the changing times, particularly at this time of the pandemic and online distance learning. Perhaps, because we've been through e-learning for the previous year, there is a tendency to be complacent and feel like we already got the hang of education in the "new normal". I deem we should be vigilant now more than ever. 

I am connecting this kind of vigilance to self- and peer assessment. In studying for this term, maybe we have been lax, in our learning activities because we feel like we know it already and we've experienced these things during the first trimester. However, this should not be our mindset. By assessing ourselves and the works of our peers, we are elevating our learning to a new level. The question should be, how am I compared to where I started? Have I ruminated and mulled enough over the news concepts and ideas on assessment? Just like our students or future students (for those who are preservice teachers), who need to learn how to self-regulate, we too should encourage ourselves and each other to compare our pre and post progress through our modules. Have we evaluated where we perceive to be in mastering the learning goals?

As I contemplate on this year's lesson plans, I take into consideration the aspects of self- and peer assessment and how it can be applied in an online or hybrid learning. Just like what we've been doing in EDS 113, I was thinking of requiring students to work on simplified written products, logs, and journals, to aid them in self-evaluation. I will also need to figure out how to conduct peer assessments, especially in young students who might not have the emotional and mental maturity to handle feedback from their classmates. Some ways I learned it could be applied is through think-pair-share activities and small-group feedback sessions. I have to reflect on this more though. I would like it to be a positive experience for my students and not something that they would dread.

*Photo c/o my Freepik premium account.