Using big projects to assess big projects.

An author recently visited our school, he addressed the assembly of students and suggested to them that two words create a world of opportunity in writing.

What if...

I liked this concept, and decided to apply it to my thinking when looking at assessment of learning in the classroom. 

My big focus lately has been on assessment in the classroom, and how can we create visible learning assessment that is more authentic for students, that is more student driven, and creates more onus on the student to drive their own and each other's assessment and feedback.

So I did what I usually do when I come across a conundrum in teaching; I thought about the real world. 

How do people get assessed in the real world? How do they get judged? How do they find out if their projects are working or not? There's obviously statistics that they gather, but I thought there had to be more than just that, more than just quantitative data. 

I was driving at some point in the evening the other week, and had the national radio on. I was listening to a lady who was being interviewed about a project she had been running. Her project was about a new pest that was introduced to the country, and she was doing biological pest control. She was introducing a new species to eradicate the pest. A National Radio presenter was interviewing her, and was finding out all about her project. She was asking really specific questions that were designed to get her talking. The radio host wanted to explore this information because it was interesting. She wanted to inform a wider audience of what was happening in their country at the moment. However the scientist was keen to share what she had been doing, and show the dangers of bringing pests into the country. 

I thought 'Man, how cool would that be?' What if you had a team of students at school who ran podcasts, and interviewed inquiry groups - asking really specific questions and interviewing people about their inquiries or projects which then were spread out to a wider audience. 

What if that was the way you got assessed?

What if that was the way you shared your content with the wider world?
What if you could get parents listening in? 

What if you could get feedback on podcasts from parents and community members?

• This would be amazing for the students who are doing the interviewing because they're learning radio and interview techniques. 
• It would be amazing for the students who are being interviewed because they are being asked tough questions about their inquiries that they need to answer. Linking to curriculum progressions, stages they've been going through to get where they are, what their final product is going to be, and how it's going to help people in the community. Basically a massive, mid or end project decision.
• It would be good for everyone else who would then have a bank of information to find out what  topics people are looking into, or have done in the past. It creates a place where people can go to seek out knowledge. It creates a model of quality inquiry or project thinking for students who are less independent and struggling to see the point of school. 

But most importantly, it makes assessment authentic, it makes it student driven, it gives some responsibility back to the student, and it makes learning visible.