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BCA (Student Assessment)
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What are the characteristics of the Student Assessment?
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- The Student Assessment is mainly a web-based
item bank. Suitable items / tasks from the bank can be selected
by teachers for assessing students’ basic competencies. Appropriate
follow-up actions would be taken whenever necessary.
- The Student Assessment helps teachers manage
their teaching routine: items / tasks of the item bank will be marked
by computer. This will reduce the workload in setting and marking
items. Instant report that helps teachers understand the performance
of students in certain basic competencies is also available after
the assessment.
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Every school has its own teaching focus, progress and style. How can
the Student Assessment be developed effectively to suit all schools?
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- The content of the Student Assessment is
closely related to that of the central curriculum and covers the main content
of the school curriculum. Teachers can select corresponding items from
the item bank and conduct the assessment according to their teaching
schedule and students' learning progress.
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How do the Student Assessment and the school internal assessment worked
together?
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- The purpose of developing the Student
Assessment is to provide schools with an additional tool for conducting
internal assessment effectively. However, the Student Assessment is only
one of the tools for assessing students' learning. Schools should make
use of this tool to supplement other modes of internal assessments
(including tests, examinations, class discussions and project works) according
to students' needs. This helps to understand their learning progress and
needs more comprehensively and effectively, and facilitate early
detection of problems and the provision of timely support and guidance.
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How does the Student Assessment support learning and teaching?
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- Same as the other assessments, the Student Assessment
needs to be used properly. Teachers need to integrate it with other
modes of internal assessments and take into account of teaching
objectives and students’ learning needs.
- If teachers doubt whether students have met
basic requirement of the curriculum in daily learning, teaching
or assessment activities, they can use suitable items / tasks in
the item bank to assess their performances and hence learn about
their needs, provide support to students and help them meet the
requirements of curriculum.
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In the item bank of the
Student Assessment, items are categorized according to Key Stage. What should
teachers do if the levels of some students’ are lower or higher than the
average?
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- The purpose of
setting item bank is to assist teacher to understand students’ strengths
and weaknesses. If teachers find appropriate items from any Key Stages,
they may freely select the items for their students irrespective of
their Key Stage. In the long run, as the Student Assessment is developed
and matured as the Assessment for Learning Resource Bank with a wide
coverage, teachers will find it easier to select appropriate assessment
materials within the resource bank.
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When should the Student
Assessment be used? How many times should it be used in a year?
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- The Student Assessment is a web service. It
is an additional tool to help teachers understand whether students
have met the basic requirements of the curriculum. Therefore, it
is not compulsory for every student to use the service and there
is no control over the number of times they use it in a year. Schools
should make their own arrangement based on their teaching schedule,
facilities and students’ need etc.
- If teachers are certain that students have met
the basic requirements of the curriculum, there is no need to use
the Student Assessment. If teachers have doubts and the environment
allows, they may choose to use the Student Assessment as an assessment
activity in the learning and teaching cycle. Teachers may also use
other assessment modes such as lesson observations and project works
for promoting assessment for learning.
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If students are found unable to meet the requirements of some basic
competencies, what follow-up actions should be taken by teachers? What are
the support measures provided by EMB?
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- After teachers make judgment of students who
need follow-up, conventional teaching resources, such as worksheet,
exercise etc., may be useful to help students. In the Student Assessment
website, teachers will find a hyperlink to the Web-based Learning
and Teaching Support with related resource for use to support students
in their learning.
- EMB will arrange related training to enrich
teachers’ knowledge on how to use the Student Assessment to improve
students’ learning.
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What are the limitations of the Student Assessment?
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- The coverage of the Student Assessment is rather
limited. It does not cover all the basic competencies and the requirements
of the curriculum beyond basic competencies (Some basic competencies
such as speaking and writing in the language subjects cannot be
marked easily on-line due to the limitation of computer technologies).
Teachers will have to rely on other means, such as other modes of
internal school assessments in order to understand comprehensively
their students' performance and their learning progress.
- Within the item bank, there are some items /
tasks unable to be marked on-line. Teachers may download these items
to conduct assessment for their students. These items / tasks come
with notes for assessment and marking schemes to facilitate teachers
to use.
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What should be done if the number of computers is not enough for the
students of a class to use at the same time?
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- As the service of the Student Assessment is not appropriate
to be used as any standardized tests, it is not necessary for teachers
to arrange students of a class to attempt the Student Assessment
at the same time or select the same set of items for all students.
Teachers should maximize the flexibility provided by it. Students
may try the Student Assessment at recess, after school or at home
with their own Internet facilities.
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What should be done if schools have problems on computers or using the
Internet?
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- EMB commissioned the Hong Kong Examinations
and Assessment Authority to handle and follow-up problems on computers
or using the Internet. Schools could contact HKEAA for assistance.
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How do schools know the progress of the development of the Student
Assessment?
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- EMB will organize briefing sessions to inform
schools of the development of BCA and introduce how to use BCA to
facilitate learning and teaching. It will also produce related leaflet
for distribution.
- EMB will also provide related training for teachers
in the professional development programme related to Assessment
for Learning.
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