Nature of assessment 3
This study aims to explore the experiences of business teachers in designing assessment tasks for grades 10-12. As this thesis focuses on the design of assessment tasks in business studies, only changes relevant to business studies in grades 10-12 are explained below.
Focus and purpose of the study 6
Notable changes in CAPS for business studies, grades 10-12 was the removal of LOs and Assessment Standards (AS) which did not affect content. A study conducted by Mdunana (2011, p. 97) asserts that there are gaps in the implementation and practice of SBA duties.
Rationale for the study 8
My observations revealed that most teachers use the assessment tasks given in the document without adapting them. Therefore, this led me to investigate teachers' experiences in the process of designing assessment tasks and grading tools.
Research Questions 11
I hope that positive and negative experiences are reflected on, so that good practices can be maintained while areas requiring improvement can be addressed.
Research Methodology 11
These took place on a one-to-one basis with the aim of obtaining a holistic and thick description of the teachers' experiences in the process of designing assessment tasks. Document analysis was used to answer the second critical question that referred to the design of assessment tasks and tools.
Conceptual Framework 12
Teachers should design assessment tasks that require students to fit new ideas into their preexisting conceptual frameworks (Badders, 2000). When teachers design assessment tasks, they need to incorporate all cognitive levels of Bloom's taxonomy to account for the different intellectual abilities of students (DoE, 2008).
Structure of the thesis 14
This chapter also reflects on the ethical issues of the study and ends with a summary. The fourth chapter presents analysis of the relevant data produced from interviews with the three teachers about their experiences of designing assessment tasks.
Conclusion 15
The last part of this chapter is devoted to the method of data analysis, reliability, trustworthiness and limitations of the study. Chapter five provides a synthesis of the study's findings and answers the critical questions that guided the study.
Introduction 16
SBA will be used in this study; it is an assessment that requires teachers to gather, synthesize, and interpret information to assist in classroom decision making (Russel & Airasian, 2008) that improves student learning (McMillan, 2011). These new developments in assessment are part of a move to design assessment that supports learning and provides more detailed information about the learner (Wolf, Bixby, Glenn & Gamer, 1991).
Meaning of assessment 17
- Purpose of assessment 19
- Formative assessment 20
- Teachers’ experiences of authentic assessment 23
- What is authentic assessment? 23
- Importance of authentic assessment 25
In terms of assessment in business administration, formative assessment includes formal and informal assessment tasks. There is a gap in the literature on the implementation of formative assessment in business administration.
Assessment in Business Studies 26
- Old and new assessment approach 27
This study sought to explore teachers' experiences in designing assessment tasks in the new curriculum in SA. Teachers' experiences with new assessment practices have a major impact on the design of assessment tasks. Therefore, this study will contribute to the knowledge about teachers' experiences in designing assessment tasks for business studies at the FET stage (grade 10-12).
The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of teachers in the design of assessment tasks for business studies in grades 10 and 12. To find out the experiences of teachers in the process of designing assessment tasks and tools in accordance with the assessment policy. The following responses revealed different experiences of teachers regarding the design of assessment tasks.
In the process of designing assessment tasks and tools, participants revealed that they first consider the policies. This study sought to explore the experiences of teachers in designing assessment tasks for Business Studies in grades 10-12. This theme reports on teachers' understanding of a variety of assessment tasks and assessment methods to be used in assessment in the new curriculum.
How do these kinds of assessment tasks affect students' understanding of the subject. iv). There was nothing related to any formal assessment tasks in the assessment strategies column of the work plan. Copies of assessment tasks and tools for and 2012 were found in the teacher's assessment documents.
AN EXPLORATION OF TEACHERS' EXPERIENCES IN DESIGNING ASSESSMENT TASKS FOR BUSINESS STUDIES FOR GRADE 10-12. WHAT TYPES OF ASSESSMENT TASKS DO TEACHERS DESIGN.
Teachers’ experiences 29
- Designing assessment task 31
- Designing assessment tool 33
Conceptual framework 35
The next section presents the literature on Bloom's Taxonomy, as this will also guide the data analysis. Bloom's taxonomy is a model for classifying thinking according to six cognitive levels of complexity (Forehand, 2005): knowledge/remembering; understanding/understanding;. Kasteberg (2003) points out that a teacher can use the processes of Bloom's Taxonomy as an assessment framework to construct and revise assessments so that they are consistent with what has been learned.
Any assessment task designed in business studies, whether formal or informal, should include all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy to ensure the different intellectual abilities of students. Lee (1999) argues that Blooms taxonomy offers a promising approach for designing assessment for students that encourages critical thinking and constructivist approaches to learning. First, the findings were that the level of questions designed according to Bloom's taxonomy affects students' performance in answering comprehension questions.
Therefore, it is clear from the conducted research that Bloom's theory, used in the design of assessment tasks and assessment tools, will benefit the student and the teacher and improve teaching and learning. Teachers should be guided by Bloom's Taxonomy as outlined in the Assessment Policy and Assessment Guidelines when designing assessment tasks. Therefore, Bloom's Taxonomy will help me understand how teachers design assessment tasks that take into account all the thinking abilities of students.
Conclusion 38
Ahraj, Bissell, and Lemons (2006) used theory in the biology classroom to promote higher order thinking by first preparing questions that included both content and critical thinking and developing scoring rubrics that provide independent assessment of both content and skills required for each question. The results of this assessment indicated that students became aware of the skills they need to develop to succeed in their course and the quality of the expected answers to the questions. Veeravagul (2010) examined the relationship between the level of thought processes in comprehension questions and student performance.
My research aims to gather information about how teachers engage in designing assessment tasks and rubrics by analyzing their assessment documents. This was followed by the conceptual frameworks related to this study, namely constructivism and Bloom's taxonomy. The literature review revealed that there is a gap in the research on business administration, as a subject that contributes a lot to the knowledge and skills relevant to the economy of the country and the world (Russel, 2009).
It also pointed to a gap in the studies regarding how teachers experience setting tasks to assess students in the new curriculum. Based on the review of the relevant literature on assessment, I have developed a conceptual framework to help me answer the research questions: what are teachers'. The sampling method used, selected research instruments and issues of trustworthiness and credibility of the data collected as well as data analysis, ethical issues and limitations are also discussed.
- Interpretivist paradigm 39
- The qualitative approach 41
- The case study methodology 42
- Selection of context to study the phenomenon 45
- Selection of participants 45
- Research questions 46
- Data production and collection 46
- Data collection methods 48
- Face-to-face semi structured interviews 48
- Document analysis 49
- Data analysis 49
- Credibility and trustworthiness 50
- Ethical issues 50
- Limitations 51
- Conclusion 51
Yin (2003) describes a case study as an in-depth contextual understanding of the case based on multiple data sources. A case study will allow me to get the rich data required for an in-depth understanding of the case. A case study will therefore allow me to gain a holistic view of the phenomenon under investigation (Noor, 2008).
These data collection methods will be discussed later after the choice of the context for the study is discussed. The research will be carried out in my own professional context, as already alluded to in the justification of the study. Data will be collected from analysis of the documents and through semi-structured interviews, which will be tape-recorded.
In this way, I was able to make sense of the in-depth information I received from the study. Reliability of the interviews must be confirmed by comparing the interview data with the observation schedules; this is called convergent validity (Cohen et al., 2007). Teachers will all answer the same questions to further reduce the unreliability of the study (Cohen et al., 2007).
- Analysis of data 53
- Selection decisions 53
- Recording experiences 54
- Teachers’ authentic tasks experiences 55
- Teachers’ diverse and contextual experiences 57
- Subject knowledge related experience 62
- Procedure in design 63
- Conclusion 66
- Introduction 68
- Synthesis of the research study 69
- Task preference 69
- Making sound judgement 69
- Contextualised task design 70
- Diversity in task design 70
- Assessment impact on subject knowledge 73
- Assessment design process 73
- Recommendations 75
- Ongoing teacher development programme 75
- Schools’ subject restructuring 75
- Possibilities for further research 76
- Conclusion 76
All participants indicated that they use different assessment tasks and different methods to assess students and monitor their progress. They confidently mentioned all the formal assessment tasks they have to design for their students. The responses of the three participants showed different experiences in designing assessment tasks and tools, both positive and negative.
It emerged during interaction with the participants that they saw the impact of assessment tasks on student understanding as positive. The answer to the first question revealed the teachers' experiences regarding the selection of assessment tasks to be designed and recorded. All participants indicated that they used a variety of assessment tasks and methods to assess students and monitor their progress.
It was clear that participants understand the importance of formal assessment tasks in the new curriculum, as set out in the assessment policy documents. Teachers' experiences regarding the nature of assessment tasks used to assess students in business studies and their involvement in their design were explored. This theme emerged from analyzing participants' responses to their experiences regarding the impact of assessment tasks on the topic.
Therefore, the availability of policy guidelines does not guarantee that teachers know how to design assessment tasks of the required level. It has been discovered that there are major challenges that impact the design of assessment tasks. Data on student performance in the CASS grid showed that formal assessment tasks were recorded.
Copies of assessment tasks and tools were on file and some were extracted from the ATD but were modified.
