Guides and resources

Think aloud

Also known as cognitive interviewing, student conferences, or student interviews.

Teachers sit alongside students and conduct an interview. Students are provided the opportunity to demonstrate and explain their work or a particular task. Teachers ask questions that elicit understandings about students’ content knowledge and skills.

• Think aloud guide (.pdf)
• Think aloud guide (.docx)
• Think aloud template (.docx)
• Think aloud example (.docx)
• Think aloud sample lessons:
  • BBC microbit project (Years 5-6)

Checklist

Checklists enable teachers to record information and to make judgements about what students know and can do in relation to the targeted Digital Technology outcomes.

Checklists provide an organised way of collecting data about behaviours, knowledge and skills that students demonstrate during a task.

• Checklist guide (.pdf)
• Checklist guide (.docx)
• Checklist template (.docx)
• Checklist example (.docx)
• Checklist sample lessons:
  • Glyphs (Years F-2)
  • Fairytale fun (Years F-2)

Rubrics

Rubrics:

1. Measure achievement along a continuum.
2. Identify the logical progression of skills, building complexity.
3. Use achievement standards and content descriptors as a guide.
4. Can be co-created with students. Typically a rubric employs some sort of scale that describes levels of performance that relate to each criteria being assessed.

• Rubrics guide (.pdf)
• Rubrics guide (.docx)
• Rubrics template (.docx)
• Rubrics example (.docx)
• Rubrics sample lessons:
  • Planting fruit and vegetables (Years 3-4)
  • Making maths quizzes 1 (Years 5-6)
  • Network infographic (Years 7-8)
  • A spreadsheet's secret weapon (Years 9-10)

SOLO taxonomy

SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes) provides a model for different levels of understanding, including surface, deep and conceptual (Biggs and Collis 1982).

SOLO Taxonomy supports teachers to classify learning outcomes in terms of their complexity, enabling teachers to assess students’ work in terms of its quality and depth as opposed to the quantity of items achieved.

• SOLO taxonomy guide (.pdf)
• SOLO taxonomy guide (.docx)
• SOLO taxonomy sample lessons:
  • Buzzing with bee-bots (Years F-2)
  • Sphero kit: Basic ball control (Years F-2)
  • Bee bot balloon pop (Years 3-4)
  • Makey Makey interactive poster (Years 3-4)
  • Talk to me (Years 5-6)
  • Light up a soft toy with lilypad (Years 7-8)
  • Collaborative project (Years 9-10)

Peer-review

A peer review or peer feedback involves students sharing their work with other students who will offer feedback and suggestions. Students will invite others to review their work and will be asked to contribute feedback on other students’ work.

• Peer-review guide (.pdf)
• Peer-review guide (.docx)
• Peer-review example (.docx)
• Peer-review sample lessons:
  • Class blog (Years 5-6)
  • Design a flag with Pencil code (Years 5-6)

Self-assessment

Student self-assessment is vital to a student being a successful learner. Self-reflection is a key component of a self-assessment.

Students who self-assess:

1. recognise that learning is associated with challenges that influence motivation
2. experience an increase in self-esteem
3. experience an improvement in their learning because they come to know how they learn rather than just what they learn

• Self-assessment guide (.pdf)
• Self-assessment guide (.docx)
• Self-assessment template (.docx)
• Self-assessment example (.docx)
• Self-assessment sample lessons:
  • Self-assessment: My data and information skills (.pdf) 
  • Design a quiz: Convicts crime and punishment (Years 3-4)
  • BBC Micro:Bit Project: Assessment ideas (Years 5-6)
  • Computer chatter 2: Network performance (Years 7-8)

Primary trait analysis

Primary Trait Analysis is a useful assessment technique that can be used to assess students’ project work by breaking it into smaller sections and assessing each one separately. For example a collaborative project may be broken down into three key components:

1. Planning the project
2. Managing the project
3. Collaborating as a team.

• Primary trait analysis guide (.pdf)
• Primary trait analysis guide (.docx)
• Primary trait analysis template (.docx)
• Primary trait analysis example (.docx)
• Primary trait analysis sample lessons:
  • Creating a digital game (Years 9-10)
  • Robotics and embedded systems (Years 9-10)

Digital assessment

There are many great ways to capture and monitor student learning and achievement digitally. In this example, we use SeeSaw as a platform example, however, this could be done with other digital devices (tablets, cameras and microphones) and software, such as Explain Everything, Presentation Software, Paint, Book Creators (ebooks), and even Scratch (MIT) animations.

• Digital assessment guide (.pdf)
• Digital assessment guide (.docx)
• Digital assessment example (.docx)