Assessing General Capabilities

ACER Research ConferenceLearning assessments: Designing the future

16-18 August, Crown, Southbank, Melbourne

Julian FraillonDirector, Assessment and Reporting Research

Program – Mathematics and Science

Contents

• What are general capabilities?• Challenges in assessing general capabilities• Examples of working with/assessing general

capabilities– Visible thinking– ICT literacy

• What do ICTL outcomes look like?• Summary• Questions/comments

Successful learners who are able to plan activities independently, collaborate, work in teams and communicate ideas,

Confident and creative individuals who have a sense of optimism about their lives and the future

Active and informed citizens who act with moral and ethical integrity

Melbourne Declaration, 2008

What are general capabilities?

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

What are general capabilities?• They encompass knowledge, skills,

behaviours and dispositions that, together with curriculum content in each learning area and the cross-curriculum priorities, will assist students to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century (ACARA, 2015)

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

What are general capabilities?The Australian Curriculum includes seven general capabilities. These are:• Literacy• Numeracy• Information and communication technology

capability• Critical and creative thinking• Personal and social capability• Ethical understanding• Intercultural understanding.

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

What are general capabilities?The Australian Core Skills for Work framework comprises 10 skills organised across three clusters:

CLUSTER 1 - NAVIGATE THE WORLD OF WORK a. Manage career and work life b. Work with roles, rights and protocols.

CLUSTER 2 - INTERACT WITH OTHERS c. Communicate for workd. Connect and work with otherse. Recognise and utilise diverse perspectives.

CLUSTER 3 - GET THE WORK DONE f. Plan and organise g. Make decisions h. Identify and solve problems i. Create and innovate j. Work in a digital world.

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Challenges in assessing general capabilities1. Teacher lack of familiarity/confidence in

dealing with the area 2. Lack of available resources to support

assessment3. Student familiarity with the discipline4. Time/crowded curriculum5. Influence of context on expressions of

performance

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Examples of working with some general capabilities – visible thinking

1. Working with staff on deciding what ‘thinking’ looks like across different disciplines

2. Staff observed ‘visible thinking’ across different classes

Staff observed that the classes were not set up in ways to allow students to demonstrate ‘thinking’

Furthermore – there were important differences between teachers’ and students’ impressions of what was happening in classes.

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Examples of working with some general capabilities – visible thinking

What was missing?

LearntCurriculum

Intended curriculum

Assessed curriculumEnacted curriculum

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Making the discipline explicit – the teachers’ perspective (planning)

1. Consider general capabilities in the context of each subject

2. Plan to embed teaching and learning of general capabilities in subject teaching

3. Make the connections explicit to students

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Making the discipline explicit – the teachers’ perspective (planning)An example from ICT Literacy

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Making the discipline explicit – the teachers’ perspective (planning)

An example from ICT LiteracyApplying social and ethical protocols and practices when using ICT • recognise intellectual property • apply digital information security practices • apply personal security protocols • identify the impacts of ICT in society.

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Making the discipline explicit – the teachers’ perspective (planning)

An example from ICT LiteracyInvestigating with ICT • define and plan information searches• locate, generate and access data and

information• select and evaluate data and information.

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Making the discipline explicit – the students’ perspective (implementing)

An example from ICT Literacy• Don’t assume that by having students

complete work on a digital device that it will improve their ICT literacy.

• Sophia once showed me a spectacular presentation she had spent two hours making using the 20 French words she was required to learn for homework. What does this tell me about her ICT Literacy?

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Making the discipline explicit – the students’ perspective (implementing)

An example from ICT LiteracyWhen having students complete work on a digital device, plan for and give them feedback on their use of ICT (as relevant to the task) in ways that may include:– How efficiently relevant digital information was sought

and located;– How effectively students’ evaluated the relevance and

credibility of digital information;– What students did to validate the accuracy of digital

information;– How effectively students used software to construct

digital work products (e.g. presentations, documents, images and diagrams); and

– How well students demonstrated consideration of audience and purpose in constructing a digital work product.

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Making the discipline explicit – the students’ perspective (implementing)

An example from ICILS – a task

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Making the discipline explicit – the students’ perspective (implementing)

Making the discipline explicit – the students’ perspective (implementing)

Making the discipline explicit – the students’ perspective (implementing)

An example from ICILS – scoring fociElement Focus CharacteristicTitle Role Position and formatting

Images Layout Alignment and size

Text Information design Formatting and layout to show role

Text Contrast Contrast between text and background

Colour Consistency Use of colour to show role

Images Selection Relevance of images to text

Text Adaptation Copy/paste versus rephrase

Text Purpose Selected information meets purpose

Poster Persuasiveness Attempt to persuade viewers to participate

Poster Use of page Full page used or not

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

What do ICTL outcomes look like?Fifty per cent of Australian Year 6 students (based on 2011 data) and 76 per cent of Australian Year 8 students (based on 2013 data) can at least:1

• complete basic and explicit information- gathering and management tasks

• locate explicit information from within given electronic sources• make basic edits, and add content to existing information

products in response to specific instruction• create simple information products that show consistency of

design and adherence to layout conventions• demonstrate awareness of mechanisms for protecting personal

information and some consequences of public access to personal information.

(ICILS Level 2)

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

1 From Gebhardt, E & Fraillon, J Equating the national Australian and international computer and information literacy tests and examining growth from Year 6 to Year 8 and Year 10. Presented to the IEA International Research Conference , Cape Town South Africa, June, 2015.

What do ICTL outcomes look like?Fifty-six percent of Australian Year 10 (based on 2011 data) students can at least:• demonstrate the capacity to work independently when using

computers as information-gathering and management tools• select the most appropriate information source to meet a specified

purpose• retrieve information from given electronic sources to answer concrete

questions• follow instructions to use conventionally recognized software

commands to edit, add content to, and reformat information products• recognize that the credibility of web-based information can be

influenced by the identity, expertise, and motives of the creators of the information.

(ICILS Level 3)

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

1 From Gebhardt, E & Fraillon, J Equating the national Australian and international computer and information literacy tests and examining growth from Year 6 to Year 8 and Year 10. Presented to the IEA International Research Conference , Cape Town South Africa, June, 2015.

In summary

For each of the general capabilities (by any definition):• Literacy• Numeracy• Information and communication technology capability• Critical and creative thinking• Personal and social capability• Ethical understanding• Intercultural understanding.

Make the discipline explicit• Plan activities/tasks that allow for the expression of the capability• Include references to it in teaching (don’t assume it will be imbued)• Include relevant criteria in assessment• Provide feedback to students • Monitor progress and plan further activities/learning programs

accordingly

1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

Questions/comments