Continuous Assessment in a Large Course of Educational Psychology in Barcelona (Spain)

1. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT2010 – EDINBURGH Continuous Assessment in a Large Course ofEducational Psychology in Barcelona (Spain) Clariana, M. Gotzens, C. Badia, M. (UAB; Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona)

2. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT2010 – EDINBURGH – RATIONAL CONSTRUCTIVISM and BOLOGNA PROCESS The students are active builders of their own knowledge(Mayo, 2010) The quality of education and training must be improved(European Commission, 2010)

3. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT2010 – EDINBURGH – RATIONAL Higher Education should teach and assess Declarative and procedural knowledge Applying a continuous assessment method Help undergraduates to develop job transferable skills and critical thinking(McGann et al., 2009) Help undergraduates toTHINK PSYCHOLOGICALLY (Trapp, 2008)

4. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT2010 – EDINBURGH – RATIONAL Teaching both declarative and procedural content and applying a continuous assessment method should make possible to control academic procrastination: The needless and endless delay when doing academic work Personality trait connected with lower C, lower intrinsic motivation and lower self-efficacy(Steel, 2007) Result of certain practicessuch as teaching only theoryand doing only final exams(Ackerman & Gross, 2007)

5. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT2010 – EDINBURGH – RATIONAL Aims of the study 1. Teach both theoretical knowledge and practice. 2. Apply a continuous assessment method. 3. Find out the undergraduates’ learning and satisfaction. 4. Compare academic procrastination between our course and one with a final exam only.

6. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT2010 – EDINBURGH – METHOD Participants Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB; Spain). “Learning and Individual Differences” (Educational Psychology). Final year undergraduates, n = 69, 14 weeks. All participants were female.

7. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT2010 – EDINBURGH – METHOD ProcedureLectures and reading articles + PRES DEC. Presentation of the declarative knowledge. PRES PROC. Presentation of the procedural knowledge. Two cases. COMMENT. Writing about the classmates’ presentations. MULT CHOICE. Exercise with 50 questions and 5 options for each. REPORT. Writing a psycho-educational report for a secondary student.

8. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT2010 – EDINBURGH – METHOD Variables and materials ENJOY. Grade (0-10) each on of the 5 assessment activities. BEST. Choose the best of the 5 assessment activities and explain why. PROC CONT. Answer PASS (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984) for our course. PROC FINAL. Answers PASS for a course with a final exam only. MARK CONT. Write the final mark for our course. MARK FINAL. Write the final mark for the course with exam only.

9. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT 2010 – EDINBURGH – RESULTS

10. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT 2010 – EDINBURGH – RESULTS Grades given by the students for the five assessment activities (0 to 10). Paired samples test between the PRES PRO and the other four activities.

11. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT 2010 – EDINBURGH – RESULTS WRITE FREELY ABOUT THE PRESENTATION OF THE CASES • Makes me feel like a psychologist. • A very practical activity after many years of theory. • The case presentation made me feel involved with the course. • Helped me to go deeper into the declarative course content. • I’ve noticed my own progress from the first presentation to the second. • I’ve really enjoyed interviewing my students and giving them advice.

12. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT 2010 – EDINBURGH – RESULTS Mark t = 8.59 (p = .000) Procrastination t = -13.24 (p = .000) Paired samples t-test, n = 69

13. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT 2010 – EDINBURGH – CONCLUSIONS 1 Qualitative and quantitative data shows psychology undergraduates enjoyed Learning both declarative and procedural knowledge. Participating in a continuous assessment system.

14. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT 2010 – EDINBURGH – CONCLUSIONS 2 The 5 assessment activities we proposed were adequate to teach and learn both declarative and procedural knowledge because the undergraduates Participated in all of them, although they were not compulsory. Graded all them > 7 on a 0 -10 scale.

15. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT 2010 – EDINBURGH – CONCLUSIONS 3 The students procrastinated significantly lessin our continuous assessment course than in a final exam course.

16. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT 2010 – EDINBURGH – CONCLUSIONS 4 Evaluation in Higher Education should be stretched to an assessment space, intimately linked to everyday instructional activities, with at least the following three features: Involving both theory and practice. Requiring both oral and written processes. To be scheduled by the students themselves.

17. Continuous assessment in a large course of educational psychology in Barcelona (Spain)PLAT 2010 – EDINBURGH – THANK YOU Thank you very much for your attention