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Auxin: Portfolios as a pedagogical choice for assessment as learning
Start: 12/04/2022, 12:45
End: 12/04/2022, 13:45
Contact:Lucy Lucks - 021 808 3717
Location: Virtual: MS Teams

​​​​The Topic

Portfolios as a pedagogical choice for assessment as learning: insights from a teacher education programme

Much has been written about the theoretical bases of portfolios as an assessment tool. However, not much is known about the knowledge, attitudes and learnings resulting from the use of portfolios and reflection among pre-service teachers. This assessment strategyby which students learn,is also referred to as assessment as learning. We contribute to this knowledge gap by illustrating how a module in a teacher education programme used portfolios as a tool for assessment as learning and knowledge integration. In this presentation we draw on pre-service foundation phase teachers’ reflections about the value of portfolios as an assessment tool for learning to answer the following question:do portfolios promote learning through students’ engagement in reflection?

In doing so, we aim to illustrate how we used portfolios that incorporated reflection as a tool to enhance the student’s process of thinking about learning. This deliberate choice for teaching and learning afforded us an opportunity to encourage students to think about their learning as opposed to just working for marks. We worked towards a mere disruption from the traditional view of a portfolio as a collection of artefacts to a learning portfolio where the process of learning was drawn on. Portfolios with an explicit focus on learning could bring about changes for students as they become more aware of their own learning. The construction of the learning portfolio is therefore an effective form of professional development.

In the presentation, we will unpack the theoretical foundations related to portfolios and assessment and illustrate how this may be a link to sustainable assessment. We conclude that portfolios are indeed a useful pedagogical choice for assessment as learning.​​


The Speakers​

Dr Zelda Barends, Ms Agatha Lebethe (Faculty of Education) & Dr Anthea Jacobs (Advisor: Centre for Teaching & Learning)

Dr Zelda Barends is a lecturer and teacher educator in the Department of Curriculum Studies. Her research focuses on foundation phase language and literacy education and on interventions designed to improve its quality and effectiveness.  Her teaching choices expands a further interest in how professional training and experience could combine to equip beginning teachers with the knowledge and skills needed for effective literacy teaching. 

Ms Agatha Lebethe: Agatha is the Foundation Phase Mathematics Education Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Department of Curriculum Studies. Her research interest includes Assessments in Mathematics Teacher Education and the Learner understanding of unitisation in Early Grade Measurement. An important focus of her teaching is the extension and transference of Assessments beyond the lecture theatre into the professional space of the mathematics teacher. 

Dr Anthea Jacobs: Anthea is a TLA advisor / academic developer at the SU CTL, which forms part of the Division of Learning and Teaching Enhancement. Her research interests are in the field of Academic Development, including transformative pedagogies. An important focus of her work is the strengthening of scholarship in HE TLA. She believes that collaborative engagement and working together to respond to complex educational questions, is key to building the next generation of academics.


​Click here to join the meeting ​​at 12.45 on MSTeams​​.​


Enquiries & Booking

Lucy Lucks
llucks@sun.ac.za
021 808 3717

You don't have to book, just join us on MSTeams.​


More about Auxin ​​