Product-Based Assessment

This is where we find ourselves developing assessments from the point of view of the products we want learners to create.

This may lead us to frame our assessments with a question – or to build them up out of a series of questions.

Or it may cause us to ask learners to complete certain tasks.

But by having the products we want learners to create as our focus, we can draw out different benefits from those occasioned by question-led or task-led assessment design.

Here are three points to consider when working this way.

Product-Based Assessment: Consideration 1 – Three Questions to Ask

If the subject we are teaching involves a large practical element, then it is going to be the case that learners will best be able to demonstrate mastery by creating products of a certain type.

This is typically true in subjects such as art, design and technology and PE (practical) as well as, to a lesser extent, science and maths.

In these situations, it makes sense to begin with the product and to work from there.

In so doing, we reinforce the primacy of the practical element and find ourselves in a position from which we can structure the creation of the product so that learners are encouraged to call on a variety of cognitive (and/or physical) processes.

By doing this, we make sure we give them every chance to display to us the mastery they have developed in terms of their knowledge, understanding and skill.

This is where we can bring in Bloom’s Taxonomy, if appropriate.

The questions we ask ourselves are:

• What product do I want learners to produce?
• Does it rest on them having mastery over multiple levels of the taxonomy?
• How am I going to assess this, based on the products I want learners to produce?

If your answer to the second question is ‘no’ (and it may well be ‘no’ if you’re teaching a practical subject) it’s a signal that Bloom’s doesn’t apply (or only applies in part) in this scenario.

Product-Based Assessment: Consideration 2 – Consistency of Products

If the formal assessment to which we are working requires learners to create a product of a certain type, it makes sense to mirror this in the prior assessments we develop.

So, for example, if we are teaching history A Level and we know that essay writing will form the main basis of the exams learners will sit at the end of the course, then we can start from the premise that our in-class assessments ought often to be essays.

Most teachers work in this way. It is an obvious path to follow.

The benefits that accrue can be intensified by applying the different levels of the taxonomy to the product in question.

For example, we might provide learners with a self-assessment pro-forma outlining what they need to do to demonstrate understanding, effective analysis and skilled evaluation during their essays.

This will help them to produce better pieces of work, more closely tied to the success criteria and the demonstration of mastery, than would otherwise be the case.

The goal here is twofold.

First, create consistency across assessment products so that learners develop mastery of the form through repeated practice.

Second, scaffold learner engagement with these products by opening up the Bloom’s-based success criteria that underpin them.

Product-Based Assessment: Consideration 3 – Different Products Make Different Demands

This is a result of their structure which, in turn, infers what learners need to focus on if they are to create a product of this type.

Essay-writing calls on different processes to report-writing.

While there is overlap, there are also areas of exclusivity.

This means that the product on which you choose to base your assessment will in large part define the type of cognitive processes learners will be employing.

Two points follow.

First, it can be helpful at times to vary the products learners produce for assessment purposes.

This will give you an insight into different areas of their knowledge and understanding.

Second, different areas of the curriculum may be more naturally suited to certain types of products.

Alongside this, it is also worth considering how the different levels of the taxonomy can potentially be more easily assessed through specific types of products.

Mastery of synthesis, for example, may be easier for you to identify and assess in one product compared to another (which, in turn, might be better suited to assessing analytical ability).

The key is to think about fitness.

• Does the product fit with the area of the taxonomy you are trying to assess?
• Does it give you access to the information you need to make a sound judgement?

Does it make it easier or more difficult for you to reach the kind of judgment you seek?