La Titularización como factor de calificación de gestión

Although it is interesting to note that most of the six students did not actually identify homework as self-assessment, a student’s inability to identify the homework as self-assessment did not prevent the student from engaging with it as such. There are two prevalent factors with which the students can be classified regarding homework as self- assessment: behaviour and value. First, did the student behave as if the homework was self-assessment? That is, did the student use it as such? Second, did the student actually value this self-assessment? The following table categorizes the six students according to these factors. Note that because Sarah and Amanda changed from the beginning of the semester to the end, they appear twice in the table; the bracketed words “beginning” and “end” indicate their categorizations at the start and finish of the semester.

Table 1. Behaviour and Value of Homework as Self-assessment

Behaved as if HW was SA Did not behave as if HW was SA

Valued HW as SA Sarah (end) Joshua Erin

Did not value HW as SA Amanda (beginning) Sarah (beginning) Amanda (end) William Jason

Joshua and Erin both behaved as if the homework was self-assessment and also valued it as such. Disregarding the very beginning of the semester when Joshua forgot to use the tracking sheets, both he and Erin engaged with the homework as self- assessment throughout the entire semester. They used the tracking sheets in the manner intended and responded appropriately to the feedback they received for each learning outcome: either seeking extra help, trying extra questions on their own, or completing less questions in future assignments. Although, as described in chapter 4, Erin changed how she used the tracking sheets near the end of the semester, she still continued to use the homework as self-assessment. Furthermore, both Joshua and Erin communicated through their surveys and interviews that they highly valued the homework as self-

concepts to get help with and which to skip, what questions to ask in class, and what to study – because of this homework system. The self-assessment enabled them to use their homework time more effectively by focusing more on areas where they struggled, instead of wasting time doing repetitive questions that they already understood. Through in-depth conversation, it was clear that they both realized that their learning had improved because of the self-assessment afforded them from this homework system.

In contrast, William and Jason neither behaved as if the homework was self- assessment nor valued it as such. They did not behave as if the homework was self- assessment because, barring the rare occasion, they simply did not do the homework or tracking sheets. First, William rarely completed the regular homework during the semester and he never filled out the tracking sheets. Second, Jason almost never completed the homework or tracking sheets, except for a brief, desperate attempt several weeks before the provincial to try to improve his grade. However, although Jason claimed that he tried fully completing the homework and tracking sheets for that week and a half, I do not know how or if he responded at all to any of the feedback he might have obtained from the tracking sheets. I suspect that he did not since he stopped using the tracking sheets because he said they did not help him. I do not consider this brief attempt to be true engagement with the homework as self-assessment. In fact, I am confident that if Jason had been passing the course, he never would have tried completing the homework or tracking sheets at all.

Furthermore, it was clear that neither student valued homework as self- assessment. William did not see any reason to use the daily homework as self- assessment because he actually did his own self-assessment at the end of class; he would decide then whether he needed to do the evening’s homework based on how much he thought he had understood from the in-class lesson. However, as described in chapter 4, even when he intended to do the homework, he usually did not end up doing it due to a variety of reasons. Second, Jason did not value the homework as self-assessment because for him the main purpose of completing homework is to obtain marks. Self- assessment involves learning, but Jason did not care about learning. He simply wanted to exert the very minimum amount of effort necessary to pass his classes, and did not care if he learned anything in the process. In fact, because his effort in my class concerning

both in-class activities and homework was almost non-existent throughout the majority of the semester, we could not even progress to any kind of meaningful conversation about homework as self-assessment during his interviews.

Amanda also never valued the homework as self-assessment; however, her behaviour changed. At the beginning of the semester, she behaved as if the homework was self-assessment by using the homework system in the manner I intended, simply because I told her to. Yet, although she regularly filled out the tracking sheets, she did not think that they helped her very much. She said that, at times, they did help her “in the moment” as she did her daily homework to see a specific learning outcome she was struggling with. However, for tests and exams, instead of using the tracking sheets to focus on her weaknesses, she preferred to just study everything to make sure she remembered it all. Ultimately, however, she actually believed that she already knew where she excelled and where she struggled, and so she did not value the homework tracking sheets for self-assessment because they were not providing her with any new information. Because of this she eventually ceased using the tracking sheets all together, and stopped behaving as if the homework was self-assessment.

Finally, Sarah also changed from the beginning to the end of the semester. She began the semester neither behaving as if the homework was self-assessment, nor valuing it as such. She didn’t behave as if it was self-assessment because she did not consistently complete the homework and the tracking sheets. Furthermore, when she did do the tracking sheets, she did not pay much attention to any feedback they provided. She also did not value the homework as self-assessment because, like William, she would self-assess herself before doing the homework; she would often not do it because she thought she already understood the concepts. However, by the end of the semester, Sarah both behaved as if the homework was self-assessment and highly valued it as such. She started completing all of her homework and the tracking sheets on a daily basis. As described in chapter 4, she realized that she had usually overestimated her abilities when she decided not to do the homework and that she actually needed to do it daily. She decided that she needed to complete all of the learning outcomes for every day’s homework so that she would then be able to see from the tracking sheets whether she

understood each outcome or not, and would be able to respond accordingly by trying extra questions or seeking help.

Thus, Joshua and Erin both behaved as if the homework was self-assessment and highly valued it as such, while William and Jason did neither. Amanda changed from behaving to not behaving as if the homework was self-assessment, and never valued as such, while Sarah changed from doing neither at the beginning of the semester to doing both by the end. Joshua and Erin, the two students who both behaved and valued the homework as self-assessment throughout the whole semester were the most successful under this homework system.