DESIGNING AN AUTHENTIC TASK AND ASSESSMENT DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: AN ANALYSIS OF TURKISH SOPHOMORES’ WRITTEN NARRATIVES AND BELIEFS ON THE APPROACH

Abstract

Considering the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on education, the present study aimed to investigate students’ practice in and reflections on the design of an authentic task and assessment for an entirely online course. A total of 65 sophomores taking a linguistics course in a Turkish state university participated in the study in May 2021. The study first designed the course task based on the related literature. Data from all of the students’ written tasks indicated that students differed in practicing and reflecting on the authentic task in terms of social, emotional, environmental and physical aspects. Follow-up semi-structured interviews from 10 participants revealed that the authentic task and rubric were useful because of their suitability, online availability, functionality and emotional support. The findings also showed that learning can be facilitated, centered, individualized, empowered and scaffolded thanks to the relevance of activities with real issues. However, some students called for collaboration with other students. Therefore, it is recommended that in the design of a curriculum, authentic activities should be constructed in such a way that each individual can easily express their own voices as well as sharing their task with peers not only in a time of crisis but also in future classrooms.

Keywords

• Authentic assessment
• authentic learning
• beliefs
• higher education

DESIGNING AN AUTHENTIC TASK AND ASSESSMENT DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: AN ANALYSIS OF TURKISH SOPHOMORES’ WRITTEN NARRATIVES AND BELIEFS ON THE APPROACH

Öz

Bu çalışma, COVID-19 salgınının eğitim üzerindeki etkisini dikkate alarak tamamen çevrimiçi bir ders için özgün bir görev ve değerlendirme ortamı tasarlamış ve öğrencilerin uygulamalarını ve sonuçlarını incelemeyi amaçlamıştır. Çalışmaya bir Türk devlet üniversitesinde dilbilim dersi alan toplam 65 ikinci sınıf öğrencisi Mayıs 2021’de katılmıştır. İlk önce, çalışma ilgili literatüre dayalı olarak ders görevini tasarlamıştır. Tüm öğrencilerin yazılı görevlerinden elde edilen verilere göre, öğrenciler özgün görevlerinde uygulama ve yansıtma açısından farklılık göstermiştir. Bu farklılıklar sosyal, duygusal, çevresel ve fiziksel açılardan ele alınmaktadır.10 katılımcıyla yapılan yarı yapılandırılmış takip görüşmelerine göre, katılımcılar özgün görev ve değerlendirme tablosunu uygunlukları, çevrimiçi erişilebilirlikleri, işlevsellikleri ve duygusal destekleri bakımından yararlı bulmuşlardır. Ayrıca, bulgular, faaliyetlerin gerçek dünya problemleriyle uygunluğu sayesinde öğrenmenin kolaylaştırılabileceğini, merkezlenebileceğini, bireyselleştirilebileceğini, güçlendirilebileceğini ve yardım edebileceğini göstermiştir. Ancak bazı öğrenciler diğer öğrencilerle işbirliği yapabileceği öğrenme ortamları istemişlerdir. Bu nedenle müfredat tasarlanırken özgün etkinliklerin her bireyin kendi sesini rahatlıkla ifade edebileceği ve görevlerini sadece kriz anında değil gelecekte sınıf ortamlarında da akranlarıyla paylaşabileceği şekilde tasarlanması önerilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Özgün değerlendirme
• özgün öğrenme
• inançlar
• yükseköğretim

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