Title: Joining the dots – assessment as a form of integrating professional and communication skills 

 

Names of presenters: Marju Taukar (PhD), Tiina Meos (MA),

 

Affiliation and academic titles: Lecturers at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences

Email addresses: marju.taukar@sisekaitse.ee; tiina.meos@sisekaitse.ee

 

Keywords: assessment, 21st century skills, communication, AI in teaching and learning, employability skills

 

Abstract: 

Assessment, inherently problematic and often subjective, often fails to truly advance learning. In language learning, it is common to assess course performance with an essay or presentation, or a test. However, the trend in modern teaching methodologies is towards learner autonomy, and traditional assessment methods are not entirely aligned with this, especially in the time when AI can help/”help” with so much. 

 

Our goal was to find a holistic (self-)assessment approach with a learning component. We were aiming at an alternative that would align with 21st century skills but also skills related to our students’ profession. To support our learners’ development in these areas, we set out to try and test different approaches and tasks for end of the course assessment that would include co-operation, creativity, digital literacy, critical thinking, adaptability.  

 

The result was a video of a student-created news programme encompassing the different topics covered during the course but also those crucial skills modern professionals need to develop. We have revised it during the 2 years of testing, based on the students’ feedback and our observations. In the presentation, we are going to walk you through the different components and parts of the task and join the dots between the tasks and the required skills and knowledge.