Purpose and Process of Evaluation
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The purpose of evaluation is measurement. Measurement allows us to see how
much progress has been made, to know how close we are to reaching a goal, or to
help us choose a different way to get to our goal. Say you are trying to lose weight.
You start by weighing yourself. You need to know the starting weight in order to
judge the end point. Then you change some eating habits and do more exercise.
After some time passes, you weigh yourself again. The difference in weight tells you
how much you have lost, how much more you have to lose and how much time it
should take. These types of measurements are useful tools in managing many
aspects of life.
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At university, teachers measure your learning by your performance on tests, projects,
assignments, and class work. They may give an early test to see how much you
already know. Attendance is measured, as attendance in class is closely related to
grades. Everything you do that the teacher can judge contributes to your grade. So
naturally, if you want a good grade, you should do all these things as well as you
possibly can. And you should make the changes in your performance that you need
to make in order to learn more.
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In addition to the teacher’s evaluation of you and your work, you need to learn to
evaluate yourself. This is a new skill for many students and it takes practice to do
well. The first step in evaluating yourself is to be honest. Honesty gives you the
ability to judge what is true about your work, your preparation and your task
completion. Holding a mirror to yourself and honestly evaluating what you have
done is difficult. You have to see what is really there, not what you want to see.
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The second step in self-evaluation is knowing exactly what to look for. If you are
asked to measure your own performance in preparing for a test, you have to look at
specific activities and the number of times you did them. Reviewing notes is a job
you need to do to prepare for tests. How often did you review your notes?
Revisiting your vocabulary log and testing yourself on the meanings of the words is
another test preparation task. Did you do this every 4-5 days? Preparing for and
joining your study group are part of your performance. How often did you do these
things? If you can honestly count the number of times you did the things that you
needed to do, then you can self-evaluate. Otherwise, you cannot.
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Keep these things in mind when you see how you are being evaluated. Are the
proper things being counted? Is there a clear and countable way to judge whether or
not or how well you have done these things? Remember, you and your performance
are important to the system. You are going to be a graduate some day with
contributions to make to society. You need to be sure that what is measured and
reported about you now is the truth.