The difference between AFL and AOL

The education landscape is forever changing.

There is never a fixed formula to last forever.

Recent years, I have heard lots of sharing about Assessment For Learning(AFL) and Assessment Of Learning(AOL).

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A short videoclip about AFL vs AOL.

After teaching for so many years, there were also more professional discussions on summative assessment and formative assessment.

All these new terms can be quite difficult for teachers who are used to the old ways especially they have always been able to produce academic results using the old ways without the need for changes.

This short article is some of my thoughts about AFL and AOL.

Assessment For Learning

My understanding for AFL in simple is to find how much a student has learnt or has not learnt so that the student can learn what he/she needs to learn.

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The purpose of AFL is mainly to provide information to improve learning instead of a measurement of how much a child can score for examination.

AFL provides information about learning gaps so that teachers and students can bridge the gaps with suitable interventions.

\Students can also find ways to get help for their areas for improvement.

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AFL should not be threatening but it can be done through learning games or assessment through informal questioning in class.

Teachers can even organise debates to let students discuss a certain topic or concept meaningfully. Through debates, students can easily know what they may be lacking in understanding and identify the need for greater clarification and learning to take place.

Learning can be fun and non-threatening and we can move away from paper-and-pen tests and examinations.

Assessment Of Learning

Assessment Of Learning is simply our traditional paper-and-pen test or performance tasks.

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There is definitely still a place for AOL especially the need to place students into suitable learning groups or classes.

With AOL, the school can find out about the strong subject areas of students and group them according to their strengths and weaknesses.

With this information in mind, teachers can plan their lessons and focus more time on the areas of weaknesses.

They can also stretch their strengths to reach greater mastery.

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Most teachers can agree that it is easily to teach a class with similar level of strength and weakness so that everyone can move at the same pace.

This is a so-called ideal classroom but in reality, there can still be differentiation due to additional help for students outside the classroom like extra tuitions by private tutors.

Roles of AFL and AOL

AFL is useful as a regular learning process within the classroom.

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Teachers can even lead students to self-assess their own learning to know how much more they need to understand.

AFL is therefore a good way to promote metacognition if it is used in an intentional way.

AOL can be an assessment to see how much students have mastered.

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We can also evaluate whether the AFL plans have worked well when AOL is being carried out at the end of the term.

In conclusion

I have just shared about my thoughts about AFL and AOL.

You may have your own opinion as well. Most teachers can agree that learning should be meaningful and I do favour AFL more since it provides good progressive feedback of learning for the sake of learning rather than simply assessing like the traditional examination.

Learning should be a never-ending process and it should not be simply an assessment to compare results.

Disclaimer: This is my personal reflection and I am not in any position to instruct anyone what they should do. I am not responsible for any action taken as a result of this post. My post can only be a reference for your further research and growth. By reading this post, you acknowledge and accept that. All images and pictures were taken from google images that are free from copyright under labelled for reuse.

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://fun2learn.vornix.blog/2018/10/04/the-difference-between-afl-and-aol/

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