Reflection 3

I really like SBA

Under the new 334 education reform, it introduces a kind of new practice of school based assessment (SBA) of diploma of secondary examination (DSE). The introduction of SBA encourages formative assessment (still DSE is seen as a kind of summative assessment, which measures students’ academic performance) in the Hong Kong assessment system.

I remember I like SBA the most when I studied in secondary school. I often shared my book with my friends and we talked a lot about that book during lunch time. My teacher was very straight to give us score and not many of us could achieve “A” level in our performance. I read the book, memorized my lines (which I put in a notecard), rehearsed few times before assessment, have peers corrected my grammar… I got very well-prepared and I was confident in delivering my speech and sharing my book. I found myself very much like that type of assessment. I was assessed in a different way, not just to sit in a classroom with paper and pen. The process allows me to make myself independent of the teacher and practice self-learning. I like SBA (from a student’s perspective) because individual students have individual needs and problems in learning. I find SBA is more self-paced (I schedule all my work: when to finish reading the book, when to write the review, and when to proof-read my draft) and self-accessed (I often corrected my grammar and changed the words  to enhance message delivery) in a way.