William Cope
May Thet Khine Nyein
Obie Ellmoos.png "Nathan Luise")
Nathan Luise
Olive SabiitiAssessment for Learning MOOC’s Updates
Assessment via Teaching (AVT)
Assessment via Teaching (AVT)
What is it?
Assessment via Teaching (AVT) is a formative assessment method in which learners demonstrate their understanding by teaching more novice peers. In one study conducted in a CS1 (first‐year computer science) course, students who tutored others before their exam (AVT group) performed 20–30 percentage points better than the class average on several exam questions. Beyond performance, AVT students reported greater engagement, and were more motivated to prepare because they knew they would teach others.
Why it works: Analysis
Here are some of the theoretical and practical reasons AVT is a powerful alternative assessment method:
| Aspect |
How AVT contributes |
| Cognitive elaboration and consolidation | Teaching requires learners to organize knowledge, anticipate misunderstandings, clarify concepts activities known to deepen understanding. Preparing to teach forces reflection and gap identification. |
| Metacognitive development | Learners need to plan what to teach, monitor their own understanding, and evaluate what teaching strategies worked boosting self‐awareness. |
| Motivation & engagement | Social dimension (responsibility toward others) can increase intrinsic motivation. AVT in the cited study led students to study more for the teaching session. |
| Reduced cheating / surface approaches | Because one is teaching, superficial memorization is less effective; deeper learning is needed. The peer-teaching role changes the nature of accountability. |
| Feedback loops | Teaching provides immediate feedback (from questions by novices), which helps the teacher-learner adjust their understanding. Also, novices benefit. |
Advantages
- Promotes deeper learning - Understanding must be robust enough to communicate to someone else.
- Dual benefit - Both the “teacher” learners and the “novice” learners gain.
- Scalable form of formative assessment if structured well (e.g. peer tutoring, group teaching)
- Encourages active learning and not just passive absorption of material.
Challenges and Limitations
- Requires extra coordination: matching tutors with novices, scheduling, monitoring sessions.
- Variability in teaching quality: Not all students are equally prepared to teach; may need support/training.
- Assessment of teaching quality: How to evaluate whether teaching was effective or accurate.
- Time investment: For both students (preparing to teach) and instructors (designing/running the process).
- Potential inequities: Students who struggle may feel more exposed; or novices may get poor teaching unless oversight is built in.
Ways AVT could be adapted:
Peer-teaching in discussion forums
- Assign learners (or volunteer groups) to explain particular concepts to novices in forums or small groups.
- Use prompts: “Teaching posts” where learners must anticipate likely questions, prepare explanations.
Video teaching assignments
- Learners record a short tutorial video explaining a concept, answering anticipated learner questions.
- Peers or mentor graders give feedback, pointing out clarities or misconceptions.
Nested cohorts
- Use earlier MOOC cohorts (novices) to be tutored by current learners.
- Alternatively, novices could be newly onboarded students; current learners can act as guides.
Rubrics & support materials
- Provide clear rubrics for what constitutes effective teaching: clarity, correctness, engagement, anticipation of misconceptions.
- Offer scaffolding/training: “How to teach: tips for clarity, examples, questions.”
Reflection component
- After teaching, have “teacher” learners reflect: What did I understand well? What needed better clarity? What questions did novices ask that revealed gaps?
Low-stakes grading or no grading for initial attempts, to encourage risk-taking and learning without penalty.
Assessment via Teaching (AVT) is a promising alternative form of assessment that aligns well with the principles of assessment for learning, because it centers learning, feedback, and metacognitive awareness. While it has implementation challenges especially in large scale settings it can be adapted and phased in, and offers both educational depth and motivational benefits.
