Using online formative assessment tools in grade 6 social sciences during the COVID-19 pandemic

South African Journal of Childhood Education

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Using online formative assessment tools in grade 6 social sciences during the COVID-19 pandemic
 
Creator De Beer, Marnelda Lautenbach, Geoffrey V.
 
Subject Social sciences; intermediate phase online; formative assessment; teachers; intermediate phase; social sciences; ICT; technology
Description Background: Formative assessment is an essential element for improving teaching and learning in the classroom. During the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown, educators were confronted with the need to adapt to online assessment. South African educators also experienced challenges that made online formative assessment difficult.Aim: This study explores the experiences of intermediate-phase educators using online tools to enact formative assessment in the teaching and learning of social sciences. This research included a narrow spectrum of socioeconomically diverse schools.Setting: Data were obtained through interviews with a sample of six diverse intermediate-phase educators teaching social sciences from one district in the Gauteng North province.Methods: This research adopted a generic qualitative approach. Themes were derived from the data and five subthemes were identified to report the findings.Results: The results of this study identified factors that prevented the implementation of online formative assessment in the intermediate phase. The data also identified online tools that educators used for online assessment in their classrooms and some barriers. These barriers hindered the participants’ ability to provide an interactive and stimulating learning experience for their students.Conclusion: Despite challenges, which included a lack of training and support, as well a lack of trust in their abilities, the participants demonstrated a willingness to incorporate technology in their teaching and assessment. The study highlights the need for ongoing professional development and improved infrastructure and accessibility to support the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in education.Contribution: Based on educators’ perceived willingness to make use of ICTs for formative assessments, and their ability to even identify some useful tools themselves, findings contribute to the field of policy implementation related to teaching with technology at this level.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2024-07-02
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Generic qualitative study
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajce.v14i1.1438
 
Source South African Journal of Childhood Education; Vol 14, No 1 (2024); 13 pages 2223-7682 2223-7674
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/1438/2932 https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/1438/2933 https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/1438/2934 https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/1438/2935
 
Coverage One district in Gauteng North Post COVID-19 Intermediate phase educators; public and private schools, male and female
Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Marnelda de Beer, Geoffrey Vaughan Lautenbach https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT