Why is initial assessment necessary?
Your first meeting with a group of learners...represents the convergence of three key components in the learning process: the teacher, the learners and the syllabus. ... You have a thorough knowledge and secure understanding of what it is the learners are required to learn and,...you are coming to know yourself as a teacher fairly well - both in terms of your preferred teaching styles and of how securely your subject knowledge fits the demands of the syllabus. The third component, however, you probably know very little about at this stage... these learners, in terms of their individual strengths and weaknesses, their individual learning needs, will at this stage represent the unknown component of the equation.
Considerations of some of the things we do not know about a new cohort:
•Why are they doing this course
•How their previous experience has made them feel about education and training
•Their level of confidence
•How much the previous knowledge they have gained through experience or learning will be of relevance to their current course
•Whether they have personal circumstances or undeclared learning difficulties that are likely to affect their commitment or concentration in the short or long term
•How they relate with the other members of the group
•Whether they will seek attention or be reluctant to speak up
•What activities best suit their learning styles
•Their expectations of the course or programme
•Their level of motivation
Ascertaining the entry behavior (level of knowledge) of a learners is important for two reasons. It helps identify whether he or she will need ongoing additional support in coping with the demands of the programme or initial help to 'bridge' the gap in his or her current skills and knowledge and those required to begin the current programme. And secondly, it can help to identify relevant areas of skills and knowledge the learners already possesses, either through prior experience or prior learning.
This process is essential for my path of learning. As they need no/little prior knowledge of photographic techniques to join the course. It would be wrong of me to assume though, that they have no prior knowledge - despite this being the common denominator - and instead use activities that will engage all levels of understanding whilst making personal notes of how well they adapt/perform to the situation at hand. This is essential when determining the level at which to 'pitch' future lessons and whether I need to consider making more time available in the schedule, to help those with lesser prior knowledge or those that find the visual/practical concepts difficult to grasp, enabling them the opportunity to increase their knowledge.
... At the start of any lesson it would be prudent to go through what is was the lesson entails and what would be the expected outcomes. By establishing this from the offset you can enable initial discussion on any thoughts/grievances/concerns/requirements that the learners may have - and therefore make adjustments to your preconceptions of how the lesson will flow, and modify the programme where necessary to enable to more productive learning environment.
When starting a new programme, when both learners are new to the teacher and quite possibly new to each other, it may also be best to initiate some kind of introduction of yourself and of your role, where the learners will get to know a little about the teacher and what their role will be as a learner within the context of the programme. This will start the forming of building blocks of familiarity and allow the learners to asses appropriate conduct and interaction.
This could then be a shared experience where the learners then start to share a little of themselves and their background with the class, this would be useful to you as it will give you tools to help you assess the entry behaviour of individuals, as well as allow the learners to start to formulate an understanding of their cohort and again, appropriate or desired* interaction amongst their colleagues.
* In the sense that there may be familiarity or simular interests from previously unknown member of their cohort.
