Real World Assessment Task Bank to support PBLA

Real World Assessment Task Bank to support PBLA Ottawa-Carleton District School Board TESL Ontario Conference, November 1 -2, 2018 1

Purpose of today’s workshop: ●An introduction to the project ●An overview of the development of the tasks ●The procedures used for piloting & reviewing ●A demo of the website ●A look at some sample tasks ●Next Steps 2

RWATB Project Team Core Project Team: ● ● ● PBLA Leads Larry Iveson & Catherine Hodgins (SMEs) Technical Lead: Diane Mc. Cargar Project Managers: Jennifer Mc. Kay & Carol Adams Administrative Support: Alina Razinkova Task Developers: 21 OCDSB instructors Desktop Publishing: Fritz Van Den Heuvel - Ardocs Website Development: Jeremy Cole - Tech. Consulting 3

RWATB Project Team. Task Developers 4

RWATB Advisory Committee Members ○ Tara Holmes - CCLB Consultant & PBLA Lead Trainer & Project Lead for Multi-Level Modules Project, Calgary, Alberta ○ Anne-Marie Kaskens - TCDSB - Program Consultant & Team Lead for Quartz (Ontario Curriculum Guidelines Project), Toronto, Ontario ○ Subhadra Ramachandran - HCDSB - Manager Newcomer Language Programs ○ Diane Ramanathan - Community Coordinator, Tutela; instructor for TESL Program at Algonquin College, Ottawa, Ontario ○ Sarah Schmuck - PBLA Regional Coach & Project Lead for Multi -Level Modules Project, Calgary, Alberta ○ Anne Senior - CCLB, Specialist Consultant 5

RWATB Project - Background OCDSB one of the first programs involved with PBLA during CIC’s pilot in 2010 ○ Leads selected / LINC & ESL instructors trained ○ PBLA started in January 2011 for CLB 1 -4 classes ○ A gap in knowledge and tools for instructors was felt, even though Leads were supporting instructors in the creation of their assessment tasks 6

RWATB Project - Background (con’t) ● This “gap” sowed the seeds for the creation of the Real World Assessment Task Bank Project, proposed by OCDSB ESL Program in fall of 2015 to Ontario’s Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration ● Awarded project funding in July 2016 ● Two-year project ended Spring 2018 7

What was the RWATB Project about? ● Develop a bank of single level, stand alone Real World Assessment Tasks ● Variety of themes and CLB competencies in all 4 skills ● Ranging from Foundation Literacy to CLB 7 ● Loaded onto an easy to use, searchable website ● AND for OCDSB. . . building capacity of instructors & our program in creating real-world language assessment tasks 8

What was the RWATB Project about? ● Over 300 tasks available on the task bank to share with other programs in Ontario and throughout Canada ● Increased knowledge and capacity of Instructors, PBLA Leads and others participating in the project ● Positive networking opportunity among colleagues from various sites ● Process to follow with templates (a model) for other tasks to be created 9

RWAT Capacity Building: Feedback ● 6+ years teaching experience & PBLA training ● 100%: knowledge and skills in creating tasks increased ● 100%: knowledge of CLB and ALL documents improved ● 100%: knowledge of productive and receptive tasks improved ● 100%: ability to create assessment texts, scenarios and activities improved 10

Developing Tasks Critical points to think about for developing tasks: ● Are they Real World Tasks? - would students actually need to do this outside the classroom? ● Are they appropriate for the level based on the CLBs? ● Can the task be done in the classroom effectively?

Task Analysis and Development Listening

Developing Receptive Tasks Listening

Productive Task Example

Developing Tasks What We Learned “It has helped me be more organized and structured when doing assessment tasks. ” “I am more confident now in mentoring new/other instructors. ” “I now understand how important the CLB and ALL documents are and how to use them, so that my assessments are at the right CLB level for my students. ”

And on the administrative side of it all. . . Task naming nomenclature was developed 26

Reviewing and Piloting ● Multiple draft/review cycles during development ● Google sign-up sheet listing tasks released in Jan 2018 for field testers to choose preferred tasks ● Task and feedback files were emailed out based on requests in most cases 27

Reviewing and Piloting ● As feedback sheets were received, each was reviewed for suggested changes to the assessment task ● Once finalized, the 309 assessment tasks were then sent for desktop publishing ● After reviewing (one last time) the final step was the uploading of the assessment tasks to our website in both Word and PDF formats, along with any required audio/video for listening activities 28

To our Piloters. . . ● A huge thank you to the 190 Piloters from 70+ organizations stretching from BC to Yukon to Nova Scotia who volunteered their time to use our assessment tasks and provided us feedback for consideration when finalizing the completed versions ● We are pleased to announce the winners of the six gift cards: Janet Gilchrist Corinne Mariani Randi Medeiros Agnes Papanastasiou Rayisa Ovcharova Marina Silov-Marcan 29

Website Demo Online, searchable database of tasks Realworldtasks. ca 30

Logging In ● Choose a sector (ESL-Ontario, LINC-Ontario, etc. ) ● Type the password: instructor 31

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Home Page Note: These single skill stand-alone assessment tasks are not lessons or module plans. Task -based assessments should always be part of a planned unit of inter-related language tasks on a specific topic. 33

Searching ● How can people search the Bank? 34

Searching Narrowing your search with keywords 35

Search Results 36

Downloading Tasks 37

● ● ● ● ● Sample Tasks FC-S 3 -a-Greeting a Friend at a Community Event FC-S 4 -a-Greeting a Friend at a Community Event CB-R 4 -c-Reading a Credit Card Bill ED-S 2 -ac-Greeting the Teacher When Arriving Late or Leaving Early HS-R 1 L-c-Reading a Doctor’s Office Appointment Card HN-RW 2 L-bc-Entering Information into an online Public Transit Planner ED-RWFL-bc-Copying Name and Date on a Class Paper HS-L 6 -b-Understanding Workplace Safety Information HN-L 5 -d-Getting Ready for a G 1 Road Test 38

FC-S 3 -a-Greeting a Friend at a Community Event Prompt Today we are going to do a role-play. (Friend You are 1): at a Student community picnic. You see Teacher 2): your me at the (Friend picnic. I am friend. You need to greet me Student (Friend 1): and ask me about the picnic. Talk about(Friend something Teacher 2): you like about the picnic. Say Student 1): goodbye (Friend to your friend. Sample Role-Play Good Morning Susan, how are you? Hi Bob. I’m fine. How are you? I’m fine. Do you like the picnic? Yes. It is really fun. What about you? Do you like the picnic? Yes, it is nice. I like the food. Teacher (Friend 2): Yes, the food is very good. Well, it was nice to see you. I hope you enjoy the rest of the picnic. Student (Friend 1): Thanks. You too. Goodbye! Teacher (Friend 2): Bye! 39

FC-S 4 -a-Greeting a Friend at a Community Event Sample Role-Play Prompt Friend 1: Today we are going to do a role-play. Friend. You 2: are at a community picnic. You see Friend 1: Greet your friend. and. Friend ask him/her about the 2: picnic. Talk about 2 things 1: the picnic and you. Friend like about tell your friend why you like those things. Say goodbye to Friend 2: your friend. Good Morning Susan, how are you? Hi Bob. I’m fine. How are you? I’m fine. Are you enjoying the picnic so far? Yes, I am. What about you? Yes, it’s fun and the weather is beautiful. I like the games because they are different for me. I like the food because it is very delicious. Yes, the food is very good. I haven’t played any games yet, but maybe I will later. Friend 1: Well, it was nice to see you. I hope you enjoy the rest of the picnic. Friend 2: Thanks. You too. Goodbye! Friend 1: Bye! 40

FC-S 3 -a-Greeting a Friend at a Community Event 41

FC-S 4 -a-Greeting a Friend at a Community Event 42

CB-R 4 -c-Reading a Credit Card Bill 43

CB-R 4 -c. Reading a Credit Card Bill 44

ED-S 2 -ac-Greeting the Teacher When Arriving Late or Leaving Early 45

HS-R 1 L-c. Reading a Doctor’s Office Appointment Card 46

HN-WR 2 L-bc. Entering Information Into an Online Public Transit Trip Planner 47

ED-RWFL-bc-Copying Name and Date on a Class Paper 48

ED-RWFL-bc-Copying Name and Date on a Class Paper 49

HS-L 6 -c. Understanding Workplace Safety Information 50

HN-L 5 -d-Getting Ready for G 1 Road Test in Ontario 51

FAQ Page • Filename conventions • Frequently asked questions • Templates used to create tasks About Page • Credits • Survey and Contact Information: realworldtasks@ocdsb. ca 52

Next Steps ● ● Real World Module plans to support PBLA Development Nov. 2018 -Dec. 2019 Teams 2 -3 module plan developers Modules will include the plan, skill-building activities, skill using activities and real world tasks ● Will be loaded onto realworldtasks. ca in early 2020 53

Thanks for attending our presentation!