Synchronous self-assessment

The construct of synchronous self-assessment (SSA) is explored as a particular form or praxis of assessment-as-learning. Self-assessment takes place as a natural, intimate, subjective process in parallel with externally-organized assessment situations, e.g., teacher-led classroom assessment but synchronous self-assessment refers to the students' increased awareness of the assessment and learning process. Results of an exploratory interventional study carried out with 215 teachers-to-be (infant school-, primary-, and secondary teachers) in a module of educational and developmental psychology in a basic teacher education program in Spain are presented to illustrate and support this new construct. The research follows a mixed-method strategy. Selected results presented in this chapter refer to the students open responses to a questionnaire concerning a written exam with complex, authentic competence-based tasks, especially designed to challenge students' cognitive and emotional processes linked to synchronous self-assessment. The study offers evidence of metacognitive, emotional and evaluative arousal during such synchronous self-assessment episodes, in connection with both proactive and retrospective decision-taking. The author underlines the pedagogical potential of such processes, and proposes a list of open questions for further research in this field.