Evaluating Students
Many EL partnerships will ask you to participate in evaluating the overall performance of the student(s) to ensure they have met the learning outcomes set by their university. When and how you evaluate the student(s) will depend on each institution’s policies and processes, but it is best practice to have at least two assessment meetings: one half-way through the EL opportunity and one as it finishes.
During these meetings, highlight where the student has done well and flag areas where improvement is needed in a supportive and constructive manner. Other things to keep in mind for an evaluation meeting include:
- Use the learning objectives set by the university and the student’s own goals as a starting point in the evaluation.
- Focus on the whole performance period, not just specific instances of good or poor performance.
- Use any previous evaluations you have conducted with the student as reference points for how their performance has changed over time.
- A final assessment should not be the first-time students receive feedback. Dialogue should be ongoing throughout the EL opportunity.
- Evaluate the student on their actions, behaviours and work, not their personality.
- Be sure to have specific examples of satisfactory performance or areas for improvement to justify your assessment.
- Do not use the performance of regular employees as a reference point in your assessment. Remember that the student is learning.
- Understand that successful EL is not measured by whether or not students perfect or master a particular skill set, but rather whether the experience has helped them to improve and refine a broad range of job-ready competencies.
- If there are multiple EL students, avoid comparing them during assessment.