The Quality of Tasks in Learning Assessment: The Perspective of Law Students
Authors: TOVAR Ismael Zamora ,   Doctor in Education and Coordinator of the Educational Model of the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico., TERÁN César Alejandro MOSQUEDA , OCEGUEDA Gelacio Juan Ramón GUTIÉRREZ ,   Doctor of Law and professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.,   Professor-Researcher, "C", Department of Social Law, Division of Legal Studies, University Center for Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
Published: July 2024

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: One of the essential components of the learning evaluation dimension is the quality of the tasks used by teachers to evaluate and rate student performance. Some of their characteristics linked to their relevance to achieve the transfer of knowledge is that they are relevant, challenging, realistic and contextualized in such a way that they favor depth in knowledge and communication. For Boud, D. (2020), assessment in higher education is undergoing a significant change, moving from an approach focused on comparison between students (norm-referenced assessment) towards a standards-based system that judges performance based on of pre-established criteria. This change is accompanied by an expansion of the purposes of evaluation, transcending the simple certification of students to encompass objectives such as the promotion of learning, the development of skills and the capacity for self-assessment. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the quality of learning evaluation tasks based on the dimensions: Challenge, Depth, Communication and Transfer; as well as determining whether the sex, semester and grade average of the students are factors associated with the evaluations that students make of the quality of the evaluation of the tasks assigned by the professors. METHOD: E An empirical investigation of an explanatory and transversal nature was carried out; through a non-probabilistic convenience sampling in which 177 students from the law school of a private university in Mexico participated. The dependent variable under study was: The quality of the learning evaluation tasks that teachers use to assign grades to their students and the independent variables were sex, progress in the degree, type of school year and grade point average qualifications in the race. INSTRUMENT: The questionnaire called: Analysis of Evaluation and Learning Tasks (ATAE) developed by Ibarra-Saiz, M.S. and Rodríguez-Gómez, G. (2020 B) that evaluates the quality of the Assessment Tasks defined as an activity designed with the purpose of collecting information on the ability of students to apply and use their competencies, knowledge, abilities and skills when address the resolution of complex problems and be able to verify the degree of achievement of the expected learning results. The ATAE questionnaire is structured in four dimensions and consists of 16 items in a scale format from 0 to 10 distributed in each of the following dimensions: Challenge, refers to addressing open and complex problems that require divergent thinking, creativity and the establishing meaningful connections; Depth that involves demonstrating deep understanding through the use of methods of inquiry and reflective and critical thinking. Communication, this is using oral, written or symbolic communication strategies, through presentations, performances or products based on substantiated argumentation. Transfer, involves relating knowledge and experience with other subjects and with social and professional reality. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: (1) Students perceive the quality of the tasks for the evaluation of learning as Good (8). (2) Among the students as a whole, it is identified that there is little homogeneity regarding the perception they have about the quality of the learning evaluation tasks (Ds =1.78) (3) Most of the students 112/177 consider that the quality is equal to or less than 7. (4) Make the tasks to evaluate learning CHALLENGING, this is the dimension with the greatest opportunity for improvement (5) Null hypothesis (Ho) is approved for sex, type of school year, career advancement and career grade average regarding the quality of the learning evaluation tasks and their dimensions: Depth, Communication, Challenging and Transfer, that is say there are no significant differences. IMPROVEMENT PROPOSALS: (1) Improve the quality of learning assessment tasks in relation to: - Quality of tasks: Depth, challenging, communication and transfer of learning (See Table 2) - Alignment with learning objectives. - Homework must be fair and equitable for all students. - Students should receive constructive and timely feedback on their performance on assignments. To guide the design of the tasks, it is suggested to use an appropriate framework such as the Task Quality Assessment Framework (TQF), the Instructional Design Assessment Framework (IDD) or the Equity and Justice Framework Evaluation (EFA). These frameworks provide criteria and guidelines for designing assignments that are high quality, aligned with learning objectives, equitable, and that provide useful feedback to students. (2) Systematize the teacher-student relationship in formative assessment by adopting the guidelines for providing feedback to students on their academic work (See Annex 1) and the guidelines on effective feedback (See Annex 2) (3) Implement the case method using the guide proposed for this purpose (See Annex 3). This will contribute to defining a style of professional training and teaching based on the homologation of the teaching-learning activities carried out by teachers in the different dimensions of teaching competence: didactic planning, teaching and learning evaluation. (4) Define didactic projects for the systematization of the preparation of legal documents, simulation of oral trials and training in values. (5) Evaluate the law program in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and quality based on performance standards. For this purpose, it is pertinent to conceive the curriculum as an educational project in which the expected learning, contents, methodology and evaluation of learning were defined. This implies defining a program evaluation system. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The support of the Master's Dean Ángel Israel Muñoz Hernández, as well as the Master's Degree María Imelda Cota López, Director of the Legal Sciences Programs, and the Master's Degree Miguel Navarro Castellanos, Director of the Department of Legal Sciences, is appreciated for the completion of this project.