As representações sociais de estudantes da Uniube sobre os instrumentos de avaliação da aprendizagem

Abstract

This study is inserted in the Research Line on Professional Development, teaching work and teaching-learning process of the Graduate Program in Education of the University of UberabaUNIUBE. It is part of a larger proposal, linked to the Research Network on Teachers’ Professional Development – RIDEP (as per its Portuguese acronym), entitled Professional Development of Higher Education Teachers: contributions from the Theory of Social Representations. This study is based on the principle that the evaluation practices held in Higher Education can be understood from the identification of social representations of students about the tools used by their teachers. In the context of the teaching-learning process, these evaluation tools may show the conception or the foundations that guide this practice. Such practices may be directed either to a conception of formative evaluation, which aims to follow-up the student’s learning process in order to check what he or she has learned or not, and resume, if necessary, or a conception that only approves or disapproves, excluding, segregating, and classifying the students. This research, of a quanti-qualitative and descriptive nature, seeks theoreticalmethodological support in the Theory of Social Representations of Moscovici (2003) and in the structural approach of the Central Core of Abric (2000). Its overall objective is to understand the Social Representations of students from the Publicity and Advertising Course of UNIUBE about the implications of the learning evaluation tools used by their teachers. A total of 35 students from the Publicity and Advertising Course of UNIUBE took part in the survey. The data collection was done through a questionnaire, applied on-line, composed of open and closed questions and the Free Association of Words Technique – FAWT. The words of this technique were treated by the EVOC software, in order to identify the Central Core and the periphery of the representations. In addition to the Theory of Social Representations and the content analysis of Bardin (2011), the Iramuteq software was also used for data analysis, which helps in the categorization of open questions. The results show that the probable central core of the social representations of students about the evaluation tools used in their course may be represented by the words: Great, Proofs and Outdated. While one group considers the tools to be great, even with the use of proofs, others oppose them and claim that they are outdated. Although most agree that the evaluative tools used are contributing to academic learning, some reinforce the negative representations when they state that the tools have little or no diagnostic function. Accordingly, the students suggest that teachers should improve the tools to be used and understand the students through a formative evaluation that shows what content has been learned and what still needs to be learned.