Reviewing students’ evaluation standards for “practical education” in Arab Open University/Jordan

Abstract

This study was an assessment of the evaluation standards of “Practical Education” module of the Elementary Education Undergraduate Program in Arab Open University/Jordan. Its main focus was to investigate problems and views raised by the students in order to develop more accurate standards to evaluate their performance. The curriculum characteristics of the module as well as the students’ portfolios and field reports had been reviewed. A questionnaire and a detailed face-to-face interactive meeting had been conducted with 55 male and female students in the academic year 2018/2019. The results show that the students stress the need to adopt practical applications standards to evaluate the skill goals sought by the curriculum instead of focusing on their knowledge. The students express their need to develop their skills in planning, implementation of teaching tasks and evaluation, while the evaluation standards measure their ability to recall theoretical information. They stress their need to extend their training period in field in order to acquire enough practical experience to be more efficient to carry out their tasks properly. The findings of the study can be applicable for other countries, especially the developing countries, in the sense of developing modern evaluation standards for practical field training of their student teachers, as well as improving curricula that respond to the schools’ requirements in a changing world.