EVALUATION OF PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IN SELECTED COURSES OF THE FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA

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Department of Arts

ABSTRACT
The study surveyed the level of the use of Portfolios as a method of assessment in Selected Courses of the Faculty of Environmental Design, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The study investigated the types of Portfolio use by lecturers and students; it also examined the lecturers‟ and students‟ understanding of the concept of Portfolio Assessment as well as determines the problems of using portfolios as a method of assessment. This is with the ultimate goal of establishing the need for Portfolio model in enhancing learning. Portfolios are being use but they do not provide rubric, self-reflection and portfolio model sheets. Lack of defined assessment scheme has been the gap the study bridges. The study used five research objectives. One thousand and one hundred (1,100) students and lecturers form population, while two hundred and ninety-three (293) served as sample size of the study. The selection was done by the use of Stratified Random Sampling technique. Experts were involved in order to scrutinize the research instruments in terms of construct and content validity. The study used Alpha Cronbach reliability Coefficient to ascertain the reliability of the research instrument that yield 0.951 which was obtained for student‟s questionnaire and 0.981 for lecturers‟ questionnaire. These results therefore confirmed that the instruments were reliable for collection of data. The responses were based on lecturers‟ and students‟ understanding of the concept of Portfolio Assessment, types and variations of portfolio assessment and problems of using portfolio assessment. The findings of the study showed that portfolios were mostly used as a folder. The findings indicated that both lecturers and students did not understand the concept of portfolio assessment which comprises rubric, guidelines; self-reflection and portfolio model sheets. The finding of the study on lecturers‟ knowledge of using portfolio assessment revealed that majority of them disagreed that portfolios are supposed to be used with rubric, reflection and portfolio model. The finding of the study also identified time consumption, large class or crowdedness as problems of using assessment portfolios. Provides multiple ways of assessing students‟ learning overtime and multiple opportunities for observation and assessment are the benefits of portfolio assessment among others.