Toward adaptive support of pre-service teachers' assessment competencies: Log data in a digital simulation reveal engagement modes

Background: Teachers need assessment competencies. That is, they need to assess students' learning outcomes accurately. Intervention studies that aimed at fostering (pre-service) teachers' assessment competencies during the assessment process show only limited effects on assessment accuracy. Adapting support measures to individual assessment processes has the potential to increase the effects. However, developing adaptive support requires a concise understanding of how assessment processes are related to individual learners’ dispositions (e.g., knowledge, interest) on the one hand and the accuracy of their assessments on the other. Aims: We aimed to characterize the relationships between pre-service teachers’ dispositions, assessment process, and assessment accuracy to establish a basis for adaptive support during the assessment process. Sample: We analysed 65 mathematics pre-service teachers’ assessment processes in a digital simulation of a task-based assessment situation. Methods: Pre-service teachers' assessment processes were measured by recording their log data in a digital simulation. Patterns of process indicators were interpreted as modes of cognitive engagement. Process indicators included participants' selections of mathematical tasks and their interpretations of simulated students’ task solutions. Results: We found pronounced individual differences in pre-service teachers' assessment processes, reflecting a passive, active, or constructive mode of engagement. Engagement modes were related to participants’ individual interest in student assessment. Moreover, engagement modes predicted differences in assessment accuracy above and beyond cognitive dispositions. Conclusions: Log data from a digital simulation help unravel the link between teachers' dispositions and accuracy in assessment situations. The results provide a basis for developing adaptive support for pre-service mathematics teachers’ assessment competencies.