Teacher Academy
Assessment
So how do we know when the student has learned what we have taught them? This is a mysterious question that continues to challenge educators. Should we give them a test to see if they remember the content or would a paper be best? These answers are becoming more and more varied as we understand how learners truly transfer their learning to a different environment.
Take a few minutes to watch the following video.
YouTube, Assessment Quickies #10: Why Assess Student Learning. Published on May 8, 2009.
Retrieved on 08/21/2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HZPBM8AkLE
Please complete the following activity.
1. Identify and discern the differences between formative and summative assessments |
2. Research and recall best practices for both formative and summative assessments |
3. Learn how to create effective rubrics for assessment |
4. Examine how to align assessments against competencies |
Formative assessments Summative assessments |
Testing Activities Feedback loops Peer assessment |
Rubrics |
Competency based assessments |
Formative and summative assessments are formal terms to describe how we help to ensure our students are learning. This can either be at the end of a course through a test (summative) or throughout the learning experience (formative). Many individuals "freeze" when they take tests and end up not performing in a class as successfully as they could. Integrating a variety of assessments throughout a course is a way to help the learner be successful and demonstrate their acquiring of knowledge.
Please watch the following video.
YouTube, Rick Wormeli: Formative and Summative Assessment. (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Published on November 30, 2010. Retrieved on 08/21/2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJxFXjfB_B4
Please complete the following activity.
Read the following articles about Formative and Summative Assessments.
Article One
Edudemic, Katie Lepi. The Key Differences Between Summative and Formative Assessments.
(CC BY-SA 3.0). Published on February 13, 2014. Retrieved on 08/21/2014.
http://www.edudemic.com/summative-and-formative-assessments/
Article Two
Wikipedia, Formative Assessment. (CC BY-SA 3.0). Retrieved on 08/21/2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formative_assessment
Article Three
Wikipedia, Summative Assessment. (CC BY-SA 3.0). Retrieved on 08/21/2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summative_assessment
Please complete the following activity.
Unfortunately, many faculty are not aligned or consistent with how they are assessing student learning. This does not mean that we must all follow the same pattern of assessment. What it does mean is that we should be incorporating a variety of assessment strategies and best practices into our process for assessment.
Please read the following article.
Emory University, Best Practices for Program-Level Student Learning Outcomes Assessment. (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Retrieved on 08/21/2014. http://www.oirpe.emory.edu/Assessment/Best%20Practices.html
Please complete the following activity.
Rubrics help the learner know specifically how their work product will be graded. It outlines the scoring criteria from "poor" to excellent typically. How it is organized will vary by instructor and topic. However, having a rubric for students to base their learning off of is invaluable.
According to Carnegie Mellon, a rubric is a scoring tool that explicitly represents the performance expectations for an assignment or piece of work. A rubric divides the assigned work into component parts and provides clear descriptions of the characteristics of the work associated with each component, at varying levels of mastery. Rubrics can be used for a wide array of assignments: papers, projects, oral presentations, artistic performances, group projects, etc. Rubrics can be used as scoring or grading guides, to provide formative feedback to support and guide ongoing learning efforts, or both.
Please read the following article.
Wikipedia, Rubric (academic). (CC BY-SA 3.0). Retrieved on 08/21/2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubric_(academic)
Please watch the following video about rubrics.
YouTube, Rubrics - an Introduction. (CC BY-SA 3.0). Published on March 17, 2010.
Retrieved on 08/21/2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvJ6qZkXDc4
Please complete the following activity.
To ensure you are following best practices with formative and summative assessment, you can review the criteria within Quality Matters.
Here is a hyperlink to their website: https://www.qualitymatters.org/
Please take a few minutes to review the Quality Matters video. It is important to understand the importance of rubrics and how to use sound assessments for our curriculum.
YouTube, Quality Matters Overview. (CC BY-SA 3.0). Created on July 8, 2012. Retrieved on October 2, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgU5azHzDfo
Competencies define the applied skills and knowledge that enable people to successfully perform their work while learning objectives are specific to a course of instruction. Competencies are relevant to an individual's job responsibilities, roles and capabilities. They are a way to verify that a learner has in fact learned what was intended in the learning objectives. Learning objectives describe what the learner should be able to achieve at the end of a learning period. Learning objectives should be specific, measurable statements and written in behavioral terms. In short, objectives say what we want the learners to know and competencies say how we can be certain they know it.
While most educators utilize outcomes as their measurement for success, it does not align the specific behaviors or actions a student should learn in their educational environment.
Please read the following article.
Wikipedia, Competency-Based Learning. (CC BY-SA 3.0). Retrieved on 08/21/2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competency-based_learning
Please complete the following activity.
Write a 2 page paper that outlines your view of formative and evaluative assessment. List specific actions you will implement to ensure you are assessing the learner in a way that is meaningful and helps them succeed.
Post your reflection question here.
Understanding assessment and how to integrate into your learning environment is a key competency for instructors. Just hoping they will get it will not go far. Being strategic in assessment placement and methods is how we can begin to see if light bulbs are going off and if true transfer of knowledge is taking place.
Our hope is that you review your courses to ensure you have a variety of formative and summative assessment methods implemented and that you become more intentional about these processes.
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