Learning Outcome 1 Assessment Reflection

Effective assessment is a vital key to having a good course.  It is not enough to say that I have taught the course well and that the students understand.  I need to be able to assess and prove that learning has occurred.  My goals in the area of assessment are to employ formative feedback loops early and often, provide students with written comments on the strengths and weaknesses of their performance, give timely feedback, make assessment criteria public to students and colleagues, and vary assessment techniques to form a complete picture of learning.

For formative assessments, I use a combination of classroom assessment techniques called Documented Problem Solving and Pair Checks.  To help the student prepare for the state exam, I have created Documented Problem Solving and Pair Check activities for all 30 competencies on the exam.  The students work in pairs and learn each of the competencies together.  For each competency, there are two questions.  One student completes the first question while the other student coaches, and the roles are reversed on the second problem.  This is called Pair Checks.  In addition to working in pairs, when the students complete the problem, they must write each step in words.  This is called Documented Problem Solving.  This helps the students explain their steps and gives them a good study guide to learn from later.  This activity really helps the students learn the material, defines their strengths and weaknesses, and prepares them for the summative assessment of the state exam.

EXAMPLE OF STATE EXAM DOCUMENTED PROBLEM SOLVING WITH PAIR CHECK

Q19 Sample, Q19, Q20, Q21, Q22, Q23, Q24, Q25

To provide students with written comments on their strengths and weakness, I have developed a test correction activity.  In this test correction activity, the students must first identify their mistakes and then use documented problem solving to find the correct solution.  In grading their exams, I have provided some feedback on their strengths and weakness, but this activity allows the students to revisit the questions and correct any errors and identify the cause or causes of the weakness.  At the end of the activity, the student must reflect on the test experience and what can be improved for next time.  This activity has truly impacted learning because the students do not just give up on certain concepts, but are able to correct mistakes and learn from them.

EXAMPLE OF TEST CORRECTION ACTIVITY

EXAMPLE OF SAMPLE TEST CORRECTION ACTIVITY

One of the activities that students really appreciate is timely feedback.  I post grades on WebCT as soon as I have graded an assessment, and I work very hard to return the assessment by the next class.  I feel that the longer a student waits for the graded assessment, the more he or she forgets what skills were assessed.  I want my students to be able to learn from their mistakes and celebrate their achievements as soon as possible.

In order for students to be clear on my expectations on assessments, I provide assessment criteria with the assessment itself.  I feel the expectations and points should be known before starting an assessment.  This gives the students a path to follow while still allowing them creativity in their work.  I feel students worry too much about the grade and not enough about the learning; therefore, being very upfront about the grading eases the students’ minds and allows them to focus on the working.  I have found this to benefit the students and the instructor and saves time grading.

EXAMPLE OF ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (FINAL PROJECT)

Assessments should be varied to give a complete picture of the student.  In my course, there are many different types of formative and summative assessments.  The formative assessments include completing problems in the active learning notes individually or in a group, test corrections activities, documented problem solving and pairs check activities, creation of the student’s own state exam activity, the “what did you learn?” activity, quizzes on WebCT, homework, test reviews, and sample exams.  The summative assessments include chapter tests and the state exam.  I feel the assessments I created were appropriate and truly helped the students learn the material.  I think the variety of assessments was very powerful because the students expected just to be given tests; instead, there were projects, group activities, quizzes, and other tasks.  Also, the assessments on WebCT allowed the students to take them when it was convenient for them and provided much practice for the state exam.  Overall, the assessments helped the students learn the material and discover what they did or did not completely understand about the material.