BalancEdTech. Making Exams More about Learning. March 20, 2012 By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Educational Assessment We give exams to assess mastery of material—are students learning the course content? With so much emphasis on scores and grades, it’s easy to forget that the process of preparing for, taking, and getting feedback about an exam can also be a learning experience. The learning that results from these processes can be tacit, or teachers can design activities associated with exam events that can result in better content learning and heightened student awareness of the learning skills associated with demonstrating knowledge.
Smith decided to use five “tactical strategies” (p. 72) in his junior-level financial management class. Next, Smith conducted a review session prior to each exam. Smith’s exam questions require an answer with justification. And finally and most innovatively, Smith individually graded each exam with the student present. Reference: Smith, T. Reprinted from The Teaching Professor, 25.2 (2011): 5. 5 Tips For Assessing What Students Know. It is not enough to teach students how to understand information and communications technology. At some point you are going to have to assess their knowledge and understanding. Girl studying. (c) hvaldez1 ( are 5 broad suggestions of how to do so effectively. 1. For example, say: “Produce a poster” rather than “Produce a poster using Microsoft Publisher”. The open-ended approach can be adapted for use with all age groups, in my experience. 2. This suggestion assumes that the course is a problem-solving one rather than once concerned purely with skills.
It does not require there to be one right answer. 3. The finished product indicates very little about ICT capability. Your boss asks you to prepare a presentation on the subject of what the school offers by way of ed tech facilities, to be shown to prospective parents at a forthcoming Open Day. 4. 5. Student Self-Assessment: A Sample Assignment. February 1, 2012 By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Teaching Professor Blog For me examples are like pictures; worth a 1,000 words. In last week’s post I wrote about the need to intervene in the development of student self-assessment skills, leaving the process less to chance and making it more the result of purposeful intervention. At a recent Teaching Professor Workshop, I saw an assignment that illustrates that kind of intervention. It was from a 100-level, Introduction to U.S. Government course, but is adaptable to any course. The assignment has two parts and they are the first and last pieces of work students complete in the course. First Assignment – Personal Goals Statement Prepare a paper (at least 750 words) that identifies your personal goals for this course.
Last Assignment – What Have You Learned from the Class? What a great way to help students start the course thinking about how it might be relevant to them. I don’t think many students think in terms of specific learning goals.
Making Sure They Are Learning. Sarah Kaufmann: I think of authentic assessment as my ability to teach each student where they actually are. I'm Sarah Kaufmann. I teach sixth grade humanities at School of the Future. In order to know where they actually are, I have to be able to assess them really specifically and in a variety of ways that are appropriate for that student, so that what I'm doing is every day giving that child an environment where they're challenged, where they feel good about what they're learning and they feel like they're learning. Stacy Goldstein: What's been amazing to watch in Sarah's class as a sixth grade teacher is also, she just is extremely rigorous in what she demands from the kids. And so her class really has high standards. Sarah Kaufmann: A lot of that work started with myself when I would think about reading and I would do Post-Its while I read to figure out what I was actually asking the students to do.
My name's Eamon McCormick. Student 1: I just borrow Owen's description-- Google Forms - More Than Just Multiple Choice. Assessment Resources Online Professional Development - UW Stout, Wisconsin's Polytechnic University. Here you will find a hand selected index of authentic assessment resources. Includes information about performance assessment, rubrics, negotiable contracting, electronic portfolios, and web-based tools for creating your own assessments. Examples of RubricsIncludes rubrics for cooperative learning, research reports, eportfolios, PowerPoint/oral presentations, multimedia, video, and web projects The Case for Authentic AssessmentGrant Wiggins describes the need for authentic assessment. This article from the peer-reviewed journal, Practical, Research, & Evaluation, provides a foundation of understanding for authentic assessment.
Why Use Rubrics? Recommendations for Developing Instructional Rubrics (pdf)Suggestions to assist when developing and implementing alternative assessment activities. Formative Assessment That Truly Informs Instruction (pdf)How do I grade? Developing Performance Assessment TasksCharacteristics of effective performance assessment tasks.