Assessing Student Learning

What Do Students Already Know?

Why check students’ background knowledge?

Doing so is grounded in learning theories and is supported by research on

the learning process .

Determining what students already know allows you to :

Target specific knowledge gaps .

Become aware of the diversity of backgrounds in your classroom.

Create a bridge between students’ previous knowledge and new material.

Check for misconceptions that may hinder student learning of new material .

For students, understanding their starting point will make it easier for them

to see what they have learned by the end of the course. They can better recall

past learning and construct “bridges” between old and new knowledge .

How can you check students’ background knowledge ?

Plan your background knowledge assessment by asking the following

questions:

What do you assume students already know?

What kinds of questions will help you confirm your assumptions?

What are some common misconceptions or myths related to your subject?

How are you going to analyze and respond to the data your pre-assessment

provides?

Some Strategies :

Common Sense Inventory :

Make a list of 10-15 statements related to course content, including

commonly held misconceptions.

Have students mark "true" or "false" next to each statement.

Background Knowledge Probe

Prepare two or three open-ended or multiple-choice questions.

Write questions on the board.

Ask students to respond in two or three sentences to each question or circle a

response.

Example: The Golden Triangle

Have never heard of this place.

Have heard of it, but don’t really know where it is.

Have some idea where this is, but not too clear.

Have a clear idea where this is and can explain.

Let students know these will not be graded and that thoughtful answers help

you make effective instructional decisions.

Share results with students during the next class.

Gallery Walk

Place images, graphs and excerpts from upcoming course content in the

middle of a poster paper. This leaves room around the material for students

to write.

Hang images around the room.

Create groups of two to four students.

Place one group in front of each poster. Give them five minutes to write

observations, what they know or what they are wondering about the

material.

Give each group one poster and sheet of paper to synthesize comments.

Review themes of comments.

Articulate impact of comments on course design to students during the next

class.

Minute Paper :

Decide what prior knowledge is necessary for the course.

Write a Minute Paper prompt (or question) that hits on the above. Try

answering it yourself before using it in class.

Set aside 5-10 minutes of class time to use the technique, as well as time to

explain what you are doing beforehand.

Hand out index cards or half-sheets of paper.

Ask students not to write their names on the cards.

Let students know how much time they will have (two to three minutes per

question), what kinds of answers you want (words, short sentences, a list),

and when they will receive feedback.

Give students feedback. Explain how this information informed course

design.

Blackboard Quizzes and Qualtrics Surveys

Create a series of multiple-choice questions.

Post to Blackboard as an assignment for the first class.

Explain that you will track who responded, but not how they responded.

Use report results calculated by the software to inform course design.

Share results and impact on course design with students.

Some considerations :

When using background knowledge assessments:

Communicate that the assessment is not graded.

Do not require students to put their name on the assessment.

Use technology. Blackboard, Qualtrics and classroom response systems will quantify some of the data for you and provide graphs that you can then share with students.

Take the assessment yourself to confirm the questions make sense.

2. Measuring Student Learning :

Assessment is the systematic collection of information about student

learning, using the time, knowledge, expertise, and resources available, in

order to inform decisions that affect student learning (Walvoord, 2010, p.

23).

How can you measure student learning?

What are some practical assessment strategies?

How can you incorporate an assessment plan into a course?

Resources

How can you measure student learning ?

Summative assessments are tests, quizzes, and other graded course activities

that are used to measure student performance. They are cumulative and often

reveal what students have learned at the end of a course. Within a course,

summative assessment includes the system for calculating individual student

grades.

In contrast to summative assessment, formative assessment is any means by

which students receive input and guiding feedback on their relative

performance to help them improve, absent their grade. Formative assessment

can be provided face-to-face in office hours, in written comments on papers,

projects and problem sets, and through e-mails.

Formative assessments can be used to measure student learning on a daily,

ongoing basis. These assessments reveal how and what students are learning

during the course and often inform next steps in teaching and learning.

Rather than relying on questions such as “Do you understand?” or “Are

there any questions?”, you can be more systematic and intentional asking

students at the end of the class period to write the most important points or

the most confusing aspect of the lecture on index cards. Collecting and

reviewing the responses provides insight into what themes students have

gleaned from your lecture and what your next teaching steps might be.

Providing feedback on these themes to students gives them insight into their

own learning.

You can also ask students to report on their own learning. Surveying

students about their learning is called indirect assessment. Asking students

to rate their knowledge about a topic after taking your course as compared to

what they believe they knew before taking your course is an example of

indirect assessment. Direct assessments, on the other hand, assess a student’s

direct application of knowledge or skill. Some examples of direct

assessment are evaluating students’ abilities to summarize a process, apply a

theory, solve a problem, or synthesize literature.

What are some practical assessment strategies?

Summative assessments :

Asking Good Test Questions

Using Rubrics

Formative assessments :

For formative assessments, include students in the process:

Tell them what and how you are assessing.

Share your findings with them.

Based on your findings, explain what changes you will make, if any, and

help students focus or redirect their learning.

Classroom Response Systems are useful for formative assessments as they

allow for quick collection of data and instant feedback.

Indirect and direct assessments

Course-level Assessment Guide- Assessment Methods

How can you incorporate an assessment plan into a course ?

Measuring is the third step in a five-part process (Walvoord, 2010, p. 26):

Outcomes. What do you want students to know, be able to do, or value as a

result of taking a course?

Identify. Where in the curriculum are the outcomes addressed?

Measure. How well are students achieving the outcomes?

Revision. What changes can be made to the course to improve student

achievement?

Re-measure. Did the revision to the curriculum work?

Some considerations :

Include indirect and direct assessments as well as formative and summative

assessments for a comprehensive assessment plan.

Evaluate whether or not the assessment aligns directly with a learning

outcome.

Make sure the measurement is sustainable in terms of time and resources.

Acknowledge assessments you are already doing through weekly

assignments or course projects.

Use mid-term and end-of-semester student evaluations to assess student

learning.

Using Rubrics

A rubric is a type of scoring guide that assesses and articulates specific components and expectations for an assignment. Rubrics can be used for a variety of assignments: research papers, group projects, portfolios and presentations.

Why use rubrics?

Rubrics help instructors :

Assess assignments consistently from student-to-student.

Save time in grading, both short-term and long-term.

Give timely, effective feedback and promote student learning in a

sustainable way.

Clarify expectations and components of an assignment for both students and

course TAs.

Refine teaching skills by evaluating rubric results.

Rubrics help students :

Understand expectations and components of an assignment.

Become more aware of their learning process and progress.

Improve work through timely and detailed feedback.

How can you develop a rubric ?

Getting Started

Start small by creating one rubric for one assignment in a semester.

Ask colleagues if they have developed rubrics for similar assignments.

Although it takes time to build a rubric, time will be saved in the long run as

grading and providing feedback on student work will become more

streamlined.

Rubric Development Guidelines :

Examine an assignment for your course.

Outline the elements or critical attributes to be evaluated (these attributes

must be objectively measurable).

Create an evaluative range for performance quality under each element; for

instance, “excellent,” “good,” “unsatisfactory.”

You can reinforce a developmental approach by students by using a

developmental scale in your rubric, like “Beginning”, “Emerging” and

“Exemplary.”

Add descriptors that qualify each level of performance:

Avoid using subjective or vague criteria such as “interesting” or “creative”;

instead, outline objective indicators that would fall under these categories.

The criteria must clearly differentiate one performance level from another.

Assign a numerical scale to each level.

Give a draft of the rubric to your colleagues and/or TAs for feedback.

Train students to use your rubric and solicit feedback; this will help you

judge whether the rubric is clear to them and will identify any weaknesses.

Rework the rubric based on the feedback.

When developing rubrics consider the following :

A rubric can be a fillable pdf that can easily be e-mailed to students.

How much class time is required for teaching and re-teaching the rubric.

How can you incorporate rubrics in a course?

Rubrics are most often used to grade written assignments, but they have

many other uses.

They can be used for oral presentations.

They are a great tool to evaluate teamwork and individual contribution to

group tasks.

Rubrics facilitate peer-review by setting evaluation standards.

Students can use them for self-assessment to improve personal performance

and learning.

For larger assignments, have students use the rubric to provide peer

assessment on various drafts.

Encourage students to use the rubrics to assess their own work.

Motivate students to improve their work by using rubric feedback to

resubmit their work incorporating the feedback.

Here is a sample strategy for introducing rubrics to students:

Provide samples, or smaller sections of samples, of a complete assignment

(consider asking previous students for permission to use their assignments as

samples, provided that you remove their names).

Have students evaluate the assignments individually using the rubric.

Have students share their results with a partner and justify their evaluation

by explaining how they used the rubric.

Ask a few pairs to share their responses with the class. (Paying attention to

students’ reactions/interpretations of the rubric is useful and may inform

rubric adjustments).

Provide your own evaluation of the sample assignments and explain how

you used the rubric to assess the work.

Asking Good Test Questions

Questions not only measure what students know, but can reveal different levels of knowledge and learning.

1. What are good test questions?

2. How can you develop good test questions?

1. What are good test questions ?

Good test questions :

Assess what you intend for them to assess.

Allow students to demonstrate what they have learned.

Elicit answers that reveal students’ intellectual progress.

Motivate students and help them structure their academic efforts.

Can discriminate between students who have learned what you had intended

them to learn and those who have not.

2. How can you develop good test questions ?

Some basic steps :

Determine what you want students to know. Revisit the learning outcomes

you may have articulated at the beginning of the course.

Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to review verbs that could inform test questions,

such as apply, compare, describe, etc.

Examine the different types of questions: fill-in the blank, short answer,

multiple choice, matching, essay question, etc. Use multiple question types,

as different students may be better or worse at answering various types of

questions.

Examine whether the questions ask, “How much do you remember of what

has been covered?” rather than “What can you do with what you have

learned?” (Dressel, 1976).

Come up with a few possible questions after each lecture; this may increase

the quality of test questions because they are more likely to be more

representative of your instruction.

Consider having students create and submit test questions after a class.

Review them for possible use.

Have a colleague or TA review and provide feedback on test questions.

Self-Assessment

1. What is self-assessment?

The ability to be a realistic judge of one’s own performance.

2. Why employ self-assessment?

Provides timely and effective feedback and allows for quick assessment of

student learning.

Allows instructors to understand and provide quick feedback on learning.

Promotes academic integrity through student self-reporting of learning

progress.

Promotes the skills of reflective practice and self-monitoring.

Develops self-directed learning.

Increases student motivation.

Improves satisfaction from participating in a collaborative learning

environment.

Helps students develop a range of personal, transferrable skills to meet the

expectations of future employers.

3. How can you incorporate self-assessment ?

Identify which assignments and criteria are to be assessed.

Articulate expectations and clear criteria for the task; this can be

accomplished with a rubric.

Motivate students by framing the assignment as an opportunity to reflect

objectively on their work, determine how this work aligns with the

assignment criteria, and determine ways for improvement.

Provide an opportunity for students to agree upon and take ownership of the

assessment criteria.

Draw attention to the inner dialogue that people engage in as they produce a

piece of work. You can model this by talking out loud as you solve a

problem, or by explaining the types of decisions you had to think about and

make as you moved along through a project.

Some Self-Assessment Tasks

Assignment cover sheet

Require students to submit a cover sheet with their assignment.

On the cover sheet, students should respond self-assessment prompts (for

example):

What is strong, or what went well with this assignment? Provide examples.

What do you think is weak about this assignment?

Small Feedback Groups

Provide students with feedback on an assignment.

Have students work in pairs or small groups.

Have them or orally explain and discuss the feedback they received.

4. What else should you consider when incorporating self-assessment?

The difference between self-assessment and self-grading will need

clarification.

The process of effective self-assessment will require instruction and

sufficient time for students to learn.

Students are used to a system where they have little or no input in how they

are assessed, and are often unaware of assessment criteria.

Students will want to know how much self-assessed assignments will count

toward their final grade in the course.

Incorporating self-assessment can motivate students to engage with the

material more deeply.

Self-assessment assignments can take more time.

Research shows that students can be more stringent in their self-assessment

than the instructor.

Traditional, instructor assessment can result in “backwash” where the

assessment determines what and how students learn more than the

curriculum.

Upper-level, science-oriented courses are better suited for self-assessment.

Peer-Assessment

1. What is peer-assessment ?

Peer assessment allows instructors to share the evaluation of assignments with their students. It is grounded in theories of active learning , adult learning and social constructionism .

2. Why employ peer-assessment ?

Peer assessment can:

Empower students to take responsibility for, and manage, their own learning.

Enable students to learn to assess and to develop life-long assessment skills.

Enhance students' learning through knowledge diffusion and exchange of

ideas.

Motivate students to engage with course material more deeply.

3. How can you incorporate peer-assessment ?

Identify assignments or activities for which students might benefit from peer

feedback.

Consider breaking a larger assignment into smaller pieces and incorporating

peer assessment opportunities at each stage. For example, assignment

outline, first draft, second draft, etc.

Design guidelines or rubrics with clearly defined tasks for the reviewer.

Introduce rubrics through learning exercises to ensure students have the

ability to apply the rubric effectively.

Determine whether peer review activities will be conducted as in-class or

out-of-class assignments; for out-of-class assignments, peer assessments can

be facilitated online by Blackboard.

Help students learn to carry out peer assessment by modeling appropriate,

constructive criticism and descriptive feedback through your own comments

on student work and well-constructed rubrics.

Incorporate small feedback groups where written comments on assignments

can be explained and discussed with the receiver.

4. What else should you consider when incorporating peer-assessment?

Let students know the rationale for doing peer review; explain the

expectations and benefits of engaging in a peer review process.

Consider having students evaluate anonymous assignments for more

objective feedback.

Be prepared to give feedback on students’ feedback to each other. Display

some examples of feedback of varying quality and discuss which kind of

feedback is useful and why.

Give clear directions and time limits for in-class peer review sessions and set

defined deadlines for out-of-class peer review assignments.

Listen to group feedback discussions and provide guidance and input when

necessary.

Student familiarity and ownership of criteria tend to enhance peer

assessment validity; therefore, involve students in a discussion of the criteria

used.

Students have more experience with academic tasks; therefore, be cautious

about having them peer-assess professional tasks: choose tasks that lie

within their relative experiential base.

Encourage students to take more individual responsibility by not having

multiple peers assess the same task.

Teaching with technology (E-learning)

E-learning (or eLearning) is the use of electronic media, educational

technology and information and communication technologies (ICT) in

education. E-learning includes numerous types of media that deliver text,

audio, images, animation, and streaming video, and includes technology

applications and processes such as audio or video tape, satellite TV, CD-

ROM, and computer-based learning, as well as local intranet/extranet and

web-based learning. Information and communication systems, whether free-

standing or based on either local networks or the Internet in networked

learning, underlie many e-learning processes.

E-learning can occur in or out of the classroom. It can be self-paced,

asynchronous learning or may be instructor-led, synchronous learning. E-

learning is suited to distance learning and flexible learning, but it can also be

used in conjunction with face-to-face teaching, in which case the term

blended learning is commonly used.

E-learning includes, and is broadly synonymous with multimedia learning,

technology-enhanced learning (TEL), computer-based instruction (CBI),

computer managed instruction,[2] computer-based training (CBT),

computer-assisted instruction or computer-aided instruction (CAI), internet-

based training (IBT), flexible learning, web-based training (WBT), online

education, virtual education, virtual learning environments (VLE) (which are

also called learning platforms), m-learning, and digital education. These

alternative names individually emphasize a particular digitization approach,

component or delivery method, but conflate to the broad domain of e-

learning. For example, m-learning emphasizes mobility, but is otherwise

indistinguishable in principle from e-learning .

PowerPoint

Why use PowerPoint ?

When used appropriately, PowerPoint can:

Frame a lecture.

Promote student engagement.

Highlight important material.

Incorporate complex graphics and video.

How can you design an effective presentation ?

Consider what information and key concepts you want students to focus on.

Provide visual organizers, such as agendas or chevrons that indicate where

you are within a lecture.

Keep text to a minimum to avoid students merely taking notes and listening

passively, and be conscious of color choices for accessibility.

Use PowerPoint to convey visual ideas, such as graphs, tables, and images

that are not easily represented in other ways.

Incorporate questions directly into the slides and give students time to

discuss and answer them. Also consider also using i>Clickers.

Incorporate a video and frame it with questions students can discuss.

Support your PowerPoint presentation with other forms of communication

such as classroom discussion, handouts, and videos.

How can you integrate PowerPoint into a course?

Think of your PowerPoint presentation as a tool to support rather than

replace your classroom instruction.

Pay attention to how students are responding to the information.

Allow time for questions and clarifications at regular intervals.

Turn your screen black (press the "B" button on the keyboard) or white

(press the "W" button) when your class lecture or discussion has nothing to

do with a slide.

Aim to integrate a couple of interactive activities during each lecture

session.

Have students create their own PowerPoint presentations as part of an

assignment.

Should you provide PowerPoint presentations electronically ?

PowerPoint enables you to provide your students with class presentation

documents electronically.

Providing students with presentations before or after a class can reinforce

ideas and make learning material easily accessible, but may interfere with

class attendance.

Providing students with skeletal presentation slides can support note taking,

but may interfere with students’ ability to organize their own thoughts to

take notes.

Providing students with slides, questions, or videos before a session can

introduce students to the class topics.

Providing electronic slides only to students who request them.

E-Portfolios

What are ePortfolios ?

ePortfolios are similar to regular portfolios. An ePortfolio is a collection of

materials that documents student accomplishments, and may include

reflections on the learning process and its outcomes.

Since ePortfolios are electronic, they have additional qualities such as:

Requiring students to organize their thoughts and materials using an

electronic interface similar to a personal web page.

Allowing for the presentation and interlinking of various media types.

Being shared easily and continuously edited.

Why use ePortfolios?

The learning purposes of ePortfolios include:

Reflecting upon learning processes and outcomes.

Organizing and presenting learning accomplishments.

Developing self-assessment skills.

Representing learning experiences.

Developing multimedia skills.

Creating electronic text for specific audiences.

Learning how to use technology to support lifelong learning.

The learning benefits of ePortfolios include:

Personalizing the learning experience.

Allowing students to draw connections between their various learning

experiences over the semester and beyond.

Seeing progress over time.

Enhancing critical thinking.

Evaluating and assessing student products and processes.

Assessing course learning outcomes.

Gaining insight into how students experienced a curriculum.

Online discussions

What are online discussions ?

Online discussions are a great tool to extend classroom conversations and

learning by getting students to engage with class material online. Online

discussions are often arranged by discussion boards, forums, and threads.

A discussion board is the tool that hosts the space for online discussions.

Discussion boards can hold multiple forums, which can be organized by

topic.

Discussion threads are conversations within discussion forums and begin

with a leading question or prompt. Users can respond to the original prompt

and can reply to other responses.

Course management systems, such as Blackboard, and other web-based

tools, such as Piazza, host online discussions.

Online discussions can take other forms such as discussions based on a piece

of work, or feedback dialogue on a student’s writing. For example, when

creating a wiki collaboratively, students may discuss the process online, or

when posting on a blog, students can discuss the blog post in the comments

section.

Why do online discussions?

Flexible, not limited by time or space.

In-class discussions can continue online and vice versa.

Students can prepare for class activities by engaging in online discussions

that are designed to have students get familiar with new topics. For example,

students can discuss their responses to a pre-class reading.

Online discussions can simultaneously reach different types of learners.

Online discussions can enable introverted thinkers time to process a

response and extraverted thinkers time to reflect on their thoughts before

posting.

Students can use online discussions to give and receive feedback on their

work.

Postings are saved and conversations can be reviewed for assessment and

reflection purposes.

Online discussions can be a space where students answer each other’s

frequently asked questions about the course, helping to alleviate the

instructor workload by dealing with questions that otherwise might be

emailed to her or him.

survey tools

What are survey tools?

Survey tools are online tools that can be used to electronically collect answers or responses to questions from a target audience. Online survey tools feature a variety of question types, including multiple-choice, ranking, or open-ended, and many others.

Why use survey tools in your course?

Easily collect information about your students such as:

What students know about the course subject on the first day.

Why they are taking the course.

What their expectations are for doing so.

What students currently think about course topics.

What and how students are learning.

How students are experiencing the course.

Quickly review for themes or common issues with automatically aggregated

survey responses and survey result graphics. Your survey results can inform

your next steps in teaching.

Help students become more reflective and aware of their learning as they

answer surveys about their learning experiences.

Classroom Response System

What is a classroom response system (CRS)?

CRSs are also referred to as Classroom Response Technologies, Classroom

Polling Systems, Clickers or Student/Audience Response Systems.

CRS consist of individual remotes that students use to respond to questions

and a handheld transmitter that collects the student response data. Other

classroom response technologies are web-based and students can use cell

phones or other personal mobile devices to answer questions.

With this technology, lecturers can design multiple-choice questions for

students to answer anonymously using a remote device. In addition to

multiple-choice questions, some web-based classroom response software

like Poll Everywhere allow for questions that require text responses, and

Learning Catalytics allows for even more question types, such as those that

require text, sketch, and mathematical expression responses.

Responses are instantly tabulated via the transmitter, or online for web-based

technologies. The instructor can view responses in real time and can also

share this visual with students using a projector.

Blackboard

What is Blackboard?

Blackboard is online course management system. Course Managements Systems (CMS) are sometimes referred to as Learning Management Systems (LMS).

Why use Blackboard for your course?

Blackboard can be used to:

Create an online forum that can be accessed 24/7. Facilitate communication with students through announcements and other

tools. Enhance asynchronous communication (communication that does not

require an immediate response) as a component of the course experience. Organize course materials online and make them easily accessible.

Blackboard enables instructors to:

Organize student records. Establish an online discussion component for the course. Create learning activities such as quizzes and tests that can be designed to

promote student engagement and check comprehension.

Blackboard enables students to:

Submit and store class notes and other work. Collaborate with one another. View their peers’ work and give and receive feedback.

Video

Why use video?

When used effectively, videos can:

Stimulate interest, set the tone of a class, or elicit a shared experience

among students (Poonati & Amadia, 2010).

Generate discussion.

Illustrate complex topics or bring otherwise inaccessible material into the

classroom, such as:

a guest lecturer

video-based case studies

an experiment that is difficult or impossible to do in a lecture hall

footage of geographically distant places

Connect complex topics to real-world examples.

Accommodate a variety of learning styles by providing opportunities for

students to engage with material visually and orally.

Develop media literacy and critical thinking.

Promote comprehension and retention of information (Choi & Johnson,

2007).

Engage students with course content outside of the classroom.

Problem-based learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students

learn about a subject through the experience of problem solving. Students learn

both thinking strategies and domain knowledge. The PBL format originated from

the medical school of thought, and is now used in other schools of thought too. It

was developed at McMaster University School of Medicine in Canada in the 1960s

and has since spread around the world. The goals of PBL are to help the students

develop flexible knowledge, effective problem solving skills, self-directed

learning, effective collaboration skills and intrinsic motivation.[1] Problem-based

learning is a style of active learning.

Working in groups, students identify what they

already know, what they need to know, and how and where to access new

information that may lead to resolution of the problem. The role of the instructor

(known as the tutor in PBL) is to facilitate learning by supporting, guiding, and

monitoring the learning process.[2] The tutor must build students' confidence to

take on the problem, and encourage the students, while also stretching their

understanding. PBL represents a paradigm shift from traditional teaching and

learning philosophy,[3] which is more often lecture-based. The constructs for

teaching PBL are very different from traditional classroom/lecture teaching.

Meaning of PBL:

1. Student Centered Learning

2. Learning is done in Small Student Groups, ideally 6-10 people

3. Facilitators or Tutors guide the students rather than teach

4. A Problem forms the basis for the organized focus of the group, and stimulates

learning

5. The problem is a vehicle for the development of problem solving skills. It

stimulates the cognitive process.

6. New knowledge is obtained through Self-Directed Learning (SDL).

In order to instill a project based learning

environment into a classroom, the teacher must revolve his or her teaching style

around five main criteria.

1. Centrality

2. Driving Question

3. Constructive Investigations

4. Autonomy

5. Realism .