Classroom Assessment

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Classroom Assessment

• Do I have to?????

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7 Characteristics of Assessment

• Learner-centered (to improve learning, not
  teaching)
• Teacher-directed (own own skill, experience)
• Mutually beneficial (both students faculty)
• Formative (not for grading or evaluating)
• Context-specific (discipline)

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Characteristics continued

• Ongoing (creation maintenance of classroom)
• Rooted in good teaching practice (builds on this
  by making it more systematic, flexible and more
  effective)

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Need for Classroom Assessment

• Faculty monitor and react to student questions,
  comments, body language and facial expressions
  more subconscious and implicit
• Rarely check these implicit impressions against
  students impressions or ability to perform

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7 Basic Assumptions

• The quality of student learning is directly,
  although not exclusively, related to the quality
  of teaching. Therefore, one of the most
  promising ways to improve learning is to improve
  teaching.

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Assumptions continued

• To improve their effectiveness, teachers need
  first to make their goals and objectives explicit
  and then to get specific, comprehensible feedback
  on the extent to which they are achieving those
  goals and objectives.

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Assumptions continued

• To improve their learning, students need to
  receive appropriate and focused feedback early
  and often they also need to learn how to assess
  their own learning.

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Assumptions continued

• The type of assessment most likely to improve
  teaching and learning is that conducted by
  faculty to answer questions they themselves have
  formulated in response to issues or problems in
  their own teaching.

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Assumptions continued

• Systematic inquiry and intellectual challenge are
  powerful sources of motivation, growth, and
  renewal for college teachers, and Classroom
  Assessment can provide such challenge.

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Assumptions continued

• Classroom Assessment does not require specialized
  training it can be carried out by dedicated
  teachers from all disciplines.
• By collaborating with colleagues and actively
  involving students in Classroom Assessment
  efforts, faculty (and students) enhance learning
  and personal satisfaction.

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Classroom Assessment Evaluation

• Classroom Assessment Techniques are NOT meant to
  take the place of more traditional forms of
  classroom evaluation. These formative assessment
  tools are meant to give teachers and students
  information on learning before and between tests
  and other evaluations they supplement and
  complement formal evaluation of learning.

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Getting Started

• Start out Small
• Try 1 or 2 of the Classroom Assessment Techniques
  that dont require much planning or preparation
  you dont risk your own and your students time
  and energy
• After trying a couple of these you can assess
  whether this is worth the time and effort

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3 Step Getting Started Process

• Planning
• Select one and only one of your classes in which
  to try the assessment
• It is best to use this on a course you are most
  familiar with
• Decide on the date/time you want to do this
  assessment

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3 Steps continued

• Implementing
• Let students know beforehand (at beginning of
  class period) what you are going to do
• Tell the students why you are asking them for
  the information
• Assure them that you will be assessing their
  learning in order to help them improve, and NOT
  to grade them
• Give clear directions, give assessment, collect
  responses
• Read through responses and do your own analysis

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3 Steps continued

• Responding
• Close the feedback loop by letting the students
  know what you learned from the assessment
  exercise and what difference that information
  will take
• You might need to go over a point again, create a
  handout, etc.

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5 Suggestions for a Successful Start

• If a Classroom Assessment Technique does not
  appeal to your intuition and professional
  judgment as a teacher, dont use it
• Dont make Classroom Assessment into a
  self-inflicted chore or burden
• Dont ask your students to use any Classroom
  Assessment Technique you havent previously tried
  on yourself

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Suggestions continued

• Allow for more time than you think you will need
  to carry out and respond to the assessment
• Make sure to close the loop. Let students know
  what you learn from their feedback and how you
  and they can use that information to improve
  learning.

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6 Flexible and Adaptable Techniques

• Focused listening
• The minute paper
• The muddiest point
• The one-sentence summary
• Directed paraphrasing
• Applications cards

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Focused Listening 1

• Focuses students attention on a single important
  term, name or concept
• Purpose tool for quickly determining what
  learners recall as the most important points
  related to a particular topic
• Can be used before, during or after relevant
  lesson

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Procedure 1

• Select topic or concept that class has just
  studied or is about to study and describe it in a
  word or brief phrase
• Write that word or phrase at the top of a sheet
  of paper as heading
• Set a time limit or a limit on number of items to
  write (2-3 minutes or 5-10 items)

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Procedure 1 continued

• Adhere to limits have students make a list of
  important words and phrases they can recall
  related to heading
• Collect list and study
• Compare their list with your own
• Related, unrelated, etc.
• Come back to students with information

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1 continued

• Other ideas
• Give students focus topic along with homework
• Allow students to work in small groups
• Give your list out to student for their
  comparison
• Have students keep a journal of focused lists

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1 continued

• Pros
• Simple, flexible
• See what students recall easily or not
• If used before instruction, see what students
  already know about a topic
• Cons
• Requires only recall
• May not really understand concept

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Minute Paper 2

• Purpose having students see what most
  significant things they are learning and what
  major questions are for faculty
• Most useful in lecture/discussion courses
• Good for courses that present a great deal of new
  information
• Easy to do and analyze

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Procedure 2

• Decide what to focus on and when to do paper
  (beginning or end homework vs lecture)
• Write out your question either on a handout,
  transparency or prepare to write it on the board
• Hand out sheets of paper or handout itself
• Leave off student names (usually)

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Procedure 2

• Let students know how much time they have to
  write responses to question and when will get
  feedback
• Collect and analyze results
• Come back to students with results and any
  corrections (additional lecture, handouts,
  homework, etc.)

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2 continued

• Other ideas
• Only have student write 1 important point
• Close concepts most powerful image, most
  convincing argument, most surprising
  information, most memorable character, most
  disturbing idea
• Have student discuss what they wrote in small
  groups

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2 continued

• Pros
• Immediate mid-course feedback that allow quick
  response to students
• Responses can be read, tabulated and analyzed
  quickly
• Faculty demonstrate respect for and interest in
  student feedback
• Allows students to compare their responses to
  class as a whole

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2 continued

• Cons
• If overused or poorly used, students will begin
  to view technique as a gimmick
• It is more difficult than it may seem to prepare
  questions that can be immediately and clearly
  comprehended and quickly answered

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Muddiest Point 3

• Simplest technique and very effective
• Purpose provides feedback on what students find
  least clear or most confusing
• Helps faculty learn what students are most
  difficult for students to learn
• Well suited to lower-division and even large
  classes

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3 Procedure

• Decide what you want feedback on the entire
  class lecture, one module, discussion,
  presentation
• Do this at the end of the class period
• Pass out slips of paper or index cards
• Ask students for the muddiest point most
  confusing point, etc.

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3 procedure continued

• Collect responses on the way out
• Analyze responses
• Come back to students with corrective action
  maybe a bit more lecture, handouts, etc.

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3 continued

• Other ideas
• Have this done with a homework assignment at
  beginning of class
• Ask students to read each others drafts and
  point out muddiest point in draft
• Let students know that some of your exam
  questions will concern the muddy points you have
  responded to in class

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3 continued

• Pros
• Quick, simple and easy to do
• Students will respond if even shy in class
• Give faculty a snapshot diagnosis of what
  students are finding difficult to learn
• Faculty can see material through students eyes
• Students can internalize this and help with
  self-assessment

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3 continued

• Cons
• Focusing only on what students DONT understand
• Best prepared lecture will be misunderstood
• Students can have difficulty naming what they
  dont understand

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One Sentence Summary 4

• Challenges students to answer Who does what to
  whom, when, where, how and why
• Purpose to have students concisely, completely,
  and creatively summarize a large amount of
  information on a given topic
• Can be used for historical events, plots of
  stories, political processes, chemical reactions,
  and mechanical processes, etc.

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4 Procedure

• Select important topic or work students have
  recently studied and that you expect them to
  learn to summarize
• Write out yourself the question Who Did/Does
  What to whom, When, Where, How and Why
• Rewrite this into a grammatical question for
  students

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4 procedure continued

• Pass out question to students allow them more
  time to answer than you did 1 sentence only
• Collect and analyze separate responses into the
  various questions (who, what, etc.)
• Do the Zero, check mark or plus when looking at
  responses
• Put into a matrix and see where weaknesses and
  strengths are for students

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4 continued

• Other ideas
• Work in pairs or small groups to critique and
  improve each others summaries
• Use to summarize different chapters

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4 continued

• Pros
• Quick and easy way to assess students ability to
  summarize a topic
• Powerful technique for helping students grasp
  complex processes
• Students must organize their thoughts into one
  sentence
• Cons
• Some material cant be easily summarized
• One sentence can oversimplify the material

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Directed Paraphrasing 5

• Translate complicated, technical material into
  more simplistic language
• Purpose ability to summarize and restate
  important information in their own words
• Useful in topics students will be expected to
  later explain to others

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5 Procedure

• Select important theory, concept or argument that
  students have studied in some depth
• Determine an audience that would be realistic yet
  challenging for a paraphrase of this topic
• Decide on time limit for what you are asking for

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5 procedure continued

• Give students paper, topic, time limits and who
  intended audience is
• Collect responses
• Analyze might do 4 piles confused, minimal,
  adequate, excellent
• Look for 3 things accuracy of paraphrase,
  suitability for audience, effectiveness in
  fulfilling assigned purpose

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5 continued

• Other ideas
• Paraphrase for 2 different audiences and explain
  difference in paraphrases
• Students keep journal as summary of important
  topics in class
• Have different students paraphrase different
  reading assignments or lectures and share
• Give handouts with useful paraphrases

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5 continued

• Pros
• Builds on and up students skills in actively and
  purposefully comprehending and communicating
  material
• Focuses on wider relevance of the subject
• Cons
• Need strict time limits burdensome
• Qualitative criteria hard to explain to students
• Need individualized feedback time consuming

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Application Cards 6

• Taking what they learned and coming up with real
  work application
• Purpose see how students understand the
  possible application of what they learned
• Used with a variety of classes and class sizes

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6 Procedure

• Identify an important and applicable principle,
  theory, generalization, or procedure
• Decide how many applications you will ask for and
  time limit (one is often enough no more than 3
  and 3-5 minutes)
• Hand out index cards or paper, give students what
  they are to respond to tell them to come up with
  new applications

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6 procedure continued

• Collect cards and analyze
• Might sort into great, acceptable, marginal or
  not acceptable
• Share with class some of each so they can see
  valid applications

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6 continued

• Other ideas
• Work in small groups
• Complete as part of homework assignment
• Keep applications journal

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6 continued

• Pros
• Very simple and quick to see how students think
  about potential uses of learning
• Tie theory to real work applications
• Students can hear best examples from feedback
• Cons
• Shift from theory to application
• Some are not interested in application
• Students in introductory courses may have trouble

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Reference

• Classroom Assessment Techniques
• Thomas A. Angelo K. Patricia Cross
• 2nd edition
• Jossey-Bass
• ISBN 1-55542-500-3