Jim McDonald

 You will: Discover the reasons for including formative assessment in your courses. Find out about formative assessment in both active and written formats. Get some ideas for formative assessment to do with your students.

 Insight on students' strengths and conceptual errors in relation to specific course concepts  Guidance to improve student understanding  A means of monitoring progress in learning  Diagnostic information concerning students' errors in understanding  A non-threatening environment to identify and correct problems in learning and instruction  Feedback to the instructor concerning the effectiveness of instructional activities

 Advantages Allows for the identification of conceptual errors Promotes active reflection on the effectiveness of instruction Encourages feedback that enhances learning Low stake natures prevents motivation for student cheating  Disadvantages May be difficult to motivate student performance on low stakes assignments Time consuming for instructor to provide effective feedback. Intensive dedication required to continue ongoing assessment. May not be practical for large enrollment classes.

 One of the most important factors influencing students’ learning is not the activities you plan or the materials you use but what students already know about a topic.  Assessing students’ prior knowledge can also identify misconceptions or incomplete understandings.  From a practical standpoint, if you find most have some familiarity with a topic, you won’t need to spend a lot of time re-teaching the basics, other than perhaps a brief review.

 Formative assessments must directly relate to learning objectives and instructional activities.  While formative assessments may be very short and informal, be sure that all activities are purposeful and goal- directed.  Effective formative assessments must provide feedback.

 Both the formative assessment and accompanying feedback must be timely to course activities, theories, and concepts.  To be most effective, formative assessments must be ongoing. By continually assessing and providing opportunities for correction, instructors can guide students toward desired learning outcomes.

 You need a happy face, neutral face, and sad face.  Please them in different parts of the room.  Read a statement and have students gather where they feel in relation to the statement.  Have them talk to other people they are gathered with.  Debrief each statement.

 Form two lines, half of your students should be in each line.  You have an A line and a B line.  A line starts and shares and then B line shares.  Read a statement or a question that students respond to.  Let students share a few times with others.  Move students in the A line to new partners.  Debrief the statements at the end.

 Procedures Done in small groups Starts with a statement Students complete it individually first Then discuss in groups of 3-4 Each student says what he or she thinks and the reasons why The group members discuss among themselves to see if they can come to agreement.

 Students stand in a circle as the teacher reads a statement.  The students who agree with the statement step to the center of the circle.  They face their peers still standing in the circle and then match up in small groups of students who agree and disagree.  The small groups engage in discussion to defend their thinking.

 Pre-Assessments: given to students prior to instruction.  Post-Assessments: given at the end of your unit or end of instruction.

 Focuses attention on the most important material to be studied.  It provides a preview of what is to come and a review of what they already know about the topic.  Can be used as pre-post assessments.  Gives you a baseline of knowledge.  Procedure: Prepare two to three open-ended questions, a handful of short-answer questions or a small amount of multiple choice questions. Hand them out. Go over results at next class period.

 The greatest obstacle to learning is not the students’ lack of prior knowledge, but the existence of prior knowledge.  Procedure: Start by identifying some of the most troublesome common misconceptions students have about a topic. Create a simple questionnaire to find out students’ belief in that area. Questions should be short-answer or multiple choice. This is done anonymously by students. Respond to the answers and go over with students.

 Provides information on what the students find least clear or most confusing about a lesson or topic.  Faculty use the feedback to guide their teaching decisions.  Procedures: Determine what you want feedback on: an entire lesson or a segment. Reserve time at the end of class. Let students know how much time they will have. Pass out paper or index cards. Collect responses. Respond to students’ feedback during the next class.

 Provides an interesting, creative, and challenging way for students to summarize what they have learned in their own words, use appropriate terminology, and consider how to best communicate their understanding.  Metacognitive level of thinking.  Procedures: Decide on an appropriate time to break during the lesson so students can summarize what they learned. Students individually record their ideas. Assign an audience or have students select one and challenge them to write their summary for that audience. Go over results to adjust teaching.

 LGI is a set of questions that relate to an identified learning goal. Students are asked to “inventory” the extent to which they feel that have prior knowledge about the learning goal.  Procedure: Identify the goals from a unit of instruction Create a question inventory on one goal Give time for the students to fill it out. Post the goals on a chart to refer to. Can be returned to students and the end of a unit as a self-assessment.

 A quick simple way to collect feedback about the learning at the end of an activity.  Requires students to use more than recall in responding to questions about a learning experience.  Demonstrates to students the teacher’s respect for their feedback  Procedure: Provide a half sheet of paper to students Write 2 questions on the board you want students to respond to. Give students 2 minutes to write and collect papers. Let students know how you are going to use their feedback.

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