What you assess makes a statement about what you value What statement do you want to make?

Assessment 101 Today’s topic: Assessment in courses What is it? Why do we do it? How do we do it well?

What is it? Classroom-based assessment is anything that we do to measure student progress toward our desired outcomes for our courses

Two categories of assessment Formative Assessment- informal measures used during learning experiences that are used to shape teaching and learning Summative Assessment- formal tasks that students complete at the end of learning experiences that are used to generate grades

Match assessments and objectives Objective: Analyze primary sources to determine the impacts of economic factors on political events Formative assessments: Minute paper at end of class – What was the most important thing you learned during class? What questions remain unanswered? Thumbs up/down confidence check Summative assessments: 2 page policy brief for the President Timeline of economic trends and political events

Why do we do it? Assessments document students’ level of mastery of learning objectives, providing information about whether they are ready to progress.

Why we do it? Assessments enable students to make informed decisions in order to improve their learning and performance.

Why we do it? Assessments provide critical information that can be used to shape instruction in order to maximize student learning.

What do these three purposes of assessment have in common?

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How do we do it well? Learning objectives should be tied to instructional activities. Write a medical history based upon an interview with a patient. WHAT DID YOU DO TO HELP STUDENTS LEARN AND BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THIS OUTCOME? Now how do you measure the outcome? A course should have 5-7 objectives.

ALL OBJECTIVES ARE NOT BORN EQUAL!

Bloom’s Taxonomy A hierarchy of behavior that should be used to create learning objectives and assessments Learning objectives should include a range of lower level and upper level goals. Thus, assessments must be done at different cognitive, affective or psychomotor levels that are matched to the learning objectives.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge = being able to state facts State, Count, Define, Describe, Draw, Find, Identify, Label, List, Match, Name, Quote, Recall, Recite, Sequence, Tell Comprehension = being able to explain facts Conclude, Demonstrate, Discuss, Explain, Generalize, Identify, Illustrate, Interpret, Paraphrase, Predict, Report, Restate, Review, Summarize

Bloom’s Taxonomy Application = using facts to solve problems Apply, Change, Choose, Compute, Dramatize, Interview, Prepare, Produce, Role-play, Select, Show, Transfer, Use Analysis = breaking down information Analyze, Characterize, Classify, Compare, Contrast, Debate, Deduce, Diagram, Differentiate, Discriminate, Distinguish, Examine, Outline, Relate, Research, Separate

Bloom’s Taxonomy Synthesis = putting together multiple concepts to create something new Compose, Construct, Create, Design, Develop, Integrate, Invent, Make, Organize, Perform, Plan, Produce, Propose, Rewrite Evaluation = making judgments Appraise, Argue, Assess, Choose, Conclude, Critic, Decide, Evaluate, Judge, Justify, Predict, Prioritize, Prove, Rank, Rate, Select

Planning assessment for your course Review your learning objectives Are they the ones originally approved by the Curriculum Committee? Do they accurately reflect the course description? Are they written as observable outcomes? Do they include a range of levels? Are they aligned with instructional activities? Does your department need to consider revising the learning objectives?

Contact Dr. Leslie Keiler Want to Learn More? Day of Assessment April 8, 2010 12 to 6pm @ Faculty Dining Room Contact Dr. Leslie Keiler lkeiler@york.cuny.edu For more information