Workshop Sessions: Wednesday Aug 1: 1. Key Concepts for Transforming Course Design in the CSU 2. (Examples of past projects and) TOTAL Overview  Transformation Opportunities in Teaching And Learning 3. Team-based 4. Outcomes-driven Thursday Aug 2: 5. Task-oriented 6. Time-optimized (for learners and teachers) 7. Tool-intensive 8. Cost-sensitive Friday Aug 3: 9. Assessment- rich 10. Knowledge-based (scholarship of teaching and learning)  Community-enhancing Wrap up, +/∆, and next steps

Session 10. Transforming Course Design by Enhancing Assessments Outcome: Project teams will be able to  Identify opportunities and issues for Transforming Course Design through enhancing assessment effectiveness and efficiency  Commence work on the Assessment section of Task 2, Outline:  Assessment of…  Assessment for…  Feedback on Improving Knowledge & Skills  Feedback on Improving Student Assignment of Effort  Making Grading/Feedback More Efficient

Brainstorming Assessment Factors Assessment of …

Brainstorming Assessment Factors Assessment as … ranking mastery test/certification diagnosis guidance or feedback about…

Nicol’s Principles for Feedback on Improving Knowledge & Skills help clarify goals, criteria, expected standards facilitate the development of reflection and self-assessment deliver high quality information to students about their learning encourage dialog with teachers and peers around learning encourage positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem provide guidance for improvement provide information to teachers to help shape teaching David Nicol and Colin Milligan, Rethinking technology-supported assessment Practices in relation to the seven principles of good feedback practice, in Bryan and Clegg (eds.) Innovative Assessment in Higher Education, 2006.

Gibbs and Simpson’s Principles for Feedback on Improving Student Allocation of Effort Effective assessments motivate sufficient study time and effort (in and out of class) are spread evenly across topics and schedule lead to productive learning activity (e.g., deep rather than surface) communicate clear and high expectations Gibbs, G., and C. Simpson (2004). Conditions under which assessment Supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education 1, 3-31.

Barbara Walvoord, How to Make Grading Fair, Time-efficient, and Conducive to Learning (later expanded to Assessment Clear and Simple: A Practical Guide for Institutions, Departments, and General Education (Jossey-Bass), 2004

Exercise: How would we adapt this scenario to our needs? Set Students Up for Success A high school English teacher assigns students to read three novels by the same author and develop a thesis statement about a common theme, consistent character development, or social commentary in the novels. They must then defend that thesis in a term paper with references. To set students up for success, the teacher begins by providing them with a sample of an outstanding paper to read and analyze. The next day, the class discusses what made the sample outstanding. As their next assignment, the teacher gives students a sample paper of poor quality. Again, they analyze and evaluate its features in some detail. Comparing the two papers, students list essential differences. The class then uses this analysis to collaboratively decide on the keys to a high-quality paper. After identifying and defining those keys, the students share in the process of transforming them into a rubric—a set of rating scales depicting a continuum of quality for each key. The teacher provides examples of student work to illustrate each level on the quality continuum. Only after these specific understandings are in place do students draft their papers. Then they exchange drafts, analyzing and evaluating one another's work and providing descriptive feedback on how to improve it, always using the language of the rubric. If students want descriptive feedback from their teacher on any particular dimension of quality, they can request and will receive it. The paper is finished when the student says it is finished. In the end, not every paper is outstanding, but most are of high quality, and each student is confident of that fact before submitting his or her work for final evaluation and grading From Stiggins, R. J. (in press). Conquering the formative assessment frontier. In J. McMillan (Ed.), Formative assessment: Theory into practice. New York: Teachers College Press

Work Time on Task 2: How can rethinking Assessment be transformative in your course design? What opportunities exist to provide more effective feedback to students? What opportunities exist to provide more efficient feedback to students? What opportunities exist to provide more effective feedback to teachers? What challenges will affect the pace and scope of changes to Assessment?