1. Assessing College Student Learning
Barb Putman
August 24, 2012
New Faculty Workshop #1

2. Why assess?
To find out what students are actually learning, versus what we think they are learning
To identify student-learning areas that are missing, weak, duplicated, and/or conflicting
To demonstrate accountability to our students, college, and community
For students, assessment
Gives feedback about their learning
Can be motivating
Helps identify strengths and weaknesses
Can help students learn to self-assess
Provides a summation of what has been learned/accomplished
For instructors, assessment
Provides feedback about student learning
Can guide current and future content and instructional adjustments
Can be used to help students take increasing responsibility for their own learning

3. Problems with assessment
Lack of continuity between course goals, content covered, instructional methods, and assessments
When overused, one or two methods may not give complete picture of student learning
Unweildy assessment systems held onto for too long or abandonded too soon
Unclear directions, unknown or shifting standards, and lack of models may leave students guessing about expectations
Gap or delay in feedback loop may not allow students to learn from results and make adjustments

4. Diagnostic, Formative and Summative Assessment
Diagnostic Assessment
Formative Assessment
Summative Assessment
Discovering what students already know/can do and identifying gaps or misconceptions in prior knowl.
Feedback about student progress toward learning objectives
Judgment of student’s achievement of learning objectives
Writing sample
Comments on a rough draft
Grade and comments on the final draft
Pre-tests
Practice tests and low stakes quizzes
Post-tests and high stakes quizzes
Conferences and observations
K-W-L
Peer, self, and group assessment
Presentations, projects, and performances
In-progress grades
Final grades
Preview assignments
Non-graded homework reviewed in class
Graded homework
Classroom Assessment Techniques

5. Effective feedback Good feedback should be:
timely - the sooner the better
encouraging - use positive language, even when commenting on poor aspects of an assessment, and use the sandwich approach (some words to avoid – useless, disastrous, shows little effort - you may be wrong!)
rational - feedback should be in line with clear marking criteria
Providing lengthy written feedback to a large cohort of students can be a time consuming exercise. Consider some of the following to reduce the load:
provide feedback to groups of students – this can help students realize that they are not alone in making mistakes
use statement banks of frequently repeated comments
be selective, for example the best two out of three assignments to count
issue model answers with marked work
wordprocessed overall class reports can be used in conjunction with a class debriefing session
codes written on students' work – instead of individual comments, use a code (a number, symbol or letter) and compile a glossary of codes in Powerpoint to use in debriefing session
Source:

6. Traditional Assessment
Tests, quizzes, and single-draft papers

7. Alternative/Authentic Assessment
Review of the Literature on Classroom Discourse Analysis
Ann Bixby
EDU 216
February 3, 2012
College
New students
Graduating students
Change
Undergraduate
Cedar University
110
103 +7
Elm College
223
214 +9
Maple Academy
197
120
+77
Pine College
134
121
+13
Oak Institute
202
210 -8
Total
998
908 90
Source: Fictitious data, for illustration purposes only
ENG 095 Independent Critical Reading Project
Metacognitive process/content journal sample (bp)
Monday, November 12
Today in class we discussed the final project. I'm a little worried about it. What should I choose? I'd like to read a novel—something fun—but then again, maybe I should choose something that will help me more directly in the future. For instance, I'm taking Sociology 210 next semester. Maybe I could borrow the textbook from someone and then choose a topic that we might be covering. As we learned early in this semester, prior knowledge is a very significant factor in reading/learning. Since I usually don't have time to do "outside" reading while I'm taking a class, I could take this opportunity to strengthen my background knowledge before I get into the Sociology class.
Which direction should I take this? Should I read a nonfiction trade book that's related to one of the major topics in the Soc. book or should I research a topic in the library and on the Internet? I could compromise by doing a brief search on WebCat to see what the SCC library has on the topic and if an interesting-looking trade book comes up, then I could do that. If mostly periodicals come up, then I could go down the research path.
First step is to find a Soc. book. I think my friend Pat is in that class this semester. I'll talk to her this weekend.
I'll just see what happens when I type in "family."

8. Performance/Authentic Assessment

9. Using rubrics and models
A rubric is a guideline for assessing student performance.

10. Minimizing student complaints about grading
Provide multiple opportunities for students to show you what they know.
Consider allowing students to choose among alternative assignments.
Clearly state grading procedures in your course syllabus and review with class. Set policies on late work. Avoid modifying your grading policies during the semester.
Mix question types on tests.
Test early to demonstrate testing style and test often to give students regular feedback.
Return tests, papers, and projects as soon as possible.
Assess what you really want students to learn.