Vanessa,
Of course, we have no idea to what degree the student mastered course material unless we provide some sort of assessment. Assessment measures learning, while evaluations compare expected versus actual student persformance. Very similar but slightly different purposes.
Barry Westling
Some reasons for evaluting students is to see how they are progressing in the class and it also good if there is an area that they are struggling with you can correct before they go out to the career field. It also makes them more confident in going in to their field being full aware of the expectations.
Anitra,
Progress towards achieving student learning outcomes can only occur with mearsurement along the way.
Barry Westling
It is important to evalutate our students to help them acheive their goals and help them to continue to improve. I believe that by evaluating our students we are also evaluating our self as an instuctor to help us improve and acheive our own goals as well.
Esperanza,
Correct. More broadly speaking, instructors need to determine to what degree student learning has occurred. For me, this is the overarching reason to evaluate progress.
Barry Westling
There are many reasons why students have to be evaluated. The students need to know how they are doing in class and the instructor needs affirmation that her teaching methods are effective (or not).
The evaluation is the most important method to assess student's progress.
Meagan,
Yes, and also doing so frequently enough so that a plan of action can be developed that sets the student on a path that ensures relative successfulness and achievement.
Barry Westling
We need to evaluate student to ensure that content is being understood. By completing these evaluation it will show us what material needs to be reinforced or presented in a differnt manner.
Juan,
Understood. Maybee my legal analogy was a poor example, because I think we are syaing the same thing. I believe in expectations. Once clear expectations are given (the path), then facilitating the course to get all students to complete successfully is the goal. Evaluations therefore, are a measure of how that process is occuring.
Barry Westling
Patricia,
Great! Understanding takes a willingness and patience - both are attributes all teachers potentially possess but unfortunately not all practice it consistently. But for those that do, their students receive the fruits and benifits you describe.
Barry Westling
Hi Barry,
I think that the "you do this and I'll do that." is good for some instructors but I do not like it. I believe in have my plan as to what I will do to get the student to the finish line and be a winner. The student is racing against her/him self so I tried to, from the begining and all "during the race" to keep the student informed on what needs to be done to finish successfully.
Student evaluation needs to be done on a very regular basis to ascertain whether or not our teaching methods are working, especially as we teach students from many different cultures. I think it's really important to observe/learn all we can about the cultures we deal with, to better understand the learning methods that work best for them, both imdividually and as a group. I think it's also important to evaluate not only their academic understanding but also their social/emotional affect.
Mary,
Yes, evaluation is analysis of performance. Good evaluations will lay out a plan for where to go next, based on where we have been.
Barry Westling
So students themselves can see where they are and what they need to put more focus on
Juan,
Yes, I want accuracy as often as possible. From the beginning, there should be a plan in place and regular updates to measure how close we are coming to meeting the plan. Some teachers call these "Course Agreements", using an anaolgy from the legal sytem, where the plan is like a contract, i.e., you do this and I'll do that.
Barry Westling
Yes, by measuring the student's performance through evaluation we have an accurate view, at a point in time, of what the student has learned. We can than develop the plan to help them move forward successfully.
Kelsey,
Evaluation is a form of analysis. With this knowlege, both teacher and student can agree on a plan of action geared towards successful completion of the course.
Barry Westling
Juan,
Assessment measures performance. Evaluation is analysis. So, given the facts we can accurately inform students and lay out a realistic plan for success.
Barry Westling
evaluating students is important to see what concepts they are learning and to see if it can be applied to real life situations.
