Hi Carolyn - I also rely on rubrics, especially when I teach classes like Public Speaking or Composition. Best wishes! Susan
Using both subjective and objective evaluation gives a better picture of what the student know. Since I teach studio classes and the evaluation is more subjective - I develop a rubric that is a chart showing what the students must accomplish to receive a certain grade on the project. They are given this chart with the syllabus.
As was highlighted in the third block, subjective assesment can be used as well. I find I use both whether by accident or design and in different quantities and combinations.
HI Carolyn - Great idea for an activity that gets everyone participating - thanks for sharing! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
One thing that my students enjoy is peer coaching. I'll put them in teams of 3, and one is required to coach the other through a skill, step-by-step. The third student sits with the skill set outline, and if the coach veers too far from correct, they are told to raise their hand until the coach takes a minute to reflect. It's a great activity to cover a variety of learnign styles and I can check for knowledge and understanding in a non-threatening manner.
Hi Michele - I really like your idea of the application paper! Having students apply what they have learned before they need to do so in the workplace gives them self confidence and also increases their retention of the material. Great work! Susan
I include an "application" paper to the curriculum that in addition to the test, the student's have to complete. They have to take topics that we discuss in class and apply them to their social and work lives, how the topic is relevant, and how they can improve upon it.It gets the students to use critical thinking skills while being self-aware.
I incorporate a budgeting type of project into math class. Students apply a range of the concepts we have learned to complete the project--collecting data, creating a table, creating a chart/graph, finding percents, using ratios, mean, median, mode, etc. Many students with test anxiety really appreciate this opportunity to demonstrate their abilities outside of the typical testing environment.
I'm a big fan of alternative assessments. Computer classes provide great opportunities for hands-on tests and projects that allow students to demonstrate their skills. For example, in PowerPoint, students are given guidelines on what needs to be included in a presentation, then they put the presentation together. In courses that focus on a single program (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher), I have had students assemble portfolios that contain samples of the work that they have done in that class.
When students in lab show me what they have completed so far, I ask them what could be have done to change the outcome and why. I may give suggestions and send them back to lab to give it another try and come back for re-evaluation.
Hi Jeffrey- Thanks for your post to the forum. Your practical assessment and the feedback format is really outstanding - great work! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Elizabeth- Thanks for your post to the forum. The practical assessments that you describe are excellent and will also be useful for your students to discuss in interviews with potential
employers. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I teach marketing and business classes. An important assessment for each class is to have the students apply what has been learned either through the creation of a marketing plan or an analysis of a business.
Elizabeth
In our paralegal courses, students are evaluated on how well s/he is able to complete real-world legal documents. The evaluation returned is in the qualitative format that an employing attorney would give to an employee, rather than in quantitative terms of a school grade. Through this, the students begin to see the connection between their learning and their future professional employment.
I like to use practical exercises to assess students. Rather than having the students take a test, I like to see them apply the skills I am teaching in a real-life environment. The application, and outcome, is then assessed to demonstrate to the students how they are proceeding towards achieving the goals of the course.
Hi Jennifer - Thanks for your post to the forum. It is so important that students learn all about library resources at the start of their college days. Your system is excellent! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
When I teach library instructions, I have a worksheet where the student demonstrates that they understand how to use the library and its website by going into the library and finding a book, using the online databases & catalog, etc. It's not graded, but the students see for themselves what they learned, and by asking me for help, cover gaps in their library knowledge.
Hi Don - Thanks for your post to the forum. I totally agree - for the type of classes that you mention, we MUST do application assessments. Either they can use the program or not! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Don,
I agree with you! I teach Document Processing 101 and I do give a final exam that consists of multiple choice, true/false, short answer, completion, etc; however, I also require them to produce 3 major documents that they encountered during the class. I just think it's easier to test their factual knowledge with the question sets and then their application skills are also put to the test for the produced documents.
It blows my mind to watch instructors who teach classes like MS Word, or MS Powerpoint, or other software classes and then give a final exam that consists of multiple choice questions. How better to assess your students' mastery of a software app than to have them produce something with the program?
