Hi Tracesea- You are helping your students to acquire critical thinking skills that they will use throughout their careers and personal lives. Great work! Best wishes - Susan
I like to test my student's problem solving skills in class by presenting them with a scenario and then letting them come up with open ended solutions. Once they have come up with ideas on how the problem could be solved we can discuss them as a group. We can go further into the pros and cons of each approach. This is a more open ended approach and teaches them some of the steps you go through when trying to solve a problem. Also, I like to give them experiments to do on their own, which they can write about. It is their responsibility to tie the results of their experiment back to what we have been discussing in class.
I find using case studies a very effective way to assess student learning.
Hi Michelle- thanks for your post to the forum. You are involving your students in active learning which in the end will result in better retention. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I like to have my students do fun activities to show just how much they have retained, I will have them do stuff such as mock resumes on topics and then have them compete for a position or brochures on topics. I find that they retain more and have fun while doing it.
By having students do group projects, giving them an assignment that they need to teach to the class, hand-on projects, and speeches.
Hi Joe- thank you for your post to the forum. You are doing an excellent job at investing your students in active learning! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
If the class is not too large I have given students the opportunity to participate in their test design by submitting one critical thinking type question (I will ask for certain parameters I may be looking for) that may be utilized on their test. This accomplished a few things: 1) Buy in (they feel vested), 2) Evaluation (gives me a chance to look for their understanding/grasp 3) Critical thinking growth opportunity for both of us. B-)
Hi Janice - I teach those classes as well and agree that using case studies and role play is very effective and makes the material more interesting as well as improving retention. Best wishes! Susan
Susan
I believe that sometimes we can assess students by having them use role play and deal with a mock situation in the organization such as situations that occur in a given day. I teach management, leadership and HR for the most part and have the class work on case studies and play certain roles and use decision making and bring their ideas and initiatives into the real sense.
Janice
Hi Jenny- Thank you for a very thoughtful and well written post to the forum! You are doing a terrific job of getting your students to take their learning to a higher level. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Other ways I use to assess students are informal journal responses based on topics we have covered in class. Journal responses also encourage students to examine their own lives in relation to class themes and begin to apply what they have learned.
Class discussion is another good way of assessing students--either in a large group with the entire class or in smaller groups to give more students an opportunity to participate.
I also think that assessment is important through things like papers and project work--things that move students along from the comprehending stages toward the analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating stages of Bloom's taxonomy.
HI Cheryl- Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree that the applications that your students will produce in their career development class should be the appropriate assessements. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
In a career development course, I don't think that quizzes of content is the best course to measure understanding. The students have to create resumes, cover letters, and participate in mock interviews. Inherently, in these activities, they demonstrate their comprehension.
HI David- Thanks for your post to the forum. Especially because you do this brief assessment at the end of every class, it serves to focus your students as the class proceeds as they know they will be called upon. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
At the end of class I do a brief participation formative assessment where I ask the students to share with the class one thing that they learned that day, no matter how small or personal--it depends on the student's level of willingness how much or how little they want to share with the group.
In a practical testing format, I use something clled speed drills. Rather than have the students turn in their project at a specific time, I allow them to get set up, the quickly assmemble or finish the project within a short time limit.
Evan
A student can demonstrate their skills and their competence by applying the skills and what they learned and we can assess to what degree learning has taken place and how much of the information they have retained. That is one way.
They can also test orally and tell us what hey have learned and what they know. Sometimes that is better than a written test where they they can answer the questions based on memory instead of showing us that they understand the concept and can apply it in daily life.
Hi Richard- Thanks for your post to the forum. I have had over 30 years of teaching experience and have no doubt that participation in applications like mock trials greatly increases retention of the material for most students. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Our legal students have the opportunity to partipate in a Mock Trial. I wish the trial was a regular part of the curriculum as a whole. Everyone who takes part is able to put their skills into real time practice. I cannot think of a better assessment of learning and professionalism.
