Evaluating the Assessment | Origin: ED136
This is a general discussion forum for the following learning topic:
Assessment Alternatives for Instructors --> Evaluating the Assessment
Post what you've learned about this topic and how you intend to apply it. Feel free to post questions and comments too.
This section stressed the importance of assessments beyond the typical multiple-choice exam. It is important to allow students the opportunity to express the knowledge they've gained in multiple ways, and perhaps in ways that are closer to their preferred styles of learning. This allows for deeper understanding as opposed to memorization, which does not always translate to long-term retention.
In this module, I learn that there are many alternative assessments that I can apply in my classroom.
In my experience, I've certainly noticed students benefit most from authentic/alternative and formative assesments. It gives them the opportunity to invest in their learning beyond memorization. I learned most about rubrics, which I look forward to further incorporating and tweaking as I progress.
I think that finding creative, non-threatening formative assessments, such as the Muddiest/Clearest Point technique could be extremely valuable to assess teaching and learning and could be a low-stakes way for students to gauge themselves.
I believed that Reflective technique of assessment is more useful for me because it involves reflecting back to the speaker what it is you believe they mean. It also increases our own undrstanding, and helps the speaker clarify her/his thoughts. This would improve the way I learn and work.
I find that I use many assessment techniques throughout the courses I teach. This module, however, re-emphasized to me the importance of having a rubric for nearly all of the assessments. I would like to use the reflective technique more often in the course, although I think creating an objective rubric of a subjective thought process, could be more challenging.
We are currently using some of the alternative assessments, but are not grading them.we use presentations and role playing. We do use reflections, which is a small percentage of overall grade, but do not have a designed rubric for it. The journaling project allows for an overall summation of the project, which we use to make evaluations of our program. We do use observation, and grade skills 4 times throughout the course. After this course I will look into ways of improving our observation assessments. I also think I would like to include a few more assessments, first as classroom alternatives to lecture, before making them graded/rubric. Would like to see what kind of posters my students will come up with for working with ptsd/anxiety/depression.
