Assessing Assessment

For the last two years, I’ve served my college as one of three “Pedagogy Fellows.” Our role has been to be a pedagogy resource to the college’s faculty in a variety of different ways. One of those ways has been to write short messages that we emailed to them on an (almost) weekly basis. The following is a slightly edited version of the last post I was responsible for writing.

It’s the second week of April, with just a couple more weeks of instruction left this semester. The spring semester is nearly over, and course grades will soon be posted. Once they’re submitted our thoughts will turn to preparing for fall courses. OK, we’ll likely take a few days or weeks off to catch our breath, but sometime in the next few months we’ll start that preparation. Some of us like to address it early in the summer and then devote the remainder of the summer to other activities, and some of us flip that around and prepare at the end of the summer.

What are you assessing?

As you start your fall course planning, I encourage you to consider what you’re assessing. Are you assessing (all) the course learning objectives? Are you (sometimes) assessing learner behaviors (such as meeting due dates) rather than course learning objectives? Is it important that those behaviors are assessed, or is that occurring because that’s the way we’ve always done it? Take time to identify what knowledge and skills you want your learners to leave your course with. How well does your list match up with the course learning objectives? If there is a significant difference between the two lists, is that OK, or should they be reconciled, perhaps removing some from one list, and adding some to the other?

How are you assessing?

Besides considering what you are assessing, reflect on how you are assessing? Do your assessments measure learning and understanding, or just the learner’s ability to memorize content for a few hours or days? Is the course grade calculation structured in such a way that a learner can do poorly in one part of the course, but make up those points in another part of the course, thus producing an average grade? Is it OK that the course grade may “hide” the fact that they did poorly in part of the course? Is it possible for a learner to do so poorly on an exam during the start of the semester that there is no way their course grade can recover, regardless of how well they’ve learned the course content by the end of the semester? Does it matter if a particular learner has not gained understanding by a particular date early in the semester, or just that they have the understanding by the end of the semester?

As you are pondering all of this, I encourage you to check out low-stakes and authentic assessment. Also, review material on the mastery learning model and backwards design. And lastly, consider moving away from a points-based system to other alternative grading systems, such as collaborative grading, and specifications grading. Both approaches help center and encourage the learning that you want to occur, rather than having the learners focus on “what do I have to do to earn points to get a B.” Lastly, review this list of blogs and podcasts to see what you can glean from them.

Blogs

• Faculty Focus: Higher Ed teaching strategies from Magna Publications.
• Grading for Growth: Innovative grading methods that work with rather than against student learning: specifications grading, standards-based grading, ungrading, and more.
• BSU Teaching Innovation Blog: A virtual hub for dialogue and community: learn about and share research-informed, learner-centered pedagogy, from teaching with technology to experimental and active learning strategies.
• Paul Gestwicki's Blog: A blog for reflective practice focused on Computer Science, but applicable to all.

Podcasts

• Tea for Teaching: Informal discussions of innovative and effective practices in teaching and learning.
• Teaching in Higher Ed: Faculty development for professors.
• Think UDL Podcast: Discussions with people who are designing and implementing strategies in post-secondary settings with learner variability in mind.

Time to act!

Since you’ve got to this point in my ramblings, I must have held your interest. What caught your eye? What has caused you to consider doing something different? Do you have other suggestions of assessment-related things we should consider as we prepare our courses? Now’s the time to act. It’s time to assess your assessment.

Image credit: https://stock.adobe.com/

What do you see when you compare these two ID cards?

I received my first non-student ID card from Ball State University (the top ID shown to the left) when I started teaching full time in August 2010. The card served me well for nearly a decade and a half. I had to replace it a few days ago (the bottom ID shown to the left), due to BSU upgrading the card readers for some of the rooms in the building in which I regularly teach. The technology changed, and my original card no longer granted me access to the rooms. Since I was allowed to keep my original card, it provides me the opportunity to compare the two.

What do you see when you look at these two ID cards? There’s an obvious difference in card design. When comparing my two photos, I see that my hair has turned silver (that sounds more sophisticated than gray) and is considerably longer. My eyeglasses have changed as well. I was dressed a bit more formally when the new card's photo was taken than I was for the original. On the surface, that’s about it.

But there are other differences hiding below the surface! What’s not obvious from simply comparing the two cards is how I’ve changed in other ways. When I look at the new card, I see a teacher and mentor who has transitioned from…

• Being a “sage on the stage,” to being a “guide on the side.”
• Using lecturing exclusively, to using flipped classroom and active learning pedagogies, as well as discussion-based pedagogies.
• Using a “pile of points” grading system where everything was worth points, to using Specifications Grading where there are no points.
• Being very teacher-centered, to being very learner-centered.
• Being very strict with course policies, to understanding that “life happens” and providing grace is a much better thing to do.
• Imposing penalties for late assignments, to having no penalty imposed for late work because life gets in the way, and people learn at different speeds.
• Giving learners one chance to get their assignment correct, to allowing them to rework and resubmit their work until they have it correct, demonstrating their learning.
• Thinking that grades are meaningful, to realizing they are arbitrary and get in the way of learning because learners focus on earning the points rather than learning.
• An anxious, "can I really do this!?" Instructor, to a confident Senior Lecturer.
• Someone who sought advice from others, to someone whose advice is sought. (Although, he still seeks advice from others on a regular basis!) 

I also see someone who…

• Created and taught five new courses, some multiple times.
• Created and led a three-week field study for learners who traveled in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
• Continuously seeks ways to improve diversity, inclusion, and equity in Computer Science and elsewhere.
• Published more than 70 book chapters, journal articles, conference proceedings, trade magazine articles, and white papers, and presented well over 60 times at international, national, and regional conferences.
• Serves as the coordinator of the CS 120 All-section Art Show every semester, an event he created twelve years ago to promote the department and recognize learner accomplishment.
• Serves as a mentor to new faculty.
• Mentored twelve Immersive Learning courses which had a positive impact on the community.
• Serves on multiple college and university committees.
• Delivered the address at a summer BSU commencement.
• Was recognized with multiple awards.

Reflecting on all of this, apparently more than just the color and length of my hair has changed. Very little of it seemed like a big change at the time, however. Much of it has been a gradual change over time. How have you changed in the last 15 years? What items would be on your list?