Melissa Sloan Price
Learning Experience -
Assessments
ITEC 5560: Development of Instructional Systems
7 Strategies of Assessment for Learning
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Provide students with clear learning targets.
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Use examples of strong and weak work.
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Offer regular descriptive feedback.
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Teach students to self-assess and set goals.
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Design lessons to focus on one learning target at a time.
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Teach students focused revision.
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Engage students in self-reflection, keeping track of and sharing their learning. (Chappius, 2009)
Session 1: Pre-Assessment through inquiry
Students build upon foundational knowledge about human senses and transfer this knowledge to how robotic parts work through a collaborative inquiry lesson. Students will be given clear expectations on how their engineering teams should operate with a student-friendly rubric. The teacher observes team interactions and reflections with a standards-based rubric and tracking sheet.
Student Rubric
Engineering Team
Session 1:
Standards-Based Rubric
Session 1: Understanding
Tracking Sheet
Rubrics and assessments should be created in tandem while focusing on the objectives and skills of a learning experience. In addition, rubrics are designed to build upon levels or depths of knowledge, which creates a learner progression.
Session 2: Assessment -
Sorting Practice & Exit Ticket
Sorting:
Students learn in this session that robots are similar to humans. They are taught robots have 3 parts; sense (input), think (processing), act (output). Students are asked to use their previous day's observations and sort their robot blocks into 3 categories (sense, think, act). When students finish, the teacher provides immediate feedback for the correct categories, and students are asked to make revisions if needed. This performance assessment asks students to pull from previous knowledge and connect it to what they learned in this session.
Exit Ticket:
The teacher asks the students to predict which category a battery would belong to (sense, think, act) and write it on an exit ticket at the end of class. The teacher will collect and record students' predictions.
Session 2: Exit -Ticket
Tracking Sheet
"Students must be taught the skills they need to be in control of their own ultimate academic success: self-assessment and goal setting, reflection, keeping track of and sharing their learning" (Stiggins & Chappius, 2006, p. 13).
Session 3: Summative Performance Assessment
Students will be asked to draw a design plan for a 3 Block robot (sense, think, act). Then they must trade their design with another engineer. Construct the other engineer's robot from their plans and evaluate if the plans worked or did not work. Students will be provided with a rubric that provides them with clear expectations on the standards they will be evaluated on by the teacher. The teacher will also have a standards-based rubric to evaluate their students.
Student Rubric
3 Block Robot Project
Session 3:
Standards-Based Rubric
Reflection
Reflection is valuable. Cognitive theory explains the importance of having students reflect and monitor their learning. This assists in helping them retain what they have just learned by adding to existing knowledge or even changing it.
Creating student-centered rubrics allows for students to know upfront what they are expected to do and then at the end reflect upon how well they met these expectations. When students have a focus on what their learning should be, they are more confident, motivated, and invested in their learning.
Reflection should not end with just the student, it is valuable for the instructor and designer to reflect on the lessons, activities, experiences, and assessment outcomes. Changes to the design should be made and noted. This is valuable and will increase the knowledge and ability of the instructor and designer.
Resources:
Chappuis, J. (2009). Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning. ETS Assessment Training Institute, 11–13.
Stiggins, R., & Chappuis, J. (2006). What a difference a word makes, assessment for learning rather than assessment of learning helps students succeed. National Staff Development Council, 27(1), 10–14.