1. Classroom Assessment
Do I have to?????

2. 7 Characteristics of Assessment
Learner-centered (to improve learning, not teaching)
Teacher-directed (own own skill, experience)
Mutually beneficial (both students & faculty)
Formative (not for grading or evaluating)
Context-specific (discipline)

3. Characteristics continued
Ongoing (creation & maintenance of classroom)
Rooted in good teaching practice (builds on this by making it more systematic, flexible and more effective)

4. Need for Classroom Assessment
Faculty monitor and react to student questions, comments, body language and facial expressions – more subconscious and implicit
Rarely check these implicit impressions against student’s impressions or ability to perform

5. 7 Basic Assumptions
The quality of student learning is directly, although not exclusively, related to the quality of teaching. Therefore, one of the most promising ways to improve learning is to improve teaching.

6. Assumptions continued
To improve their effectiveness, teachers need first to make their goals and objectives explicit and then to get specific, comprehensible feedback on the extent to which they are achieving those goals and objectives.

7. Assumptions continued
To improve their learning, students need to receive appropriate and focused feedback early and often; they also need to learn how to assess their own learning.

8. Assumptions continued
The type of assessment most likely to improve teaching and learning is that conducted by faculty to answer questions they themselves have formulated in response to issues or problems in their own teaching.

9. Assumptions continued
Systematic inquiry and intellectual challenge are powerful sources of motivation, growth, and renewal for college teachers, and Classroom Assessment can provide such challenge.

10. Assumptions continued
Classroom Assessment does not require specialized training; it can be carried out by dedicated teachers from all disciplines.
By collaborating with colleagues and actively involving students in Classroom Assessment efforts, faculty (and students) enhance learning and personal satisfaction.

11. Classroom Assessment & Evaluation
Classroom Assessment Techniques are NOT meant to take the place of more traditional forms of classroom evaluation. These formative assessment tools are meant to give teachers and students information on learning before and between tests and other evaluations – they supplement and complement formal evaluation of learning.

12. Getting Started Start out Small
Try 1 or 2 of the Classroom Assessment Techniques that don’t require much planning or preparation – you don’t risk your own and your student’s time and energy
After trying a couple of these you can “assess” whether this is worth the time and effort

13. 3 Step Getting Started Process
Planning
Select one and only one of your classes in which to try the assessment
It is best to use this on a course you are most familiar with
Decide on the date/time you want to do this assessment

14. 3 Steps continued Implementing
Let students know beforehand (at beginning of class period) what you are going to do
Tell the students “why” you are asking them for the information
Assure them that you will be assessing their learning in order to help them improve, and NOT to grade them
Give clear directions, give assessment, collect responses
Read through responses and do your own analysis

15. 3 Steps continued Responding
Close the feedback loop by letting the students know what you learned from the assessment exercise and what difference that information will take
You might need to go over a point again, create a handout, etc.

16. 5 Suggestions for a Successful Start
If a Classroom Assessment Technique does not appeal to your intuition and professional judgment as a teacher, don’t use it
Don’t make Classroom Assessment into a self-inflicted chore or burden
Don’t ask your students to use any Classroom Assessment Technique you haven’t previously tried on yourself

17. Suggestions continued
Allow for more time than you think you will need to carry out and respond to the assessment
Make sure to “close the loop”. Let students know what you learn from their feedback and how you and they can use that information to improve learning.

18. 6 Flexible and Adaptable Techniques
Focused listening
The minute paper
The muddiest point
The one-sentence summary
Directed paraphrasing
Applications cards

19. Focused Listening #1
Focuses student’s attention on a single important term, name or concept
Purpose – tool for quickly determining what learners recall as the most important points related to a particular topic
Can be used before, during or after relevant lesson

20. Procedure #1
Select topic or concept that class has just studied or is about to study and describe it in a word or brief phrase
Write that word or phrase at the top of a sheet of paper as heading
Set a time limit or a limit on number of items to write (2-3 minutes or 5-10 items)

21. Procedure #1 continued
Adhere to limits – have students make a list of important words and phrases they can recall related to heading
Collect list and study
Compare their list with your own
Related, unrelated, etc.
Come back to students with information

22. #1 continued Other ideas Give students focus topic along with homework
Allow students to work in small groups
Give your list out to student for their comparison
Have students keep a journal of focused lists

23. #1 continued Pros Cons Simple, flexible
See what students recall easily or not
If used before instruction, see what students already know about a topic
Cons
Requires only recall
May not really understand concept

24. Minute Paper #2
Purpose – having students see what most significant things they are learning and what major questions are for faculty
Most useful in lecture/discussion courses
Good for courses that present a great deal of new information
Easy to do and analyze

25. Procedure #2
Decide what to focus on and when to do paper (beginning or end – homework vs lecture)
Write out your question either on a handout, transparency or prepare to write it on the board
Hand out sheets of paper or handout itself
Leave off student names (usually)

26. Procedure #2
Let students know how much time they have to write responses to question and when will get feedback
Collect and analyze results
Come back to students with results and any corrections (additional lecture, handouts, homework, etc.)

27. #2 continued Other ideas Only have student write 1 important point
Close concepts – “most powerful image”, “most convincing argument”, “most surprising information”, “most memorable character”, “most disturbing idea”
Have student discuss what they wrote in small groups

28. #2 continued
Pros
Immediate mid-course feedback that allow quick response to students
Responses can be read, tabulated and analyzed quickly
Faculty demonstrate respect for and interest in student feedback
Allows students to compare their responses to class as a whole

29. #2 continued
Cons
If overused or poorly used, students will begin to view technique as a gimmick
It is more difficult than it may seem to prepare questions that can be immediately and clearly comprehended and quickly answered

30. Muddiest Point #3 Simplest technique and very effective
Purpose – provides feedback on what students find least clear or most confusing
Helps faculty learn what students are most difficult for students to learn
Well suited to lower-division and even large classes

31. #3 Procedure
Decide what you want feedback on – the entire class lecture, one module, discussion, presentation
Do this at the end of the class period
Pass out slips of paper or index cards
Ask students for the “muddiest point” – “most confusing point”, etc.

32. #3 procedure continued Collect responses on the way out
Analyze responses
Come back to students with corrective action – maybe a bit more lecture, handouts, etc.

33. #3 continued Other ideas
Have this done with a homework assignment at beginning of class
Ask students to read each other’s drafts and point out muddiest point in draft
Let students know that some of your exam questions will concern the muddy points you have responded to in class

34. #3 continued Pros Quick, simple and easy to do
Students will respond if even shy in class
Give faculty a “snapshot” diagnosis of what students are finding difficult to learn
Faculty can see material through student’s eyes
Students can internalize this and help with self-assessment

35. #3 continued Cons Focusing only on what students DON’T understand
Best prepared lecture will be misunderstood
Students can have difficulty naming what they don’t understand

36. One Sentence Summary #4
Challenges students to answer “Who does what to whom, when, where, how and why”
Purpose – to have students concisely, completely, and creatively summarize a large amount of information on a given topic
Can be used for historical events, plots of stories, political processes, chemical reactions, and mechanical processes, etc.

37. #4 Procedure
Select important topic or work students have recently studied and that you expect them to learn to summarize
Write out yourself the question “Who Did/Does What to whom, When, Where, How and Why”
Rewrite this into a grammatical question for students

38. #4 procedure continued
Pass out question to students – allow them more time to answer than you did – 1 sentence only
Collect and analyze – separate responses into the various questions (who, what, etc.)
Do the Zero, check mark or plus when looking at responses
Put into a matrix and see where weaknesses and strengths are for students

39. #4 continued Other ideas
Work in pairs or small groups to critique and improve each other’s summaries
Use to summarize different chapters

40. #4 continued
Pros
Quick and easy way to assess students’ ability to summarize a topic
Powerful technique for helping students grasp complex processes
Students must organize their thoughts into one sentence
Cons
Some material can’t be easily summarized
One sentence can oversimplify the material

41. Directed Paraphrasing #5
Translate complicated, technical material into more simplistic language
Purpose – ability to summarize and restate important information in their own words
Useful in topics students will be expected to later explain to others

42. #5 Procedure
Select important theory, concept or argument that students have studied in some depth
Determine an audience that would be realistic yet challenging for a paraphrase of this topic
Decide on time limit for what you are asking for

43. #5 procedure continued
Give students paper, topic, time limits and who intended audience is
Collect responses
Analyze – might do 4 piles – confused, minimal, adequate, excellent
Look for 3 things – accuracy of paraphrase, suitability for audience, effectiveness in fulfilling assigned purpose

44. #5 continued Other ideas
Paraphrase for 2 different audiences and explain difference in paraphrases
Students keep journal as summary of important topics in class
Have different students paraphrase different reading assignments or lectures and share
Give handouts with useful paraphrases

45. #5 continued
Pros
Builds on and up students’ skills in actively and purposefully comprehending and communicating material
Focuses on wider relevance of the subject
Cons
Need strict time limits – burdensome
Qualitative criteria hard to explain to students
Need individualized feedback –time consuming

46. Application Cards #6
Taking what they learned and coming up with real work application
Purpose – see how students understand the possible application of what they learned
Used with a variety of classes and class sizes

47. #6 Procedure
Identify an important and applicable principle, theory, generalization, or procedure
Decide how many applications you will ask for and time limit (one is often enough – no more than 3 and 3-5 minutes)
Hand out index cards or paper, give students what they are to respond to; tell them to come up with “new” applications

48. #6 procedure continued Collect cards and analyze
Might sort into great, acceptable, marginal or not acceptable
Share with class some of each so they can see valid applications

49. #6 continued Other ideas Work in small groups
Complete as part of homework assignment
Keep applications journal

50. #6 continued
Pros
Very simple and quick to see how students think about potential uses of learning
Tie theory to real work applications
Students can hear best examples from feedback
Cons
Shift from theory to application
Some are not interested in application
Students in introductory courses may have trouble

51. Reference “Classroom Assessment Techniques”
Thomas A. Angelo & K. Patricia Cross
2nd edition
Jossey-Bass
ISBN –