Assessing Student Learning

Adriana Signorini, CRTE, SATAL CoordinatorGreg Dachner, SSHA, SATAL StudentSharai Kirk, SSHA, SATAL StudentHow do we know our students are learning?

Key Components of a Course Design1- Provide students with a clear and understandable vision of the learning target. 2- Design assignments to develop the target skills & generate criteria and rubric to describe disciplinary work for students.3- Assess the development of those skills by collecting students feedback.2Why do we assess?To identify:What concepts and skills students find most challenging

What activities engage students most productively

What interventions advance student progressBoard note taking- Why do we assess? Why is it necessary?The data we collect about what activities engage students most productively, what concepts and skills students find most challenging, and what interventions advance student progress. The key to making the assessment requirement work for us is to embed our assessment of SLO into regular class assignments, exams, papers, and activities. We are used to assess student work with a grade. When we think about student learning, however, a grade represents a composite accounting of all the knowledge and skills we ask students to demonstrate on a piece of works. Assessing SLO requires us to deconstruct or unpack what that grade represents. What specific kinds of knowledge and skills did students demonstrate on a graded piece of works? The information gained from monitoring students performance makes our teaching more time efficient by directing our choices on class activities and assignments.Transform a class from a teaching class to a learning class.

3The 3 Most Efficient Teaching PracticesBegin with the end in mindGenerate criteria or rubrics to describe disciplinary work for studentsEmbed assessment into assessment

Hodges, Linda, et al, The Three Most Time-Efficient Teaching Practices, The National Teaching & Learning Forum, 21.5 (2012):1-4.

The principle of backward course design (Wiggins and McTighe 1998) begins by determining what it is that we want students to be able to do or feel or think long after the final exam is over. Then we make every other aspect of the course serve those goals. Once we have articulated those goals, our next step is to determine how students will demonstrate to us that hey have achieved the kind of learning we want of them (assessment). Lastly we turn our attention to the class format and activities that would facilitate that achievement Aligning these three facets of course design (goals, assessment, activities) creates greater opportunities 1) for students to learn what we want them to learn; 2) design our assignments around those course goals. Generate criteria or rubrics to describe disciplinary work for students We faculty know what quality students work is when we see it but students do not. Providing students with criteria or rubrics 1) gives them a glimpse into the way that we think; 2) helps them develop the ability to evaluate their own work, 3) allows us to assign points more consistently as we grade, 4) we can use them over and over and adapt for multiple purposes. Embed assessment into assessments: generating criteria for student work also serves another purpose that is time-efficient- it helps us in our assessment of student learning outcomes (SLO). Although assessment of SL in terms of assignments, tests, and papers is second nature to faculty, assessment in the sense of tracking student learning. Just as we look for evidence to make arguments for our theses or hypotheses in our discipline, when we assess student learning outcomes we determine if our courses are accomplishing what we planned in terms of student learning. Based on what we learn, we can change our courses to make them more efficient in producing the outcomes we want.

4Workshop OutcomeAt the end of this session, you will be able to Identify the value of different assessment tools to improve student learning.- Review ways of collecting direct & indirect evidence of student learning

Please complete this quick survey assessment.5Please complete a quick surveyNeeds AssessmentDefinition: It is the study of the state of knowledge, ability, interest, or attitude of a defined audience or group.

We use a needs assessment to learn about important issues and problems faced by our students in order to design effective courses. To find out what the class already know and what gaps in learning remain. 7Needs AssessmentGoals:Learn what our students already know and think, so we can determine what skills and resources are needed.Understand what we can do to make that knowledge and those skills more accessible, acceptable, and useful to our students.

Timothy Bresnahan, Award Winning Teachers-Teaching 2012 from Stanford University. Know them. Challenge them. Liberate them

Brenahan, Timothy, Large Classes: Keeping the Energy in 220 Relationships at Once. YouTube. YouTube, 11 Dec,2012. Web. Jan.2013.Benefits of starting with a needs assessment is to meet students where they are and bring them to the next level.

This is supported by the way the brain works. We can only learn new materials when we can link that new info with what we already know about it.9Direct evidence of Student LearningQuizzes, exams, essays, projects, course portfolios, and anything else that represents actual student performance as learner.Indirect Evidence of Student LearningSurveys, interviews, focus groups, class observations, reflective journals, and anything else that elicits opinions about student learning. Assessment support program for Instructional Faculty interested in collecting indirect evidence in support of Student Learning Outcomes.

How does the program work? SATAL students respond to faculty invitation to collect data by observing and/or surveying peers.SATAL OptionsClass Interviewing Focus GroupClass Observation Class videotapingMid-course EvaluationsEntry/Exit Surveys

crte.ucmerced.edu/faculty-services

Data is collected by trained undergraduatesStudents Assessing Teaching and Learning12Needs Assessment SurveyGeneral considerations:1- Goal: cognitive skills and affective attributes2- Audience: Demographic questions (major and grade)3- Response rate: keep your list short and clear.4 Questions: Concise Instructions (one or multiple answers) Organize questions around a group of similar questionsClosed-ended: Yes/No questions, multiple choice, likert-scales- ratings 1 to 5, etc.Open-ended questions (analysis and limit)Response patterns (highest to lowest)Correlated responses (group closely related questions)5- Other:

3. Restrict information that you know you will use13Needs Assessment Samples ReviewStep 1: Review examples of needs assessment surveys (cognitive skills, affective attributes, use of resources, etc.)Step 2: What are the advantages and limitations of each example? Potential limitations? Step 3: Consider your current class this semester. Which needs assessment survey would be most useful to track student learning?Improving the quality of assessment can raise the level of classroom learning Prioritize teaching approachesImprove student learningCollect direct and indirect evidence of student learning for formative and summative purposes.

Emphasize the importance of assessment15ReferencesAngelo, Thomas, and Patricia Cross. Classroom Assessment Techniques. A Handbook for College Teachers. 2nd Ed. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco: 1993. 365-80.Hodges, Linda, et al, The Three Most Time-Efficient Teaching Practices, The National Teaching & Learning Forum, 21.5 (2012):1-4.Brenahan, Timothy, Large Classes: Keeping the Energy in 220 Relationships at Once. YouTube. YouTube, 11 Dec,2012. Web. Jan.2013.