Renovating Assessment Practices

Lisa MillerFebruary, 2013

Or…

This Time It’s All About Me!

The Foundation

Does shifting to an electronic submission format for written assignments decrease my marking load and thus increase my job satisfaction ?

The Building Blocks

“…[W]e teach who we are”…but at what price?

Redesigning My Approach

• electronic submissions via email (Word)o track changesomemo function

• storing, processing, and returning files o subfolders for each gradeo red-flag vs. check marko FirstnameAssignmentname.docx

Cracks in the Foundation?

• red vs. green• MS Word vs. Open Office

Reframing My Assessment Practice

In general, do my students read the comments I put on their papers?

• 90% of my grade 12s and 96% of grade 11s “usually” or “always” do this

• my dilemma: successful student revisions require very specific written feedback…

• but very specific written feedback takes a great deal of time, negating my attempts to decrease my work load

Will students find the responses I givevia “track changes” and the “memo” function in Word as helpful as my handwritten version?

• 67% of my grade 12s found the electronic feedback more helpful than the handwritten feedback

• 57% of my grade 11s found this to be the case

Will the number of students submitting assignments electronically increase over the semester?

• 74% of my 12s thought they would try electronic submission

• 91% actually did it…

• 58% of my 11s thought they would try electronic submission

• 79% actually did it…

The Inspection

Program Capacities…

Being a Strategic Teacher

The goal: • to achieve a better balance between my professional

and private life

The tool:• redesigning my assessment practice in a way that

allowed me to retain the frequency and depth of my responses

Being a Creative and Adaptive Educator

The Challenge:• to develop a valid method of assessment more likely to

appeal to today’s tech-savvy students

The Result:• a strategy that both satisfies my personal expectations

regarding quality assessment and makes me a more efficient marker

Being a Reflexive Educator

The Question:• Can I still be an effective English teacher if I alter the

way in which I assess my students’ writing?

The Answer:• Yes!

Form + Function = Balance