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Great resource for providing effective feedback to enhance learning. 

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Great resource for providing effective feedback to enhance learning. 

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contributed by Laura Reynolds

While assessment gets all the press, we often misunderstand effective feedback for learning.

When feedback is predominately negative, studies have shown that it can discourage student effort and achievement (Hattie & Timperley, 2007, Dinham). In my experience, the only thing I knew is that I hated public speaking and I would do anything possible to get out of it. As a teacher, most of the time it is easy to give encouraging, positive feedback.

However, it is in the other times that we have to dig deep to find an appropriate feedback response that will not discourage a student's learning. This is where the good teachers, the ones students remember forever in a positive light, separate themselves from the others.

A teacher has the distinct responsibility to nurture a student's learning and to provide feedback in such a manner that the student does not leave the classroom feeling defeated. Here you will find 20 ideas and techniques on how to give effective learning feedback that will leave your students with the feeling they can conquer the world.

20 Ways to Provide Effective Feedback

1. Feedback should be educative in nature.

Providing feedback means giving students an explanation of what they are doing correctly and incorrectly. However, the focus of the feedback should be based essentially on what the students is doing right. It is most productive to a student's learning when they are provided with an explanation and example as to what is accurate and inaccurate about their work.

Consider using the concept of a 'feedback sandwich' to guide your feedback: Compliment, Correct, Compliment.

2. Feedback should be given in a timely manner.

When feedback is given immediately after showing proof of learning, the student responds positively and remembers the experience about what is being learned in a confident manner. If we wait too long to give feedback, the moment is lost and the student might not connect the feedback with the action.

3. Be sensitive to the individual needs of the student.

It is vital that we take into consideration each student individually when giving feedback. Our classrooms are full of diverse learners. Some students need to be nudged to achieve at a higher level and others need to be handled very gently so as not to discourage learning and damage self-esteem. A balance between not wanting to hurt a student's feelings and providing proper encouragement is essential.

4. Ask the 4 questions.

Studies of effective teaching and learning (Dinham, 2002, 2007a; 2007b) have shown that learners want to know where they stand in regards to their work. Providing answers to the following four questions on a regular basis will help provide quality feedback. These four questions are also helpful when providing feedback to parents:

What can the student do?

What can't the student do?

How does the student's work compare with that of others?

How can the student do better?

5. Feedback should reference a skill or specific knowledge.

This is when rubrics become a useful tool (single-point rubrics, for example). A rubric is an instrument to communicate expectations for an assignment and a useful way to provide effective feedback for learning. Effective rubrics provide students with very specific information about their performance, compared to an established range of standards. For younger students, try highlighting rubric items that the student is meeting or try using a sticker chart.

6. Give feedback to keep students 'on target' for achievement.

Regular 'check-ins' with students let them know where they stand in the classroom and with you. Utilize the '4 questions' to guide your feedback.

7. Host a one-on-one conference.

Providing a one-on-one meeting with a student is one of the most effective means of providing feedback. The student will look forward to having the attention and allows the opportunity to ask necessary questions. A one-on-one conference should be generally optimistic, as this will encourage the student to look forward to the next meeting.

As with all aspects of teaching, this strategy requires good time management. Try meeting with a student while the other students are working independently. Time the meetings so that they last no longer than 10 minutes.

8. Feedback can be given verbally, non-verbally, or in written form.

Be sure to keep your frowns in check. It is imperative that we examine our non-verbal cues. Facial expressions and gestures are also means of delivering feedback. This means that when you hand back that English paper, it is best not to scowl.

9. Concentrate on one ability or skill.

It makes a far greater impact on the student when only one skill is critiqued versus the entire paper being the focus of everything that is wrong.

For example, when I taught Writer's Workshop at the elementary level, I would let students know that for that day I was going to be checking on the indentation of paragraphs within their writing. When I conferenced with a student, that was my focus instead of all the other aspects of their writing. The next day would feature a new focus.

Utilize this strategy when grading papers or tests to provide effective feedback for learning. This strategy allows you the necessary time to provide quality, written feedback. This can also include using a rotation chart for students to conference with at a deeper more meaningful level. Students will also know when it is their turn to meet with you and are more likely to bring questions of their own to the conference.

11. Educate students on how to give feedback to each other.

Model for students what appropriate feedback looks like and sounds like. As an elementary teacher, we call this 'peer conferencing.' Train students to give each other constructive feedback in a way that is positive and helpful. Encourage students to use post-it notes to record the given feedback.

12. Ask another adult to give feedback.

The principal at the school I taught at would often volunteer to grade history tests or read student's writing pieces. You can imagine how the student's quality of work increased tenfold! If the principal is too busy (and most are), invite a 'guest' teacher or student teacher to critique work.

13. Have the student take notes.

During a conference over a test, paper, or a general 'check-in,' have the student do the writing while you do the talking. The student can use a notebook to jot down notes as you provide verbal feedback.

14. Use a notebook to keep track of student progress.

Keep a section of a notebook for each student. Write daily or weekly, dated comments about each student as necessary. Keep track of good questions the student asks, behavior issues, areas for improvement, test scores, etc. Of course, this requires a lot of essential time management but when it is time to conference with a student or parent, you are ready to go.

Returning papers and tests at the beginning of class, rather than at the end, allows students to ask necessary questions and to hold a relevant discussion.

16. Use Post-It notes.

Sometimes seeing a comment written out is more effective than just hearing it aloud. During independent work time, try writing feedback comments on a post-it note. Place the note on the student's desk the feedback is meant for. One of my former students had a difficult time staying on task but he would get frustrated and embarrassed when I called him out on his inattentive behaviors in front of the class.

He would then shut down and refused to do any work because he was mad that I humiliated him. I resorted to using post-it notes to point out when he was on task or not. Although it was not the most effective use of my time, it really worked for him as a way to provide effective feedback for learning.

17. Give genuine praise.

Students are quick to figure out which teachers use meaningless praise to win approval. If you are constantly telling your students 'Good Job' or 'Nice Work' then, over time, these words become meaningless. Make a big deal out of a student's A+ on that vocabulary test. If you are thrilled with a student's recent on-task behaviors, go above and beyond with the encouragement and praise.

Make a phone call home to let mom or dad know how thrilled you are with the student's behavior. Comments and suggestions within genuine feedback should also be 'focused, practical, and based on an assessment of what the student can do and is capable of achieving' (Dinham).

18. "I noticed...."

Make an effort to notice a student's behavior or effort at a task. For example; "I noticed when you regrouped correctly in the hundreds column, you got the problem right." "I noticed you arrived on time to class this entire week." Acknowledging a student and the efforts they are making goes a long way to positively influence academic performance.

19. Provide a model or example.

Communicate with your students the purpose of an assessment and/or feedback. Demonstrate to students what you are looking for by giving them an example of what an A+ paper looks like. Provide a contrast of what a C- paper looks like. This is especially important at the upper learning levels.

20. Invite students to give you feedback.

Remember when you finished a class in college and you were given the chance to 'grade' the professor? How nice was it to finally tell the professor that the reading material was so incredibly boring without worrying about it affecting your grade? Why not let students give you feedback on how you are doing as a teacher?

Make it so that they can do it anonymously. What did they like about your class? What didn't they like? If they were teaching the class, what would they do differently? What did they learn the most from you as a teacher? If we are open to it, we will quickly learn a few things about ourselves as educators.

Remember that feedback goes both ways and as teachers, it is wise to never stop improving and honing our skills as teachers.
20 Ways To Provide Effective Feedback For Learning; A version of this post first appeared on opencolleges.edu.au;

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20 Ways To Provide Effective Feedback For Learning

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One way to provide effective feedback for learning is a 'feedback sandwich' to structure your feedback: Compliment, Correct, Compliment.

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Good resource for feedback strategies. Even has some prompts to help with how to give effective feedback.

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Good resource for feedback strategies. Even has some prompts to help with how to give effective feedback.

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Teachers can implement a range of practices and strategies that ensure feedback to students is deliberate, planned and focused on learning intentions and success criteria.

Practices that promote effective feedback

There are 5 practices that can promote effective feedback - combining feedback and instruction, focusing on learning intentions and success criteria, intervening quickly, ensuring the feedback engages students in thinking and allowing time to enact the feedback.

Effective feedback follows instruction. When student work does not demonstrate at least partial understanding of a concept or process, feedback is not usually effective and the problems are best addressed through further teaching. Hattie & Timperley state that:

A simple clue that a student's work is not ready for feedback is that you can't find any legitimate success feedback to offer. When the work doesn't demonstrate any understanding, don't give feedback - reteach instead.

To combine feedback and instruction, teachers should:

select and sequence the learning experiences (instruction) and integrate with opportunities to gather information about the learning (assessment)

intentionally design assessments to occur at 'checkpoints' (that is, critical points during the learning where teachers and students engage in assessment to determine who is learning and who needs additional or alternative instruction prior to moving forward with the learning)

provide opportunities for feedback from the teacher, from peers, and from themselves (through self-assessment)

encourage students to use the feedback to take further action to learn and improve.

Recording patterns of behaviour

Fisher and Frey believe teachers should identify patterns in student errors so they can target instruction or intervention on specific areas of student need. They suggest keeping a table to record student error patterns.

For example, list errors in the first column, and note down the initials of students that made the error in the second column. Note: each set of initials in the second column represents a student who made an error.

Skim and scan to preview text

JC

Sourcing - information source, author, type of document

JC JT DL MM SL ST ND CT

Draw conclusions

JC JT MM TA AA LR CM TR VR IB AV TM SO KF

The information available from this pattern analysis:

all but one student demonstrated mastery of skimming and scanning

a fair number of students did not engage in sourcing - and could need re-teaching

in terms of drawing conclusions, it would be useful to re-teach the whole class.

By looking for patterns of errors, additional teaching can be designed for the whole class, small groups or individuals to address errors.

Effective feedback directs attention to the intended learning and/or success criteria, pointing out strengths and offering specific information to guide improvement (Stiggins, Arter, Chappius, & Chappuis).

Whatever the form of the feedback, it needs to be explicit about the learning intention and success criteria.

Be explicit about the learning intention and success criteria

1. Ensure students know and understand the learning intention and success criteria

2. Limit feedback to these

3. Attend to surface features every now and again.

Ensure you do not:

always focus on the elements of - presentation, quantity, surface features (such as spelling and
punctuation) and effort at the expense of the learning intention and success criteria

do not write/ talk about anything that is not related to the success criteria that you told students
about at the beginning of the task.

Prioritise feedback

1. Address the most important needs first

2. Limit feedback to 2-3 specific recommendations linked to the learning goal/s

3. adjust feedback based on individual students' readiness and learning preferences. An
appropriate amount of feedback for one student might not be enough for another, and might
overwhelm a third.

Ensure you do not 'blanket mark' (mark every error) or expect students to apply all the criteria that they have ever been taught for every task.

Focus on key feedback questions

1. Ensure feedback focuses on 'What are the goal/s?'

2. Ensure feedback focuses on 'What progress is being made toward the goal/s?'

3. Ensure feedback focuses on 'What needs to be undertaken to make better progress?'

Try not to mark errors without making improvement suggestions.

Provide 'closing the gap' feedback prompts

1. Provide reminder prompts based on student needs.

2. Provide scaffolded prompts based on student needs.

3. Provide example prompts based on student needs.

Try not to write too much as too much information can be overwhelming and difficult for a student to take in.

Check the adequacy of the feedback

1. Ask the student what support they need.

2. Ask the student directly:

Is that enough or do you need an example?

Do you know what to do next?

Is that enough help?

What will you do if you get stuck again?

3. Ask the student to tell you what they think you are trying to say to them.

Ensure you don't assume that students understand your comments or know how to implement the feedback.

Include peer feedback and self-feedback/ reflection

1. Encourage students to question you and each other to deepen their understanding.

2. Model and scaffold the types of questions you want students to use themselves.

3. Provide opportunities for peer and self-feedback prior to the work being submitted.

4. Provide and work through models and exemplars of quality work, based on the learning
intention and success criteria.

Try not to expect students to engage in peer and self-feedback without providing instruction and
guidance.

Intervene as soon as possible

1. Give the most effective form of feedback in the most timely way.

2. Offer feedback during learning as well as at the end of a task/ assignment.

3. Check-in with students as they engage in a task.

4. Formalise 'check-ins' - allocate times for 'check-ins' during learning.

5. Engage in a feedback cycle > feedback > action > feedback > action and so on

6. Limit marking and focus on one or two areas for improvement so that feedback can be provided sooner rather than later.

Ensure you don't wait until the end of a task or assignment to offer feedback or leave too much time before offering feedback.

Vince Lombardi, a famous American football coach, once stated: Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

In classrooms it is important not to allow students to repeat a mistake or cement a misconception. By intervening promptly, teachers will promote effective feedback provided that they:

Feedback needs to be acted upon by the student. Providing too much feedback doesn't deepen the learning if the student doesn't need to think or do anything for themselves.

Much of the feedback offered to students can be less about improvement and more about corrections of mistakes the teacher has spotted. Comments and questions - such as 'You've missed something here.' or 'What should you have put there?' or 'What about these?' - require students to do very little thinking about the learning process.

Instead, pose more open questions to stimulate student thinking:

'Is there anything you could change to make that a proper sentence?'

'Read through this sentence and tell me what you think would make the sentence more descriptive.'

In addition, try to avoid correcting or annotating errors for the student - instead state or write comments that the student can understand and act upon.

Allow time to enact feedback

To demonstrate the importance of feedback, allocate time for feedback to be acted on. Since all feedback requires action, if the teacher wants students to take the feedback on-board, they need to provide the time to do this.

To support this process, teachers need to:

1. Allow time, opportunity and support for students to act on the information they receive
about their learning.

2. Set up routines so feedback can be enacted, for example:

read the comments

clarify the comments

act on the comments

seek peer feedback

re-submit work.

3. Break longer tasks into stages and provide feedback which is essential to the successful navigation of subsequent stages.

4. Expect to see changes/ improvements as a result of feedback.

Ultimately, the only effective feedback is that which is acted upon. This means feedback should be more work for the recipient than the donor.

How to implement feedback

The most important word in any teacher's vocabulary is 'yet'.

When a student says: 'I can't do it,' the teacher needs to respond with, 'You can't do it yet.'

In summary when implementing feedback:

give descriptive feedback where possible

focus on feedback that encourages students to think through their learning

avoid closed questions in favour of posing more open ended ones

keep feedback focused on what's important for the learner - product, process and self-regulation

restrict comments to key strengths and areas for improvement that will make the most difference

divide the time between collective, group, pair and individual feedback

ensure students understand the feedback and give them time and opportunity to respond to it

ensure opportunities for peer and self-feedback/reflection

identify something that was done well and something that needs improvement - and provide specific suggestions for how to improve

provide a range of improvement prompts to guide student learning - reminder prompts, scaffolded prompts and example prompts

ensure the feedback provided was useful in helping the student progress in their learning.

Feedback prompts

There are 3 types of prompts that can be used in the moment of teaching that Clarke (2003) has identified.

Range of prompts

Learning intention

Extract from writing

Reminder prompt

Scaffolded prompt

Example prompt

Why...?

(Justifying a statement)

To write a letter giving reasons for things you say.

'It was dismal.'

Say why you thought this.

Choose one of these or your own: It was dismal because I was bored all the time. / I found it dismal having only my grandad to talk to.

Why was it a dismal time? Why did you hate being there?

Feedback strategies

Use the following feedback strategies with students:

Use feedback sandwiches:

positive comment

constructive criticism with explanation of how to improve

positive comment or contextual comment: X was good ... because .... now/next time ...

Build reflection time into each lesson for feedback - teacher to student, student to student, student to teacher.

Use catchy abbreviations:

EBI: Even Better If

HTI: How to Improve

YNS: Your Next Steps

WWW: What Went Well.

Use a feedback sheet for students to record 'What I did well' and 'What I need to do to improve'.

Give students the opportunity at the feedback stage to write 1 or 2 questions they would like answered to support them in making the identified improvements.

Record comments in a Learning Log - students can then refer to these comments before they complete similar exercises.

Use symbols instead of writing too much.

Use a feedback structure such as:

find 2 successes against the success criteria: what students have achieved in relation to the learning intention/success criteria

find the part of the work that has most scope for an immediate 'jump' (not simply the worst part)

write a short prompt telling the student exactly what to do to this part of their work

provide time for them to read, process and respond to your prompt.

Three and one marking

Three and one marking, based on the work of Shirley Clarke on formative feedback, has 4 stages:

Stage 1. At the very beginning of new work/ assignment/ enquiry explain to the class that you will be changing the way you will mark their written work, in order to help them make more progress in the future.

Stage 2. Read all of the student's written work through very carefully before making any annotation. Next, highlight 3 places in the writing where the student best met the learning intention/s of the activity. Then indicate (for example, with a star) one place where an improvement can be made to the original work.

Stage 3. Draw an arrow to a suitable place near the star and write a 'close the gap' prompt to support the student in making an improvement to their work. This can be provided in a variety of different forms:

Reminder prompt - suitable for more able students. For example, 'Say more about ...' or 'Explain why you think this is ...'

Scaffold prompt - suitable for most students as it provides more structure to improve the work. For example, a question: 'Can you explain why ...?' or a directive: 'Describe some of the ....' or an unfinished sentence: 'She shows this by the way she ...'

Example prompt - particularly supportive of less able students. For example, 'Choose one of
these statements and/or create your own.' (Provide 2 valid statements for the pupil to select from or use as a model).

Stage 4:

Provide time in class to enable students to read and respond to the 'close the gap' comment.

Use this time to follow up individual needs with 1 or 2 specific students 'face to face'.

Comment upon their improvement at the first available opportunity.

Feedback frames

When using a success criteria rubric, older students can complete a frame themselves before receiving feedback to help them become competent self-assessors.

Stars and stairs

The 'Stars and stairs' frame could be used with younger students. The teacher can draw a 'star' or 'stairs' (a jagged line) on the student's work - with the star indicating what the student is doing well and the stairs indicating steps needed to improve.

For older students, label one section with 'That's Good' for success and 'Now This' for improvement feedback. To monitor the actions students take, add a section where students note what they did with the feedback and identify
one or more aspects that they think have really improved. This could be submitted with their improved work.

Feedback dialogue frame

Students complete the first part before receiving feedback. The teacher then provides the feedback on the form, and the student responds with the plan for what to do next. Source: Chappuis, (2012)

1. Details
Name:
Date:
Assignment/ task:
Feedback focus:

2. My opinion [student]:
- My strengths are:
- I think I need to work on:

3. Feedback [teacher]:
Strengths:
Work on:

4. My plan [student]: What I will do now

Teacher feedback form

Student name:
Title of work:
Conference time:

1. Some things you did successfully:
2. Some things you could improve on:
3. Next steps:
(Note: keep this feedback form to refer to as you revise your work.)

Peer feedback form

Your name:
Peer reviewer's name:
Title of project:
Two compliments about the work are:
Two suggestions about the work are:
(Note: have the peer reviewer use 'I' statements for this step:
- I would like to know more about...
- I am not sure what this means...
- I would like to know more details about...)
Any other ideas or comments:
(Note: keep this form to refer to as you revise the work.)

Traffic light feedback

Show feedback with a 'traffic light' motif - green (good), amber (okay) or red (incorrect). To do this, create a table with 5 columns and a row for each success criteria. Title the columns: Success criteria, Date, Feedback (this is where you include the traffic light), Action taken (to be completed by student) and Completed. (Source: Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010)

Clarke, S (2003). Enriching Feedback in the primary classroom. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Chappuis, J (2012, September). Leadership for Learning: How am I doing? Educational Leadership, 70(1).

Fisher, D. &amp; Frey, N (2012). Making time for feedback. Educational Leadership, 70 (1).

Hattie, J., &amp; Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1).

Stiggins, R. J., Arter, J. A., Chappuis, S., &amp; Chappuis, S. (2004). Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing it right - Using it well. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

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Learn about 5 practices to promote effective feedback and a range of practical strategies to use in the classroom.

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I created this while in our Phys Ed. practicum with St. Francis. I would probably adapt this if I teach floor hockey, however, for assessing passing skills, this was an affective method that showed us that the students needed to work on keeping their head up while passing in floor hockey. 

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I created this while in our Phys Ed. practicum with St. Francis. I would probably adapt this if I teach floor hockey, however, for assessing passing skills, this was an affective method that showed us that the students needed to work on keeping their head up while passing in floor hockey. 

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More ideas to consider while creating summative assessments.

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More ideas to consider while creating summative assessments.

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English teachers often default to essays, quizzes and tests as assessments. Figuring out creative ways to assess beyond this can be challenging. So, I've teamed up with some of my favorite blogging friends (see who below) to come up with creative ways to assess students' skills as readers, writers, speakers and listeners!

This article would not be possible without the innovative ideas of these amazing teacher bloggers. Be sure to click over to their websites because they have so many brilliant, time saving ideas to offer teachers...

Reading Assessment

Google Keep

Assessing annotation while reading is tricky. The logistics are frustrating - do we have to keep collecting their books to check? What about if kids can't write in their books? What should kids be looking for? In a blog post, Amanda from Mud and Ink Teaching shares how she has started using Google Keep to track and assess student annotations while reading whole class novels. With just a small digital adjustment and the help of Google Classroom, Google Keep annotations could be an assessment lifesaver for your classroom.

Conversations

One important goal all ELA teachers should share is to be able to assess a student's comprehension of a text without making him or her hate reading. Melissa from Reading and Writing Haven wrote a blog post detailing some of her favorite strategies that make assessment enjoyable while also building teacher-student relationships and improving reading culture in the classroom. The biggest secret is that of allowing valuable conversations and abstract thinking to replace tedious and often punitive multiple choice tests and quizzes.

Chart Checkers

Students in middle and high school should have opportunities to self-assess their reading independence. One way to support them in this important real-world skill is with a chart like the one below. Have students figure out where they fall on the chart and set goals to reach higher stamina levels.

Innovative Projects

As schools are trending toward a more standard-based curriculum, standard-aligned assessments are more important than ever before. Though this may seem like a challenge, it actually creates more autonomy for teachers and students alike. One way Ashely Bible from Building Book love likes to disguise assessing student's inferencing and evidence-providing ability is by assigning a innovative projects like a tiny house character design project or this free culinary symbolism project. Students will infer and use evidence just as much as a written assessment, but will have a lot more fun doing so!

Writing Assessment

Pre-Assessment Rubrics

Writing pre-assessments are valuable because they allow teachers to see common themes across the class. Is everyone struggling with transitions? Maybe, overall, students aren't sure how to write an effective hook or thesis statement. Pre-assessments can reveal those needs. Also, they can begin our goal-setting conversations. It's important to differentiate writing unit to meet students' needs, and goal setting with individual students can be a way to we frame those conversations, initiated by a pre-assessment. It's rewarding for a student to reflect on their growth from the beginning of a writing unit to the end. Here are the goal-setting forms and pre-assessment rubrics Reading and Writing Haven uses.

Brain Dumps

Brain-based research tells educators that a "brain dump" can work wonders. Before students begin writing, allow them to brainstorm all ideas. Then, help students eliminate and elaborate on ideas. Finally, give students space to organize their ideas. This brainstorming allows the teacher to pre-assess where students will need help with their writing, as well as offset possible problems. Lauralee from Language Arts Classroom writes about brainstorming with high school students in this article.

Conferencing

Conferencing is the best way to assess and provide feedback while in the middle of a unit. But how do you go about conferencing with 125+students?!?! It can be incredibly helpful to teach students how to conference with each other to take the work load off of you and put some of the assessment work on their shoulders. This video can help...

Another question teachers have about conferring is: how do I decide what to help each student with? The best way to assess a student during a conference is by asking, "how can I help you?", and if a student can't answer that question, the next step would be to read a small portion of their writing to get a sense of one major skill they could most use support with. Keep it simple! This article from WeAreTeachers discusses using notecards to assess students' skills and plan conferences.

The Single-Point Rubric

The singe-point rubric is the wave of the future! If you have no idea what a single-point rubric is, here is a simple definition for you:

A single-point rubric lists the skills you want students to master with room for commenting if students have not yet mastered the skills, or exceeded mastery.

Here's what they look like:

So, you are probably wondering how exactly to assign points using a single point rubric, right? It depends on your needs. When a student exhibits the skills in the middle column it is considered mastery or standard met. This could mean an A in your school/district but it could also mean a B too. It all really depends on your preference. You can make each skill in the middle column worth 1 point or 10. You could make the "ways to improve" column worth a little less and the "advanced" column worth a little more. Again, it is really up to you!

Fast & Focused Feedback

As for assessing grammar knowledge, Ashley Bible from Building Book Love has implemented a system that tests students on their individual grammar issues. Once she marks a grammar issue in their writing, they watch a mini lesson and take a quiz to assess their new understanding. You can read all about this system here: Fast and Focused Feedback. Check out this amazing video about how to make your feedback fast and focused...

Listening & Speaking Assessment

Goal Setting Cards

Use goal setting cards with public speaking students. To assess public speaking, ask students to choose where they would like to improve. Assess students on their growth toward their goal. Find goal sheets and other public speaking activities on the Language Arts Classroom blog here.

Student-Led Discussions

If you're tired of multiple choice and essay questions and searching for a more meaningful way to assess students' understanding of your next novel, try a Socratic Seminar. Essentially, it is a student-led discussion over a text or big idea. Instead of you facilitating the discussion by asking questions, students take charge of their own learning in this activity by creating and asking the questions. A Socratic Seminar is truly a student-centered and social approach to learning. For you, this means it is less prep work. It's one of those lessons that teaches itself. You literally can sit back, relax, and watch the magic happen. If you'd like more information on facilitating your own seminar, check out this blog post. For ready-to-print resources, rubrics, instructions, and more, check out this bundle that works for any text.

Mock Trials

A mock trial is another effective, engaging way to assess literary analysis. In addition to this skill, students will also demonstrate close reading, citing strong and thorough textual evidence, analyzing evidence, persuasion and argument skills, debate, writing, and speaking/listening. It is more than a lesson; it is a learning experience that engages every single student. For more guidance on using a mock trial as an end-of-unit assessment, check out this blog post by Write On With Miss G. If you need some help structuring your mock trial or want to save yourself some time creating everything, then this mock trial bundle that works any text may help.

Podcasts

Assessing listening skills can be a bit tricky. But one way to integrate the listening standards into your classroom is through podcasts. Ashley Bible from Building Book Love has an engaging unit using the Serial Podcast Season 1 to build students' ability to listen, discuss and respond to a very engaging podcast for grown ups and high schoolers alike. Ashley includes ways to assess students' listening skills in this unit too!

Wrap Up

Assessments can be more than just quizzes, end of unit essays and tests! Hopefully this article has motivated you to try a new method of assessment that is engaging and maybe even excites you! Teachers getting excited about assessment and not dreading it, now that is something to strive for, don't you think?

What creative assessment ideas do you use in your classroom? We'd love to hear from you in the comments!

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13 Creative Assessment Ideas for Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening - Amanda Write Now

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English teachers often default to essays, quizzes and tests as assessments. Figuring out creative ways to assess beyond this can be challenging. So, I've teamed up with some of my favorite blogging friends (see who below) to come up with creative ways to assess students' skills as readers, writers, speakers and listeners!

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Strategies to creating meaningful Performance assessments.

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Strategies to creating meaningful Performance assessments.

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Performance Based Assessments: 4 Tips On Making One

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Learn more about using performance based learning to develop a student's problem solving skills and how to assess it.

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Digital resources for formative assessment.

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Digital resources for formative assessment.

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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Great Formative Assessment Tools for Teachers

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A platform that provides reviews of educational web tools and apps to help educators, teachers, and students integrate technology in education.

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In this post you'll find no-prep digital math escape room activities that are fun for students and eliminate your need to grade! These self-checking digital math escape rooms are built in Google Forms with no outside links. The directions are simple -- enter a 4-letter code to advance to the next puzzle -- so students can focus all of their energy on their math.

To meet the growing need for digital resources, I have spent the last couple years updating my printable math activities to also include digital versions (you can read more about those ) and making some digital-only math activities in Google Slides and Forms. One of the newest digital-only activities are digital math escape rooms .

Teachers are using digital math escape rooms as review, as independent, partner or group classwork, as station activities, and even as concept reinforcement during summer school. They can be assigned to individual students or worked on in pairs/groups. Digital math escape rooms are also nice paper-savers when students have access to technology.

Digital math escape rooms have been getting some great feedback from teachers and students:
"I've greatly enjoyed using escape room activities with students in the past and struggled with how to implement those types of activities virtually. This activity did a great job of merging the concepts and skills of parallel & perpendicular lines with the fun and intrigue of an escape room! " - Elizabeth J. "This was SOOO much fun to use with my students. They Loved everything about the escape room! Thank you!!" - Dani B. "I like to spice up my teaching by offering my students a variety of math activities. Students are challenged with solving the math problems and they stay engaged. I time them to see who can unlock the locks first. Exciting!" - Leinani K. "I love these activities and so do my students. We both love the self-checking factor: me because it actually requires my students to trouble shoot what they are doing incorrectly and gives them some motivation to figure out the solution; them because it is a 100 if they can escape and they enjoy the process of trying to breakout." - Kristin K.
This feedback made me so happy to read because it was exactly what I had hoped these digital math escape rooms would be-- engaging, easy to access for all students and timesavers for teachers.

How do these digital math escape rooms work?

Each math escape room is built in Google Forms with no outside links. Everything is housed within the Google Form. This way you never have to worry that a link will be blocked or broken.

Each escape room consists of 5 puzzles. In each puzzle there are 4 questions to answer. Once students answer the 4 questions, they find their answers in the answer choices grid. This will generate a 4-letter code. Entering that code into the answer box on the Form will unlock the lock. There are 5 locks to unlock in each escape room activity. Each escape room is set with response validation, giving students the instant feedback they love and eliminating your need to grade.

Important note: You can still assign these digital escape rooms if you are not in a Google school.If your students do not have Google logins, but you do have access to your own Google Drive, you can still assign these digital math escape rooms to students. Students do not need to log into Google or even have Google accounts. As long as you can house the escape room on your own Google Drive, and Google is not blocked on student devices, you can send it to students no matter which learning platform your school uses. Directions for sending the escape room to students are within the escape room PDF file (the link to the digital escape room is also embedded within the PDF).

Browse digital math escape rooms:

Digital Math Escape Room Bundle

"This is one of the greatest purchases I have ever bought from TpT" -Kristi

"BEST BUNDLE EVER. My students say they LOVE the problems in these escapes. I have used many of the escapes this year, and I LOVE that they cannot submit the assignment until all of the questions are answered correctly. Thank you so much for making this resource!" -Lori

"I love these activities and so do my students. We both love the self-checking factor: me because it actually requires my students to trouble shoot what they are doing incorrectly and gives them some motivation to figure out the solution; them because it is a 100 if they can escape and they enjoy the process of trying to breakout." -Kristin

If your students are in middle school, this digital math escape room bundle includes digital math escape rooms for integers, like terms, fractions, decimals, percents, the coordinate plane, expressions, exponents, GCF & LCM, mean, median, mode and range, area and circumference of circles, probability, angle pair relationships, ratios, slope, ordering rational numbers, 1-step equations, 1-step inequalities, 2-step equations, 2-step inequalities, unit rates, area, perimeter and volume, geometric transformations and composite figures.

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fun math teaching ideas and activities for middle school and high school

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math pennants and free reference sheets.

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In this post you'll find no-prep digital math escape room activities that are fun for students and eliminate your need to grade! These self-checking digital math escape rooms are built in Google Forms with no outside links.

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I love the idea of rubric reflections to move through the writing process of revising and editing to improve on writing. 

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I love the idea of rubric reflections to move through the writing process of revising and editing to improve on writing. 

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Two weeks ago, I shared some of the details I add to my lesson plans. Bloom's levels are one of the elements I mark in my lesson plans.

However, my understanding of Bloom's changed after I read this article from Julie Stern at Share My Lesson. The article dives into updates to the familiar Bloom's pyramid. But it does an especially good job describing updates to the knowledge level. In fact, the article describes knowledge as procedural, factual, conceptual, or metacognitive.

For me, this last element-metacognitive knowledge-has had the greatest impact on my classroom. Research suggests that metacognition, or thinking about thinking, can empower students. And this helps students know themselves as learners and thinkers. So today I wanted to share opportunities for including metacognitive thinking in your classroom.

Success! Welcome to Moore English!

Metacognition and Formative Assessment

Exit tickets: To start, metacognition needn't be elaborate or complex. In fact, keeping the stakes low can help students buy in to metacognitive thinking. And for those skeptical of metacognition, an efficient exit ticket can help waylay concerns about metacognition taking away from curriculum. (In response to this concern, I would explain that metacognition enhances curriculum.) After a lesson, using exit tickets (one of my goals this year) can help students reflect on what they learned. First, consider what worked during the lesson? And what didn't work? Check out my favorite exit tickets.

Score predictions: Another quick way to help students think about their thinking is to ask students to predict their scores. While scores are not the end-all, they are (right or wrong) a classroom reality. Plus, students are used to scores. In the classroom, I use this strategy most often with weekly grammar quizzes. Over the year, students become accustomed to the quizzes. As a result, students can more readily predict what score they will earn. In other words, they are starting to know themselves as learners. In fact, score predictions are one version of self-reported grades. And self-reported grades have the second-largest effect size in terms of impacting student learning. As students predict more often, teachers can add another layer to deepen metacognition. For example, ask students to explain why they think they earned x score.

Explaining annotation: At the start of the year, I added a new metacognitive strategy to my instruction. In ELA, students spend a lot of time annotating text. First, we annotate poetry. Then, we annotate informational texts. And we annotate everything in between. One way to help students think through a text is to have them try to explain their annotations. To begin, ask why did you underline this? Or why did you draw an arrow here? To keep the conversations low stakes, students can talk through their annotations peer to peer. Or students can even write to describe their annotation process. Get more great ideas for annotation.

Metacognition and Summative Assessment

Rubric reflections: As ELA teachers, we know that writing is a process. As my students move through the writing process, we constantly refer to the rubric. Sometimes we close read the rubric. Then, we use the rubric to score exemplar papers. And then students use the rubric to evaluate themselves as they work through different parts of the writing process. Since rubrics can be overwhelming, this allows students to get familiar with the rubric while also constantly engaging in metacognition. This process keeps students continually considering how their writing is going. And it helps them figure out what they need to do in order to get their writing to where they want it to be. Check out my favorite writing rubric.

Test corrections: If asked, most teachers would probably eliminate a lot of major test events. As teachers, we know that high-stakes testing can have some serious mental and emotional stakes for students. However, most teachers also work in systems that require a certain amount of testing. Sometimes it's benchmark testing, interim testing, unit tests, or standardized test. To combat this, teachers might consider offering test corrections or revisions.

Personally, I prefer test revisions or corrections to full-blown test retakes. For one, revisions/corrections afford students the opportunity to explain their thinking.

Here's the form I use for students interested in test revisions. Note that the form works for 9-12 and may be too stringent or lenient for your system. This form is free, so grab it today!

Professional Metacognition

What I expect of my students I also expect of myself. For this reason, I believe metacognition has benefits for professionals, too! Here's two ways to bring metacognition into your professional development:

Goal setting: Developing professional goals is key to my professional growth. (You can read past goals here, here, and here.) However, I'm also an advocate of writing down and explaining my goals. Why are these goals valuable? What struggles do I anticipate? What resources are available? Writing down my goals is one of the reasons I stated Moore English. And this kind of explicit metacognition makes for more intentional teaching.

Unit feedback: At the end of a unit, I ask my students for feedback. When students provide feedback, it helps me understand their needs and thinking. Once I have their feedback, I can think through more classroom decisions. In other words, I think about my thinking as a teacher. What classroom moves proved most effective? Which ones proved most challenging? And which were intentions? Answering these questions helps me be more aware of my thinking even as I'm teaching. Get my free student feedback form.

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

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How to Add Value to Your Classroom with Metacognition / Moore English

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Two weeks ago, I shared some of the details I add to my lesson plans. Bloom's levels are one of the elements I mark in my lesson plans. However, my understanding of Bloom's changed after I read this article from Julie Stern at Share My Lesson.

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This is an amazing resource for how to assess Art. This can be a difficult task, however, I think Art can be incorporated into any subject and can be a great way to differentiate assessments. 

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This is an amazing resource for how to assess Art. This can be a difficult task, however, I think Art can be incorporated into any subject and can be a great way to differentiate assessments. 

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I set up The Arty Teacher because I have a passion for my subject that I want to share with other art teachers around the world.

I have been a high school art teacher for over 20 years, so I understand what it's like to be in front of a class of students, often with very different abilities and attitudes.

I wanted to develop resources that would help teachers to bring out the best in every student in every class. I also wanted to free-up staff from time-consuming lesson preparation to let them focus instead on delivering exciting, motivating, dynamic lessons, supported by excellent resources.

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Art Assessment Archives - The Arty Teacher

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I set up The Arty Teacher because I have a passion for my subject that I want to share with other art teachers around the world. I have been a high school art teacher for over 20 years, so I understand what it's like to be in front of a class of students, often with very different abilities and attitudes.

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Useful tool: These are some great ideas for summative assessments. I like that there are many ideas that hit "create" for Blooms. 

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Useful tool: These are some great ideas for summative assessments. I like that there are many ideas that hit "create" for Blooms. 

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Sometimes the best way to check for understanding is with a good old-fashioned paper-and-pencil test. But more often than not, there are assessments that are more fun and interesting, and just as effective, to give your students the opportunity to show what they know. Here are 25 alternative assessment ideas that will tap into students' different learning styles and get you the information you need to make sure they're learning.

1. Plot a family tree.

Highlight the relationships and connections between individuals by filling in a family tree. For example, have students plot out the relationships between characters in a story, the important players in a historical event, or the family lines of greek mythology.

2. Conduct an interview.

Instead of answering multiple-choice questions about a topic, why not tell the story through an eyewitness account? For example, if you are studying the Montgomery Bus Boycott, have students write an interview with Rosa Parks about what happened. Or better yet, have two students collaborate and then perform the interview together.

3. Create an infographic.

Explaining a concept through a visual representation definitely demonstrates that students have a clear understanding. Infographics take the most important information and present it in a clear, memorable way. Click here to check out examples from WeAreTeachers.

4. Write a how-to manual.

They say that teaching someone else about a concept requires a greater degree of understanding. With this in mind, have students write a short manual explaining a process or concept, step by step. For example, how to annotate a short story, how to conduct an experiment, or how to solve a math problem.

5. Take a virtual shopping trip.

Test your students' proficiency of adding and subtracting money with a practical application. For example, give each student an imaginary budget of $100 to spend on back-to-school supplies. Provide them with sales flyers and have them write up what they will fill their cart with. Make sure to tell them they must spend as much as possible and give them a range of items to buy, for example 15-25 items.

Let younger students explain a concept in two ways-with words and a picture. Have students fold a piece of paper in half and draw a picture on top and explain the concept in words on the bottom of the page. For example, have them explain and illustrate the life cycle of a butterfly.

7. Make an ABC book.

This is a fun way for students to show what they know in a creative way. Have students create a mini book with an illustrated cover and write one letter of the alphabet on each page. They will record one fact on the topic per letter/page. A few potential ideas: animal study, biography study, math vocabulary words.

8. Fashion a mobile.

Instead of writing a boring essay, have students showcase their knowledge in a three-dimensional way. Different facts about the topic are written on separate cards, attached to yarn, and hung from a plastic hanger. For example, a story map (setting, characters, conflict); parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives); science concepts (the phases of the moon); math concepts (shapes and angles).

9. Create a pamphlet.

Students demonstrate everything they know about a topic with a colorful pamphlet that includes facts and illustrations. Possible topics: an animal study, branches of government, or an author study.

10. Present opposite points of view.

Have students demonstrate that they fully understand the main arguments for and against a modern issue, such as what restrictions, if any, should be placed on stem cell research or whether athletes should be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs. Ask them to present facts and statistics that support both sides.

11. Work on a STEM challenge.

Consider assigning projects that challenge students to use every step of the engineering process, such as the egg dropchallenge or cardboard boat racing. (Note: mini versions of cardboard boats can be raced in plastic pools.)

12. Write a persuasive letter.

Students have to fully understand the merits of a position before they can persuade someone to adopt that same point of view. One way to demonstrate this is by writing a persuasive letter. For example, write a letter to the school board explaining why mandatory recycling and composting in every school would help the environment.

13. Create a concept map.

A concept map visually represents relationships between concepts and ideas. Test students' understanding by having them fill in a prepared concept map or create one from scratch. Simple versions created by hand can do the trick, or go high tech with Lucidchart, an add-on for Google Docs.

Have students demonstrate their proficiency with percentages by drawing up an imaginary budget. For example, let them choose their starting income and provide them with a list of expenses they must account for. Once they balance their budget, challenge them to figure out what percentage each category takes up.

15. Put out a WANTED poster.

Create an old-fashioned wanted poster for a character from a story or a historical figure. Have students describe the character using facts, figures, and a description.

16. Produce a multimedia, interactive poster.

The fun, low-cost, high-tech tool allows students to combine images, graphics, audio, video, and text on one digital canvas in order to demonstrate their understanding of concepts and ideas.

17. Create an artifact.

Turn your classroom into a museum and have your students create artifacts that demonstrate their knowledge. For example, types of indigenous dwellings, devices that use a spring, or models of a part of the body.

18. Coordinate a living history museum.

Make characters from history come alive. Students can dress like heroes, inventors, authors, etc. and prepare mini biographies. Invite guests to come in and learn from students.

19. Design a travel brochure.

Great for a geography study. For example, a state brochure could include maps, the state flower, flag, motto, and more.

20. Draw a comic strip.

Allow students to tap into their inner cartoonist and test their knowledge with comic strips. Set clear expectations for length and content beforehand. Possible uses: book reports, retelling of a historical event, or science concepts, like the water cycle.

21. Create a collage.

Using old magazines, let students create a collage of images that demonstrates their understanding of a concept. For example, math concepts, like equalities, balanced equations, and volume; science concepts, like weather, life cycles, and chemical reactions; and English concepts, like word roots, conjugations, and punctuation.

22. Dramatize.

Have students write a play or monologue that was inspired by a moment in history, summarizes a story, or explains a concept.

23. Write a pitch.

Have students write a pitch for a Netflix series starring characters from an important moment or period of time (the American Revolution, the Civil Rights era) or follows the theme of a book. Encourage students to be inspired by subplots or to tell the story from a different character's point of view.

24. Gather real-world examples.

Ask students to demonstrate their understanding by gathering evidence of concepts in everyday life. For example, geometry (angles, shapes), grammar (sentence structure, use of punctuation), science (condensation, refraction), or social studies (maps, current events).

25. Dream up a board game.

At the end of a unit, allow students to team up and create a board game as a culminating project. For example, at the end of an economics unit, have them create a game about supply and demand or a game about wants and needs.
Do you have more alternative assessment ideas that you use in your classroom? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Also, check out 5 Unconventional Final Exams to Give Your Students.

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Sometimes the best way to check for understanding is with a good old-fashioned paper-and-pencil test. But more often than not, there are assessments that are more fun and interesting, and just as effective, to give your students the opportunity to show what they know.

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Great ideas, especially the "Participation Cards".

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Great ideas, especially the "Participation Cards".

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Formative assessment-discovering what students know while they're still in the process of learning it-can be tricky. Designing just the right assessment can feel high stakes-for teachers, not students-because we're using it to figure out what comes next. Are we ready to move on? Do our students need a different path into the concepts? Or, more likely, which students are ready to move on and which need a different path?

When it comes to figuring out what our students really know, we have to look at more than one kind of information. A single data point-no matter how well designed the quiz, presentation, or problem behind it-isn't enough information to help us plan the next step in our instruction.

Add to that the fact that different learning tasks are best measured in different ways, and we can see why we need a variety of formative assessment tools we can deploy quickly, seamlessly, and in a low-stakes way-all while not creating an unmanageable workload. That's why it's important to keep it simple: Formative assessments generally just need to be checked, not graded, as the point is to get a basic read on the progress of individuals, or the class as a whole.

7 Approaches to Formative Assessment

1. Entry and exit slips: Those marginal minutes at the beginning and end of class can provide some great opportunities to find out what kids remember. Start the class off with a quick question about the previous day's work while students are getting settled-you can ask differentiated questions written out on chart paper or projected on the board, for example.

A quick way to see the big picture if you use paper exit tickets is to sort the papers into three piles: Students got the point; they sort of got it; and they didn't get it. The size of the stacks is your clue about what to do next.

No matter the tool, the key to keeping students engaged in the process of just-walked-in or almost-out-the-door formative assessment is the questions. Ask students to write for one minute on the most meaningful thing they learned. You can try prompts like:

What are three things you learned, two things you're still curious about, and one thing you don't understand?

How would you have done things differently today, if you had the choice?

What I found interesting about this work was...

Right now I'm feeling...

Today was hard because...

Or skip the words completely and have students draw or circle emojis to represent their assessment of their understanding.

2. Low-stakes quizzes and polls: If you want to find out whether your students really know as much as you think they know, polls and quizzes created with Socrative or Quizlet or in-class games and tools like Quizalize, Kahoot, FlipQuiz, Gimkit, Plickers, and Flippity can help you get a better sense of how much they really understand. (Grading quizzes but assigning low point values is a great way to make sure students really try: The quizzes matter, but an individual low score can't kill a student's grade.) Kids in many classes are always logged in to these tools, so formative assessments can be done very quickly. Teachers can see each kid's response, and determine both individually and in aggregate how students are doing.

Because you can design the questions yourself, you determine the level of complexity. Ask questions at the bottom of Bloom's taxonomy and you'll get insight into what facts, vocabulary terms, or processes kids remember. Ask more complicated questions ("What advice do you think Katniss Everdeen would offer Scout Finch if the two of them were talking at the end of chapter 3?"), and you'll get more sophisticated insights.

3. Dipsticks: So-called alternative formative assessments are meant to be as easy and quick as checking the oil in your car, so they're sometimes referred to as dipsticks. These can be things like asking students to:

write a letter explaining a key idea to a friend,

draw a sketch to visually represent new knowledge, or

do a think, pair, share exercise with a partner.

Your own observations of students at work in class can provide valuable data as well, but they can be tricky to keep track of. Taking quick notes on a tablet or smartphone, or using a copy of your roster, is one approach. A focused observation form is more formal and can help you narrow your note-taking focus as you watch students work.

4. Interview assessments: If you want to dig a little deeper into students' understanding of content, try discussion-based assessment methods. Casual chats with students in the classroom can help them feel at ease even as you get a sense of what they know, and you may find that five-minute interview assessments work really well. Five minutes per student would take quite a bit of time, but you don't have to talk to every student about every project or lesson.

You can also shift some of this work to students using a peer-feedback process called TAG feedback (Tell your peer something they did well, Ask a thoughtful question, Give a positive suggestion). When you have students share the feedback they have for a peer, you gain insight into both students' learning.

For more introverted students-or for more private assessments-use Flipgrid, Explain Everything, or Seesaw to have students record their answers to prompts and demonstrate what they can do.

5. Methods that incorporate art: Consider using visual art or photography or videography as an assessment tool. Whether students draw, create a collage, or sculpt, you may find that the assessment helps them synthesize their learning. Or think beyond the visual and have kids act out their understanding of the content. They can create a dance to model cell mitosis or act out stories like Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" to explore the subtext.

6. Misconceptions and errors: Sometimes it's helpful to see if students understand why something is incorrect or why a concept is hard. Ask students to explain the " muddiest point" in the lesson-the place where things got confusing or particularly difficult or where they still lack clarity. Or do a misconception check: Present students with a common misunderstanding and ask them to apply previous knowledge to correct the mistake, or ask them to decide if a statement contains any mistakes at all, and then discuss their answers.

You can use sticky notes to get a quick insight into what areas your kids think they need to work on. Ask them to pick their own trouble spot from three or four areas where you think the class as a whole needs work, and write those areas in separate columns on a whiteboard. Have you students answer on a sticky note and then put the note in the correct column-you can see the results at a glance.

Several self-assessments let the teacher see what every kid thinks very quickly. For example, you can use colored stacking cups that allow kids to flag that they're all set (green cup), working through some confusion (yellow), or really confused and in need of help (red).

Similar strategies involve using participation cards for discussions (each student has three cards-"I agree," "I disagree," and "I don't know how to respond") and thumbs-up responses (instead of raising a hand, students hold a fist at their belly and put their thumb up when they're ready to contribute). Students can instead use six hand gestures to silently signal that they agree, disagree, have something to add, and more. All of these strategies give teachers an unobtrusive way to see what students are thinking.

No matter which tools you select, make time to do your own reflection to ensure that you're only assessing the content and not getting lost in the assessment fog. If a tool is too complicated, is not reliable or accessible, or takes up a disproportionate amount of time, it's OK to put it aside and try something different.

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7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment

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Within these methods you'll find close to 40 tools and tricks for finding out what your students know while they're still learning.

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Great formative assessment strategies. Teachers can create interactive learning boards that can help formatively assess students. 

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Great formative assessment strategies. Teachers can create interactive learning boards that can help formatively assess students. 

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I want to share a quick formative assessment idea that I used in my classroom this week. By quick, I mean you can whip this out in five minutes on your lunch break with half of a sandwich in your mouth (don't judge). I promise that is all it takes and it will be time well spent.

So you might be thinking,"why do this?" or "I already have a system for this." That's fine and you do what works best for you. But my kids were getting bored of the ol' tried and true individual white boards.

I do absolutely LOVE the sticky-note strategy above, and have used it a ton in my classroom. The only problem I found is that I needed a way to differentiate some of the questions since I have such a mixed group this year. I know I could do exit slips on small pieces of paper with questions on them, but that's a lot of work! Not to mention, my kids seem to think learning is SUPER fun all of a sudden when I switch it up a bit! So, switch it up I did.

I had it hanging up first thing in the morning. As students were walking in, they read our morning message, and then had to put their answer next to their number. I currently have a few students who are still really struggling with this concept, but I also have some students that have mastered this concept and are begging me for some harder stuff. With this style of a quick check, I was able to differentiate each students' question and take note of each students' level of mastery with this standard.

The beauty of this is that it took me about five minutes to put together, about three minutes to write out the students' questions, and there is no paper involved!

(Sorry for the poor quality! Forgot my camera this day!)

That's it! Nothing fancy but it sure feels great to have a clear picture of the students who need some reteaching.

I'd love to hear how you do quick checks of your students in your rooms!

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A Quick Check Formative Assessment Idea - In the Classroom with Kristine Nannini

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I want to share a quick formative assessment idea that I used in my classroom this week. By quick, I mean you can whip this out in five minutes on your lunch break with half of a sandwich in your mouth (don't judge). I promise that is all it takes and it will be time well...

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Assessing Student Learning - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University

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These are quick and easy formative assessment ideas that can be used every day in the classroom. 

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These are quick and easy formative assessment ideas that can be used every day in the classroom. 

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22 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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Here are 22 simple assessment strategies and tips to help you become more frequent in your teaching, planning, and curriculum design.

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Ideally, plan for assessment feedback as part of the assessment design. When you tell students about the assessment requirements, include information on how and when feedback will be provided. Tell students what specific opportunities they will have to engage with and use feedback in their subsequent learning.

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During our Phys. Ed. course, I created a rubric for assessing an overhand throw. This can be used for self, peer, or teacher assessments. 

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During our Phys. Ed. course, I created a rubric for assessing an overhand throw. This can be used for self, peer, or teacher assessments. 

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Assessments are not only for marks and grades. Assessment is a mode for learning and as learning. This process does not have do be done alone either. Students can assess their work and their peers work if they are taught how. This saves time and fosters a deeper sense of how to learn.

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Assessments are not only for marks and grades. Assessment is a mode for learning and as learning. This process does not have do be done alone either. Students can assess their work and their peers work if they are taught how. This saves time and fosters a deeper sense of how to learn.

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@Mr_Rablin People confuse assessment OF learning with the other reasons and ways that we assess. Not everything should be graded. Not everything needs to be assessed as a final product. Not everything needs to be assessed by the teacher.

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@Mr_Rablin People confuse assessment OF learning with the other reasons and ways that we assess. Not everything should be graded. Not everything needs to be assessed as a final product. Not everything needs to be assessed by the teacher. https://t.co/rjvZSN3Hy1

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If you could narrow down your answer to the following question to just one thing, what would you say?

What is the problem with assessment practices in a typical classroom?

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People confuse assessment OF learning with the other reasons and ways that we assess. Not everything should be graded. Not everything needs to be assessed as a final product. Not everything needs to be assessed by the teacher. pic.twitter.com/rjvZSN3Hy1
— Jodi Rice (@jriceTO) January 7, 2022

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@Mr_Rablin People confuse assessment OF learning with the other reasons and ways that we assess. Not everything should be graded. Not everything needs to be assessed as a final product. Not everything needs to be assessed by the teacher. https://t.co/rjvZSN3Hy1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.includes.tweets[].text
If you could narrow down your answer to the following question to just one thing, what would you say?

What is the problem with assessment practices in a typical classroom?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
@Mr_Rablin People confuse assessment OF learning with the other reasons and ways that we assess. Not everything should be graded. Not everything needs to be assessed as a final product. Not everything needs to be assessed by the teacher. https://t.co/rjvZSN3Hy1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
@Mr_Rablin People confuse assessment OF learning with the other reasons and ways that we assess. Not everything should be graded. Not everything needs to be assessed as a final product. Not everything needs to be assessed by the teacher.

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If you could narrow down your answer to the following question to just one thing, what would you say?

What is the problem with assessment practices in a typical classroom?

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Self-Assessment in project based learning resource. 

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Self-Assessment in project based learning resource. 

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Rubrics and Self-Assessment in Project-Based Learning

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Have you ever looked at a kid's assignment and thought "What on earth did this kid do the whole time?" Self-assessment allows you to get insight into their thoughts and feelings about the assignment and their performance during the assignment. I've had students tell me on their self-assessment that they should have worked a lot harder on the project.

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This site has great ideas for creating assessments and tools to support all learners within the classroom.

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This site has great ideas for creating assessments and tools to support all learners within the classroom.

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How Do I Approach Assessment in Remote Instruction?

Approaching assessment remotely begins during the course design process, and requires careful consideration of student learning progression and outcome attainment in the course and the program. Creating authentic assessments in the remote environment that both engage and measure the right outcomes is one of the fundamental tools you have to communicate and emphasize the key knowledge and skills being developed in your course.

Please review the Building section of this guide, for more information about embedding assessment design into your course. That section outlines:

Understanding Environmental Limitations

The remote learning environment brings with it several limitations that impact strategies for assessment. As has been discussed in the Building section, assessments should be meaningful and signal what is most important in the course, and so building strong alignment between student learning outcomes and the assessment tools used to measure them is critical to keeping students engaged. Everything takes longer in a remote environment, and Zoom and screen fatigue can lead to quicker burnout than in face-to-face environments.

While chunking down larger assessments into smaller pieces can lessen the "all-or-nothing" nature of large assignments, having 2-3 small tests or assignments per week (possibly in each of their courses) quickly leads to burnout in students because the constant small deadlines make it impossible to focus on larger course learning and drawing deeper connections between material. So while it is important to provide students opportunities to grow their learning throughout the course by allowing early formative feedback to check learning and progress, this should be balanced with considerations of workload, the relevance of these smaller assessed pieces to student learning outcomes, and their connection to more significant pieces of assessment in the course.

The remote learning environment has brought into the spotlight the overreliance on midterm tests and exams as assessment tools that is prevalent in higher education. These high-stress assessment techniques, coupled with technological proctored solutions used to ensure academic integrity, have led to increased student anxiety and undermined the ability of students to perform their assessment in environments that adequately promote reflective performance. It has also added to instructional workload, without clear benefit to the quality of student learning. Instead of sinking into these anxieties, remote instruction provides the opportunity to question this overreliance and look at opportunities to redesign assessment to create positive learning environments that communicate expectations and appropriately measure student learning outcomes.

The Opportunity for Assessment Redesign

The remote environment can provide opportunities to advance and refine our assessment practices as we reconceptualize assessment design to better align our assessments with student learning outcomes. Integrating authentic assessments that appropriately measure student learning outcomes provides students clarity and understanding about how their skills and knowledge will develop throughout the course, and how the assessments in the course allow them opportunities to build and demonstrate that learning to you as the instructor, but also serve as tools for them to reflect on their own learning.

When engaging with assessment redesign you could consider the following questions:

What learning am I trying to measure?

What are the essential and enduring knowledge, skills and values that are of highest priority and value in this course?

How can this learning best be displayed and measured?

What supports and information are needed for students to be adequately prepared?

How can academic integrity be integrated into the process?

What environment needs to be created to support student performance?

How can student development through formative feedback be supported?

How does class size impact my choices?

The above questions will help define your choices for assessment and how this can be integrated into your course. When reflecting on the above questions, consider if your assessment choices allow you to:

The increased adoption of online remote proctoring tools across education during the pandemic has encouraged a greater reliance on technological surveillance tools to ensure academic integrity rather than reconsidering assignment design at the fundamental course design level. Authentic assessments that are rooted in course and program learning outcomes and encourage students to draw connections between course concepts and their own lives support students in reflecting in order to display their learning and achievement of those outcomes. These assessments provide a richer learning experience with academic integrity infused at its core (such as in assessments that are scaffolded throughout the course, come from deep personal reflection, and assessment that allow learning to be demonstrated in multiple ways).

The list of Authentic Assessments within this guide is offered as a starting place for reconsidering your assessment, all offer opportunities to measure learning in different ways with processes for ensuring academic integrity. To receive more focused support for your course, and its context, you are encouraged to reach out to wluteaching@wlu.ca.

Examples of Authentic Assessments

Authentic assessments align the outcome being assessed with the appropriate measure by which to assess it and provide clarity to students and instructors about the clear achievement of learning outcomes. Authentic assessments that allow students to see themselves and the wider world provide deeper meaning, connection, and significance. The following non-exhaustive list of assessments is meant to provide some ideas about a broad range of assessment types and when they may be used:

Laurier instructors can download PDFs versions of all of these assessment strategies on Connect.

Annotated Bibliographies

A bibliography is an alphabetized list of sources, such as books, journal articles, websites, newspaper databases and other documents that are relevant to a course or project. An annotation is a brief description or comment on a piece of text. An annotated bibliography, then, is a list of sources that includes a brief descriptive or evaluative paragraph (approx. 150 words) that informs the reader why the source is relevant or accurate to the proposed project and/or learning outcomes.

Why Would You Use It?

To assess the breadth of, and engagement with, course materials. Short summaries for each entry provide breadth. Longer, essay style questions developed out of the summaries asking students to respond to critical issues in the course can add depth to the assessment of course learning outcomes.

When Would You Use It?

In courses where understanding relevant material from a variety of sources is essential.

As part of a broader assessment package where students develop multiple connected products (individual/collaborative essay, voice over PowerPoint presentation, report on team functioning, if a collaborative project) to build both breadth and depth in assessment of course learning outcomes.

How Would You Use It?

Choose the number of sources (minimum/maximum) to be annotated, and determine what kinds of sources students must choose. Examples include primary sources, secondary sources, websites, or peer-reviewed journals. Students will write their annotations in a paragraph format under the alphabetized citation entry.

Rubric: A grading rubric can be used in MyLS to outline expectations and assessment approach to students.

Explain the purpose of the Annotated bibliography, how it connects to learning outcomes and other assessment activities.

Asynchronously: create or upload a file on MyLS that outlines the guidelines for the annotated bibliography, such as document type for submission (Word or Google Docs), the number of sources to be annotated, length and type of annotations (descriptive v. evaluative), citation style (e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago).

Synchronously: discuss the purpose of an annotated bibliography with students and consider sharing examples of proper citations, annotated sources, and discussing what makes for an acceptable source (e.g. peer-review journals

Laurier Resources and Guides

Resource

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Case Studies

Case studies provide an opportunity for instructors to prepare a real-world problem or simulated scenario for students to problem solve. Case study assignments can be short-structured ("mini") cases for single-lesson activities or long-structured with scaffolded tasks that lead towards a final case report.

Why Would You Use It?

To assess both breadth and depth of student learning through the analysis, or development of a particular case, or multiple cases, with guided questioning.

To assess students' research, problem solving, or argumentation skills. To prioritize close reading skills, analysis, and written communication skills.

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Assignment submissions can be either written responses to proposed questions about a case study or the development of a case study based on research material.

Instructors can integrate case information, research materials, and guided questions to support student learning through active problem solving in three parts:

Analyze issues and identify problems: have students identify and define the problem, evaluate what information they have and what information they need, and consider a hypothesis on how to resolve the problem

Strategize to examine and solve the problem. Students in this part can construct an inquiry plan and define what the possible options are to solve the problem.

Present research findings and the approach they took in a written format.

At each stage, it is important to designate time for students to share their ideas and collaborate on strategies and solutions.

Synchronously: explain guidelines, opportunities to answer questions, and review examples of case studies. Create dedicated time and spaces for case study discussion and group work using Zoom's breakout room features. Student presentations of case study approaches and findings can also be shared during synchronous classes.

Asynchronously: use MyLS to provide assignment guidelines, set up release dates for staged-tasks and information for the case study, and examples of case studies. Discussion Boards on MyLS can be created to share information, tasks or questions on either parts or sections of the case to allow students to share their responses and thinking with each other.

Rubrics can also be used to either evaluate individual work and provide instructor feedback or for any group work so students can evaluate themselves and their peers.

Examples and Resources

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Classroom Assessment Techniques

Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are simple, synchronous, non-graded, anonymous activities, such as muddiest point or one-minute papers. These assessments provide instructors and students with formative feedback on the teaching and learning process as it occurs. Sharing and discussing feedback from CATs with the class enhances understanding of approaches and student engagement in ongoing CATs throughout the course.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

Any point during the learning process to check in with your learning community to ensure benchmark learning has been achieved.

At specific points to ensure key components are comprehended.

How Would You Use It?

Decide what you want formative feedback on:

Assessing prior knowledge, recall, and understanding;

Assessing skills in analysis and critical thinking; or

Assessing skills in synthesis and creative thinking.

Choose a CAT that will best provide you with the desired formative feedback. Angelo and Cross (1993) offer 50 different strategies for gathering meaningful feedback. Some examples are listed here:

Background Knowledge Probe: short, simple questionnaires prepared by instructors for use at the beginning of a course or at the start of new units or topics. Implement by creating a survey using the Survey Tool in MyLS (asynchronous) or the polling option in Zoom (synchronous).

Pro and Con Grid: students list the pros/cons, costs/benefits, or advantages/disadvantages of either an issue, a question or the value of a competing claim. To implement, create a grid template that students can fill in and submit to MyLS Dropbox. Synchronously, develop a list using online collaborative sharing tools such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Padlet to facilitate the activity in class time. Instructors can share both the link to the tool and share the screen for the class to see the emergence of responses. Students can also work together in Zoom breakout rooms to complete the task with collaborative technology.

Muddiest Point: short student feedback on the most unclear material in a class. Well-suited for large classes, where students are asked "What was the muddiest point in this class/unit/etc." Can do conducted synchronously or asynchronously through the use of surveys.

One-Minute Paper: short student feedback on the most important learning from a class or resources. Either asynchronously or through synchronous sessions, ask students to anonymously answer 2 questions: "What is the most important think you learned during this class/unit" and "What important questions remain unanswered."

Everyday Ethical Dilemma: Students respond to a case study that poses a discipline-related ethical dilemma.

Goal Ranking and Matching: Students list and prioritize 3 to 5 goals they have for their own learning in the course.

Self-Assessment Ways of Learning: Students compare themselves with several different "learning styles" profiles to find the most likely match.

Electronic Survey Feedback: Students respond to a question or short series of questions about the effectiveness of the course or particular class activities, assignments or materials.

Explain the purpose of the CAT, how it connects to learning outcomes and other aspects of assessment in your course, and consider what tools will be used for submission (MyLS dropbox or survey tools or Zoom polling for example).

Review the results and discuss the results with your students, taking into consideration how the results will be used to inform teaching and learning moving forward.

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Classroom Response Systems (e.g. iClicker)

Classroom Response System (CRS) is technology that promotes and implements active learning by allowing students to participate in quick polling and low-stakes assessment during synchronous sessions. As polling is conducted synchronously, results can be viewed in real time and can follow a question period for review. iClicker is Laurier's chosen CRS. With the software, such as iClicker Cloud, instructors can access study guides that are generated from class polls, and students can use the devices they already have access too. If you choose to engage with iClicker at Laurier, email myls@wlu.ca.

If grading isn't required, Zoom's polling option can be used for check-ins and quick, informal responses. Zoom polling reports aren't linked to the MyLS gradebook, but instructors can still use them to receive immediate, ungraded formative feedback.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Register software: iClicker software can be integrated directly with MyLS for both iClicker registration and synchronization with grading data. Student registration ensures that data from students' iClickers sync easily with MyLS so instructors know to which student the iClicker response belongs to. Integration also allows for iClicker responses to be easily uploaded to the gradebook in MyLS. If you choose to engage with iClicker at Laurier, email myls@wlu.ca.

Synchronously: iClickers are best suited for multiple choice or true/false questions. Questions can be designed to quiz students on an assigned reading or to recall a lecture point, to survey students for background or opinions, to elicit pre-existing thinking, or to test conceptual understanding.

The following steps can be used to increase student engagement and learning, especially for higher-order questions:

1. Poll: Post a question to the class and provide time for students to respond individually to the question with their iClicker/app. Don't reveal the results just yet!

2. Group Discussion: Using Zoom break-out groups, have students discuss the question in small groups to enable peer discussion, and have them agree on what they think the correct answer is.

3. Poll Again: Post the question again and have students respond using the iClicker.

4. Class Discussion: Share results from both responses. Compare and discuss results with the class.

Alternatively, instructors can use Zoom's built-in polling options for ungraded formative feedback during synchronous sessions. Polling questions can be uploaded prior to the session or made during a synchronous class.

Resources

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Close Reading with Questions

Close readings of a chosen text (articles, chapters, books, etc.) prioritize active reading skills. Along with the chosen text, instructors provide a list of associated questions so students can either answer content specific questions or practice active reading: analyzing, interpreting, or evaluating a text and understanding the purpose of the text within the course and learning objectives.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Reading selection: Instructor selects a text that is both challenging and suitable for the learning outcomes.

Establish guiding questions: the instructor reads through the text and identifies potential challenges of the text and writes a list of questions that will engage students. The questions asked should encourage students to refer to the text itself when providing their responses. Though the questions asked will vary from discipline to discipline and from one text to the next, some guiding questions can include:

What was the thesis/hypothesis/argument?

Is the author's evidence well-supported?

What primary or secondary sources does the author use to support the argument? And what seems to be missing?

Are there any fallacies in the reasoning?

What are the study's broader implications?

What patterns are in the text?

What aspects of the reading are confusing and why?

What literary devices or elements are used by the author (i.e. plot, narrator/speaker, conflict, language). See Laurier's Reading Strategies: Close Reading for literature-related questions.

Explain the purpose of the assessment and how it connects to learning outcomes. Asynchronously create or upload a file on MyLS that outlines the guidelines for the assignment, including the due date, format for submission, rubric, style guide, and connection to learning outcomes. Assessment expectations can also be discussed during synchronous sessions

Synchronously: Close or Critical Reading learning activities can be built into synchronous class activities on Zoom in either the main room or in breakout rooms (See Teaching with Zoom). Collaborative online tools (such as Google docs or Padlet) can also be used at this time to collect, share, and compare answers or reading strategies, which gives students a task to focus on during breakout rooms.

Asynchronously: Close or Critical Reading learning activities can be submitted as a Q&A style document, or students can be asked to provide a summary of their findings by either uploading a long-form write-up or a recorded presentation.

Resources

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Collaborative Essays / Assignments

Collaborative written assignments foster teamwork skills and promote advanced cooperative and collaborative learning. These assignments are also an opportunity for students to collaboratively work on research and writing skills. Either working on a shared document with real-time editing capabilities (Google docs) or through blending individual writing, collaborative written assignments enable groups to work together to develop a response to a complex research question outside of scheduled class hours.

Why Would You Use It?

Collaborative writing tools (Google Docs, MS Word Collaboration) allow simultaneous writing and editing by multiple users remotely, including comments and discussion tools. Students can collaborate without needing to physically be together.

To assess students' research, collaboration or argumentation skills. In situations where breadth is necessary, the use of multiple smaller literature reviews can allow for a broader assessment of learning.

When Would You Use It?

To demonstrate learning from and through group active learning activities as a part of the formal evaluation of outcomes.

Including peer grades using a rubric specifically on the collaborative process of developing the final essay or assignment is important to the overall final assessment to ensure that workload, teamwork skills, and quality of contribution to the final written work can be evaluated fairly.

How Would You Use It?

Choose the parameters of the assignment:

The size of groups, and whether to pre-determine groups or have students self-select.

Whether roles linked to the tasks and final assignment are pre-assigned by the instructor or self-selected by students.

Timelines and assessments for any scaffolded tasks leading to the final assignment submission.

A rubric for group members to evaluate themselves and their peers, as tied to learning outcomes.

The length of the essay (page length or word count) and whether sections or subheadings are required.

Group contracts: Consider developing group contracts to facilitate communication, responsibilities, and roles among student groups.

Asynchronously: Instructors may choose to make collaborative essays entirely asynchronous, allowing students to use collaborative online tools (Google Docs or MS Word Collaboration) in their own time. On MyLS, create or upload a file that outlines the guidelines for the collaborative essay, including due dates for scaffolded assignments, the preferred collaborative tools, the purpose of the assignment, the relationship between the collaborative assignment and the learning outcomes, preferred citation guide (MLA, APA, Chicago), formatting expectations, etc.

Synchronously: Discuss expectations and allocated time for collaborative activities (e.g. 1hr of synchronous class time each week). Time could also be provided during synchronous sessions with Zoom's breakout rooms for student meetings and working on assignment-related tasks. Breakout rooms can be pre-assigned or students can self-select to join the same group every week (e.g. Group 1 joins Breakout Room 1).

Laurier Resources

Library Services has a series of tutorial videos, templates, and guidelines for students on developing a research question, strategies for research, evaluating sources, and proper referencing.

Writing Services offers strategies to embed writing skills for remote and online instruction, which includes practical considerations and steps for peer collaboration on writing assignments, and a guide on writing essays as a group.

Writing Services can also develop an assignment specific in-class workshop dedicated to supporting student skill development on areas such as group work, co-authoring, argumentative essays, research or case reports.

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Concept Mapping

Concept maps are tools that help visually represent and organize information and interrelationships through the use of diagramming (for instance, using circles or boxes) to illustrate concepts, lines to connect the concepts, and words to describe the relationships of and between concepts.

They may be used as either summative or formative assessments and are useful to check for student understanding or misunderstanding. Instructors can create a map as a tool to demonstrate the course structure, comments, etc. and use to guide grading of student work. Students can also be asked to create a concept map of their own at the end of learning to demonstrate their understanding of concepts (summative).

Why Would You Use It?

Instructors: To reflect on teaching activities, approaches, and strategies (what you do) to learn how to improve instruction to help clarify student understanding.

Students: To identify core or critical concepts and the relationships between them, to help students to see connections and relationships between information, to integrate new knowledge with prior learning, and to aid in information recall for long-term memory and assessments.

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Concept maps can be used either individually or collaboratively for assessment, and they can be regularly used throughout the course to represent ideas and information being covered in a particular week(s) or units of instruction.

Topic and Structure: Instructors choose the main theme or topic(s) for the assignment, organizing the assignment around a focus question that the concept maps respond to.
Instructors decide what format students can use to create their maps: hand-written (with a picture or scan uploaded to MyLS), Word Document, or PPT slide. If working in groups, students can use collaborative writing tools like Google Docs or MS Word Collaboration to create and submit their assignments.

Asynchronously: on MyLS, create or upload a file that provides students with guidelines on what the assignment is and how it connects to learning outcomes, the format for creation and submission, how the assignment will be graded, and due dates. Key phrases and concepts for students to map could also be included.

Synchronously: Zoom breakout rooms can be used during synchronous sessions for students to develop concept maps collaboratively and/or to discuss their maps to share their maps and identify gaps in their learning.

Rubric: Grading criteria can be made available through a rubric and could include identifying critical concepts, identifying valid relationships between concepts, ability to branch concepts, and use of representative examples for each idea, concept or theme and evidence of understanding of each knowledge domain.

Examples and Resources

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Content Summaries

Content summaries, or content analysis, ask students to summarize course materials and synthesize the most important components. This assessment can be used to replace final exams with summaries of concepts or course materials that can be completed online (asynchronously). A peer review component can be included for students to collaboratively grade their peers online.

Why Would You Use It?

To assess cognitive engagement with specific course content.

To ascertain learning across a course through alternative means to examinations.

When Would You Use It?

In courses where lower order thinking skills such as describing and explaining are prioritized over higher order thinking and cognitive skills involving more complex levels of application, analysis or creation (See Bloom's Taxonomy).

How Would You Use It?

Determine whether you want students to demonstrate knowledge acquired (Bloom's lower order thinking) or the application of knowledge (Bloom's higher order thinking).

Consider having students use their work and course materials to discuss their learning, such as how their thoughts have developed since the beginning of the course.

Another option is to ask students, either individually or in small groups, to provide a summary of the class content and/or course materials. Instructors can pose one question asking students to identify the main topics covered or can provide students with a longer list of questions that requires students to identify the knowledge or skills they have developed in the course, which areas of learning have developed the most, what most interested them and why, or even to identify ongoing challenges.

Will students be required to submit regular summaries, i.e. after every set of class lectures and readings, at the end of a unit, or after a set number of weeks?

Consider how the summaries will be evaluated. Will a rubric with clear expectations and grading criteria be provided?

Asynchronously: post assignment guidelines that clearly describe the purpose of the assessment, due date(s), format, expected materials or sources to be used, and the relationship to the learning outcomes on MyLS, and create a submission dropbox.

Synchronously: discuss assessment expectations and review any examples of summaries. Time can be provided during synchronous sessions for students to write and submit their summaries. Zoom breakout groups can be used for any group summaries. Alternatively, students can write and submit asynchronously in their own time.

Resources

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Fact Sheets and Policy Briefs

Fact Sheets allow students to identify and communicate relevant evidence to frame a particular issue, problem, or need. Policy Briefs typically have an additional step of making a recommendation to a policymaker to take a particular action. Both formats are short 2-4 page written assignments that are intended to identify problems and solutions using evidence to inform public audiences.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

When representation of information is intended to be succinct, persuasive, and in jargon-free or plain language.

In courses where creative formatting and writing for non-academic audiences is a learning outcome.

How Would You Use It?

Instructors can develop a format or template as an (adaptable) model for the class assignment to illustrate the purpose, data, and features they are expected to consider in their own choices. Students should organize information with subtitles, textboxes, and bullet points.

Students can roleplay as a researcher or policy analyst working for either an advocacy organization or the public service sector to help them to understand their audience and approach to their communication and content. Allowing students to be creative in formatting (Textboxes, Sidebars, Graphics, Data Visuals) can enhance engagement and ownership in developing their submissions.

Asynchronously: on MyLS, post assignment guidelines that clearly describes the purpose, the format, the student's role, the audience, the characteristics of the evidence, values, and/or voices to include in the fact sheet or brief, and effective communication style. Other guideline considerations include citation style (MLA, APA, Chicago), acceptable sources, examples of Fact Sheets or Policy Briefs, and the relationship of the assignment to the learning outcomes. Students can complete the assignment asynchronously, uploading their final submission through an instructor-created Dropbox on MyLS.

Synchronously: compare and contrast policy writing and academic writing in order to support concise, jargon-free communication skills required for non-academic and persuasive writing. Explain assignment guidelines and review examples of fact sheets or briefs from authentic contexts. Synchronous class time can be provided for students to work on their fact sheets or briefs. Zoom break out groups can be used to allow students to share and develop ideas with their peers.

Laurier Librarians who specialize in government and policy research can develop a workshop for the class to support effective research strategies using online tools and databases.

Resources

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Individual Research Essays

Assessment of deep learning based on the development of a response to a complex research question(s) in a written format. Research essays are generally the culmination of research centered on a research topic or question, critical thinking, analyzing primary and secondary sources, organization of information, and the final composition.

Why Would You Use It?

To examine the depth of student knowledge around a particular issue or topic.

To assess students' research, collaboration or argumentation skills. In situations where breadth is necessary the use of multiple smaller literature reviews can allow for a broader assessment of learning.

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Essay Topics: students either choose their own topic or select from a range of topics or themes provided for them to research.

Structure: Once students have chosen a topic and conducted the relevant research, the formal write-up should include an introductory paragraph that identifies the main argument or research question of the essay, supporting paragraphs with clear examples and sources that analytical or critically answer the research question, and a concluding paragraph.

Asynchronously: post assignment guidelines to MyLS that clearly describes the purpose, length of the essay, and effective communication style. Include the intended learning objectives and formatting guidelines such as word count, number of sources, citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago). Turnitin can be enabled for a Dropbox folder to monitor submissions and check for potential cases of plagiarism.

Synchronously: compare and contrast examples of effective and ineffective writing and formatting. Explain assignment guidelines and discuss expectations on data, evidence and sources. Writing Services can also develop in-class workshops to support writing skills development specific for your assignment. Information on different workshop themes and skills related to research essays can be found on the Writing Support page.

Rubric: A grading rubric can be used in MyLS to outline expectations and assessment approach to students.

Laurier writing resources

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Infographics

Infographics are visual representations of ideas, information, and data. Using infographics as an assessment strategy allows students to think about data choices as well as information design - that is thinking about how to communicate information visually to a specific reader or audience. Building the skills to develop an effective infographic means supporting students in understanding the intended audience and how to communicate information or data in a meaningful way. Infographics are also an alternative assessment to "posters" or "presentations" that support students in using an increasingly common approach to information communication.

Why Would You Use It?

When evidence of information, visual and technological literacies are essential student learning outcomes.

When research, integration, organization and communication of information, content or ideas are warranted.

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

In building this assignment, instructors decide on:

The purpose and goal of the infographic in this assignment and the connected learning outcome(s).

The role of the student and the intended audience, identifying the difference between communicating to the public, communities of interest, and academic audiences.

What is an acceptable topic, content, data or sources of information (statistical data, government, academic, think-tanks, advocacy organizations) to interpret in a visual format.

Providing a template or choice of templates to support student learning on organizing and communicating the information: Microsoft PowerPoint has Infographic Templates that Laurier students have access to on MS Office Suite. There are also free online Infographic Builders on sites such as Piktochart and Canva.

Guiding students in their strategies to collect and organize information and expectations on what to include or think about, for example: number of graphs, sections, data explanations, number of facts, sources, visual flow of information, design choices (colour, font, text boxes).

Guidelines on thinking about diversity and inclusion in visual graphics.

Asynchronously: provide assignment guidelines and examples of infographics on MyLS. Consider creating opportunities for scaffolded submissions to share initial drafts of visual plans to allow for peer or instructor formative feedback (perhaps using a rubric). Set-up a dropbox folder for student submission.

Synchronously: Through Zoom, instructors can dedicate class time (and/or record) to develop a "how to lesson" in order to model to students how to take data or information and represent it graphically. Zoom break-out groups can also be used for students to share initial drafts, outline, or visual plans to receive peer or instructor formative feedback.

Examples & Resources

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Just-in-Time Teaching Exercises

Just-in-Time Teaching was developed by Gregor Novak (1999) as an active learning strategy that has been used in large classes. With this assessment, students prepare a reading and begin an assignment that involves a complex answer. Students submit their initial work to the instructor prior to the class. The instructor then adapts the upcoming class with feedback on initial submissions, areas to address particular difficulties, and other questions to encourage cooperative and further learning to complete the assignment in class.

Why Would You Use It?

Provides opportunities for active learning and the construction of new knowledge from prior knowledge.

Prompts formative assessment and feedback to students.

When Would You Use It?

When a "flipped classroom" model is adopted as a teaching strategy to support student learning.

When learning outcomes include building team or collaboration skills, applying concepts in practice, and/or problem-solving skills.

How Would You Use It?

This approach is best implemented in 2 stages:

Stage One | Asynchronously: An instructor shares an activity, reading and questions or a problem in the Content on MyLS with students to complete on their own time and submit to the Dropbox in the hours before class. This is called the "warm-up". These warm-up questions are designed without "pre-defined answers" and instead allow students to engage in Bloom's higher-order thinking and prepare for engagement in the upcoming class.
Asynchronously post assignment guidelines to MyLS. The guidelines should specify the purpose and process of the JiTT activities, and the relationship of the assignment to learning outcomes, course materials, and other assessments. Include any formatting or grading rubric criteria.

Stage Two | Synchronously: The instructor examines the student submissions for common misconceptions, challenges, and questions to share or address. The input is used to guide the upcoming class when students will continue to work on elaborating their thinking and ideas as well as working collaboratively on the activity, questions, or problem.
Zoom's built-in features can be used to enhance student engagement on this task. Students can be sent to breakout rooms and collaborative tools such as the Zoom whiteboard, Padlet, or Google suite (Docs, Slides) can be used for students to engage in second stage tasks.

Discipline Specific Examples and Approaches

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Literature Reviews

Students research, collect, evaluate, select and integrate scholarly work on a particular topic, concept, or theory. Using literature reviews from existing academic articles as examples supports students in understanding the purpose as well as the format of the assessment activity.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Literature Reviews can be scaffolded into research essays or poster presentations as a way to give feedback to students on the quality of their research and their ability to synthesize key scholarly ideas from which to build their own arguments or research projects. Students will use research skills to get a sense of all the literature on a given topic, and critically assess the relevant materials as it pertains to their chosen topic or area of research.

Decide whether students will have a choice on the guiding topic of their literature review, whether there will be a minimum number of sources to be looked at and discussed, and the expected length of the review, which should be written as a critical essay and not as a string of summarized paragraphs.

Asynchronously: provide assignment guidelines on MyLS, including the format, purpose of the literature review and how it connects to the learning outcome(s), course materials, and other course assessments. Previous examples of scholarly literature reviews from discipline-specific journals can be used. Indicate formatting expectations and any grading criteria to outline expectations and the assessment approach. A Dropbox can be created on MyLS for submission.

Synchronously: spend class time to explain guidelines, discuss examples, and expectations of literature reviews, such as the types of sources to be consulted.

Laurier Resources

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Open Book Take Home Exams or Tests

The current exam assessment is moved into a new, asynchronous delivery mode where students receive the exam through MyLS and submit completed exam into the course Dropbox. Students will have access to the course materials, but will be required to apply, analyze, and evaluate the materials in creating their responses. Open book assessments allow for a greater integration of course learning.

Note: This is distinct from moving your final exam online through the eLearning team, which utilizes the Respondus Lockdown Browser to maintain the "closed book" integrity of the exam.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Develop questions using the adapted Bloom's Taxonomy for higher-order thinking skills and abilities (Anderson and Krathwohl 2001), which include Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. Higher-order thinking questions require students to demonstrate their learning beyond Remembering and Understanding and they give students the opportunity to uniquely use course materials to demonstrate what they have learned in the module or class.

Sample Higher-Order Thinking Question Stems include:

Applying: How would you solve ______ using what you've learned?

Analyzing: Compare and Contrast....

Evaluating: Which is the strongest argument?

Creating: What alternatives are there to...?

Asynchronously: on MyLS, create or upload guidelines for the test or exam: what is the start date/time and end date/time of the test or exam; what, if any, collaboration or communication between students is permitted; what sources may or may not be used in the exam; the preferred citation style and whether a reference page is required; reaffirm commitments to and importance of academic integrity; and, identify learning outcomes.

Option 1: The MyLS Dropbox tool can be used to administer the exam online. You can add attachments for students to view and download, set up originality checking, and set a due date for students to submit their exam.

Option 2: Alternatively, you may email your students directly using your class listserv with the exam and have students submit their exams to you directly via email by the set due date and time.

Synchronously: class time can be used to reiterate the importance of academic integrity and to reinforce how students are expected to work individually even though course materials are open to them.

Remember: your Department or Faculty may have additional policies that govern the administration and approach to open book exams during the final exam period.

Laurier Resources

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Peer Evaluations

As a comparative process, peer evaluation can encourage students to be analytical and critical of themselves and others in a way that contributes to improved student performance. Peer assessment can be used to evaluate a range of course activities. Peer evaluations can be formative assessments where students provide feedback to one another's work at an early stage, such as on a draft before final submission, or it can be a summative assessment where students grade each other's work as part of the final mark for the assignment.

Why Would You Use It?

To provide an opportunity for students to understand their work in the context of their peers that also supports the development of a learning community, and provide student ownership of the assessment process.

To offer students the opportunity to develop an understanding of the grading process and application of rubrics.

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Instructors can incorporate peer evaluations or peer review as part of a larger assessment to help students develop metacognitive skills and build peer relationships. For example, students can work together to provide feedback on peer work like a draft of a writing assignment.

Providing Feedback: students can use rubrics or a template to provide constructive feedback, or they can use formatting tools such as MS Word or Google Docs to provide specific feedback on writing assignments. For example, students can highlight information, use colours to indicate specific feedback categories (e.g. argument development, paragraph organization, grammar), or use strike-out features to indicate unnecessary words, etc. MS Word has a built in "Track-Changes" feature that can be used to track student comments, in-line notes, and deletions.

On MyLS, create or upload assignment guidelines, such as a marking rubric, where and when to provide comments, grammar rules, what the assessment is worth and how it ties to learning outcomes. (Note: Using PeerMark with Turnitin through MyLS can be found at this link.)

Asynchronously or Synchronously: peer evaluations can be completed independently during students' own time, or time can be set aside during synchronous sessions for peer review evaluations depending on the requirements of the assessment.

Peer-to-Peer Learning: providing opportunities for group writing work either asynchronously or during synchronous class sessions can help students to learn about writing from their peers, develop collaboration skills, and build peer support networks. Students can use collaborative tools like shared Google Docs to write, provide feedback, ask questions, and share their writing.

Examples and Resources

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Portfolios

Portfolios require students to collect artifacts of learning across course to build a holistic understanding of le arning and allows for students to update and re-evaluate work before the final summative analysis is done. Students can also annotate their submissions to provide a narrative on the selections and their significance in connection with learning outcomes.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Decide what platform(s) will be available for students to use when creating and submitting their assignment. Will students have choice? Digital portfolio options include:

Physical or text-based portfolios uploaded as PDF documents

Personal website or blog posts, such as Google Sites

PowerPoint Presentations

Explain the purpose of the Portfolios, how it connects to learning outcomes, and guidelines for completing and submitting the portfolio. Repeat expectations and outcomes throughout the course as this is an ongoing project.

Asynchronously: create or upload a file on MyLS that outlines the guidelines for the portfolio, including all dates and deadlines connected to the project.

Synchronously: discuss the purpose and expectations of the portfolios. Instructors may consider sharing examples of digital portfolios.

Scaffold portfolio assignments to help strengthen and deepen student learning and engagement with the assessment. For example, build in peer review components so students can share their ongoing projects, exchange ideas and insights, and discuss what others are doing. Students can also be required to submit a draft of portion of their portfolios half-way through the term to encourage them to begin work sooner and to receive formative feedback before the final summative assessment.

Consider providing students with a set of questions to reflect on their portfolio and to submit with the final project.

Rubric: provide a clearly stated rubric to outline expectations, assessment approach, and grading criteria. Criteria can include completeness of the portfolio, quality of sources or evidence used throughout, visual design, and overall quality.

Examples and Resources

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Poster Presentations

Visual representation of student research, typically demonstrating knowledge of theory, literature review, methods, and findings. Poster presentations are a way to circulate and engage with each other's work through reading about a study or a research project from the posters.

Why Would You Use It?

Provides opportunities for students to capture and demonstrate their learning in a format commonly used in professional academic environments.

When Would You Use It?

Can be displayed in a "poster session" in person or shared to MyLS Discussion Boards for remote asynchronous engagement in peer learning and feedback.

Use as an alternative assessment or in addition to a written research essay to offer students choice of assessment.

How Would You Use It?

Poster Presentation assessments can be designed with or without Q&A interaction, or with instructor only questions that can be part of a synchronous or asynchronous exchange with each student. Instructors may choose to provide students with guiding questions to consider in their planning:

What is the most important data or research finding from my project?

How can I visually share my research? Should I use charts, graphs or images?

What kind of information can I convey in the poster itself, and what should I convey during the presentation?

Tools: decide which tools students will use to create and share their posters remotely. Students can use PPT or Google Slides. To ensure high-quality PDFs at the correct size, students should check and adjust the size in PowerPoint by going to "File" > "Page Setup" and then change "On Screen Show" to "Custom".

Collaboration and Peer-Review: Instructors can ask students to work collaboratively to develop the research, information, and formatting for the poster. A peer-review component can be incorporated into individual or collaborative posters as part of a larger assessment package. More information about Collaborative Essays and Assignments.

Presentations can happen either synchronously or asynchronously:

Asynchronously: On MyLS, provide guidelines on the assignment, including the purpose of the poster presentation, the relationship to learning outcomes, formatting requirements, acceptable sources and the number of sources to be consulted, citation style, the document type for submission (e.g. PPT, Google Slide, PDF), and grading criteria or a rubric. Students can share their completed posters with the class by posting in a thread on a MyLS discussion board to allow for an asynchronous poster session with comments and questions answered over the week. This helps replicate the in-person display of posters.

Synchronously: students can present their posters "live" by sharing their screen with their poster slide/doc in Zoom. Depending on the size of the class, posters can be shared either in the main room or via breakout rooms, where students take turns sharing and engaging in the findings of their posters.

Laurier Resource

Creating Poster Presentations for the Sciences | Laurier Library: a list of dedicated resources to supporting students in planning and developing their poster presentations. While the resource is targeted for science students, it is applicable to students of all disciplines with guides on visual data storytelling, font guides, effective posters for academic conferences, etc.

Resource

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Presentations

These assessments develop oral presentation skills. In large classes where synchronous presentations by each student are not possible, asynchronous submission through MyLS is used to share students' presentations. Students create a presentation using slides and record themselves speaking on PowerPoint with audio voiceover.

Why Would You Use It?

Allows presentation-based assignments to be submitted via the dropbox in MyLS and assessed.

In situations where you want individual or small group presentations with single or a limited number of voiceovers.

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Determine the topic or assignment that students will be presenting on. Will students share their findings at the end of a large research project, will they present information on a particular topic to their classmates, and will the presentations occur multiple times in the class?

Asynchronously create or upload a file on MyLS that outlines the guidelines for the presentation, including length of the presentation, grading criteria, and the connection to learning outcomes. Academic Skills offers the following resources that can be shared with students:

Presentations can happen either synchronously or asynchronously:

Asynchronously: On MyLS, provide guidelines on the assignment, including the purpose of the presentation, the relationship to learning outcomes, formatting requirements, acceptable sources and the number of sources to be consulted, citation style, the document type for submission (e.g. PPT, .mp4, Zoom recording link), and grading criteria or a rubric. Students can share their completed posters with the class by posting in a thread on a MyLS discussion board to allow for an asynchronous presentations with comments and questions answered over the week. This helps replicate in-class presentations while remaining flexible in the remote context.

Synchronously: students can present during synchronous sessions by sharing their screen and leading the discussion. Depending on the size of the class, presentations can be shared either in the main room or via breakout rooms, where students take turns sharing and engaging in one another's findings.

Creative Variations

Podcasts and Interviews: In 3-4 minutes students can connect media issues, demonstrate understanding of relevant concepts, and synthesize information in a creative oral presentation. Laurier's Dr. Bruce Gillespie produces the One Market podcast, and examples from McGill and Queen's further illustrate using podcasts in assessment.

"Talk Show" interviews, either in character or not. Professor Patrick Finelli from University of South Florida has a series of YouTube videos with examples and strategies for how to employ this assessment.

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Prototyping

With this assessment, students are given the opportunity to develop a product, proposal or app (prototype). For example, provide students with a Request for Proposal (RFP) and have them write a response.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Determine the parameters of the product, proposal or app:

Will students be required to submit a completed product or simply create on paper what could be a usable prototype?

Will students work individually or collaboratively in small groups?

Will students work on the same project or will students have choice?

Will the assignment be scaffolded to allow for formative feedback?

Tools: what tools will students use to create their prototypes? Word document for drafting a written response to an RFP or Design Thinking tools for app prototyping? Tool ideas, such as creating apps, can be found on The Game Beyond's More Online Tools for Teachers and Students.

Asynchronously create or upload a file on MyLS that outlines the guidelines for the prototype, including any questions that need to be addressed or templates that need to be followed, grading criteria, and deadlines.

Synchronously discuss the assignment with students and how it connects to the intended learning outcomes.

Collaborative work: Zoom breakout groups can be used to provide students with synchronous time to work on collaborative prototyping. Students can use collaborative documents such as MS Word Collaboration or Google Docs to work on or map out their assignment in addition to any prototyping tools that their project requires.

Examples and Resources

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Reflection Papers

Reflective practice is an important activity that encourages the deepening of students' self and social awareness as well as understanding of academic concepts. This assessment is a "meaning-making process" that helps students set goals, use what they have learned in the past to inform future action and consider the real-life implications of their thinking. For example, at the end of a course, project, work term or volunteer experience, a backward-looking reflection is an effective way for students to take stock of their experience and find meaningful connections to learning outcomes.

Why Would You Use It?

Reflection papers allow you to ascertain student learning across a course through the ability to build a holistic reflection of their journey through the course and the learning that they gained.

Offers the opportunity for both breadth and depth in assessment of student learning but primarily in situations where it is used across the course.

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

In building this assessment, instructors decide on:

The purpose and goal of the reflection papers and what learning outcomes it connects to.

Whether students will provide private reflections or if students will be required to reflect on an assignment, course module, readings, or experiential learning experience.

The format, whether the assignment will be a structured or free form piece of writing, the length, descriptive vs analytical reflections.

Will reflections be ongoing - at the beginning, middle, and end of the course.

The writing tools: MS Word or, if allowing for more creativity, blog posts.

Explain the purpose of the reflection paper and how it connects to learning outcomes. Guidelines and grading criteria can be created or uploaded as a file on MyLS. Guidelines can include preferred model or format of the assignment (length, essay, short-answer style questions), the preferred citation and formatting expectations and deadlines.

Asynchronously: Students will write and submit reflections in their own time during the assigned due date(s). Reflections can be submitted at the end of each module or reading, written weekly with submission every two or three weeks, or after the completion of an assignment or experiential learning activity.

Synchronously: Discuss expectations and allocated time for writing reflections (e.g. 30 minutes of a/synchronous time each week). Time can be provided during synchronous sessions to discuss reflections if sharing and collaboration will be a component of the assessment.

Laurier Resources

Resources

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Scaffolded Assessment

Larger projects, cases, problems or assignments are broken up and organized into smaller progressive learning activities ("chunked") and build toward a final summative assessment. This approach allows for a supportive structure of learning that is based on opportunities for students to work on smaller low-stakes progressive assignments (e.g., annotated bibliography, literature review, research questions or outlines, early drafts). Feedback is provided on these lower-stakes assessments so students can develop deeper learning before a final summative assessment, such as a case study, research essay, poster, policy brief, or infographic.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

Where student demonstration of skill and knowledge development through their learning process is prioritized.

In larger classes, using rubrics provide opportunities to track student progression towards achieving outcomes across staged assignments.

To more adequately spread assessment and marking workload through the course.

General feedback on assignments can be offered to the entire class collectively using the News features in MyLS.

Feedback can be offered in video, audio or written form.

How Would You Use It?

Determine which high-stakes assessments can be broken down into distinct parts for feedback and opportunities for student improvement and self-reflection on learning. When chunking assessment, consider where students could most benefit from early feedback or what will most help their learning. For example, a research essay or a case study can be broken down into its individual component parts such as formulating a research question, an outline of the final project, annotated bibliography, early draft, and peer review. Note: the intention of scaffolded assessments is not to add more assessments, but to help provide ongoing feedback for larger assignments to help students engage in the learning process.

Explain the purpose of the final summative assessment to students and how each of the scaffolded assignments are progressively designed, as well as their relationship to the learning outcomes. A concept map could be used to visually represent the alignment between each assignment.

Asynchronously: create or upload a File to MyLS to provide guidelines and examples for each of the scaffolded assignments. Due dates can be added to the course calendar and rubrics can be included for each scaffolded assignment to clearly indicate assignment and learning expectations. Collective feedback on common challenges and successes can be provided through the MyLS news item, and the feedback can be video recorded and shared as well.

Synchronously: explain guidelines and discuss effective and ineffective approaches to each of the scaffolded assignment sections. Provide collective feedback and point to common areas of success and challenges.

Laurier Resources

Resources

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Three-Minute-Thesis-Style Presentations

The Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) is a popular competition among research-based graduate students that can also be used as an assessment tool for all students. Students are allowed one slide and three minutes to present on course content, a specific topic or a research project to a general audience. The slide and presentation can be recorded on PowerPoint with an associated audio file, or as a video using Zoom or Teams' recording functions.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Choose how often students will give 3-minute thesis style presentations in order to connect to the desired learning outcomes. Will students give presentations in small groups through Zoom breakout groups or will they upload a prerecorded PPT slide with audio?

Asynchronously: create or upload a file on My that outlines the guidelines for the presentations, including deadlines and connection to learning outcomes.

Students will be submitting one PPT slide and will have a maximum of 3 minutes to share their learning.

Students can record their audio either directly through PPT or by opening a private Zoom meeting to record their presentation with their slide.

A rubric can also be used to provide students with clear grading criteria and assessment expectations.

Synchronously: discuss the assignment with students, going over expectations, the connected learning outcomes, and examples of 3-minute presentations. Depending on the size of the class, Zoom breakout groups can also be used for students to share their presentations and receive peer feedback.

Laurier Example

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Timelines

Students are asked to either create a timeline or to critique and edit an existing timeline using course or researched materials. With this assessment students demonstrate their visual understanding of historical significance, conceptual relationships, and show evidence of their knowledge of key events, policies, people, concepts, and contextualize them as changes over time.

Students can research people, topics, and events to make their own digital timelines. Timelines can include text and multimedia artifacts to allow for creative and interactive assessment opportunities.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

Determine the time period(s) and topic(s) students can create entries on or students can be expected to construct their own time period based on their chosen topic.

Tools & Templates for Creating Timelines: Using a timeline template can help students to visualize the construction of their template. PowerPoint (New>Infographic Timelines) and Google Docs (Insert>Diagram>Timeline Template) offers timeline templates that can be adapted by students.

Instructors can choose a template for all students to follow or allow students to choose from a range of templates or to construct their own, including more text-based options using Word (adding lines and arrows and textboxes) or a creative low-tech option of cutting and pasting on a physical board and taking a photo to submit or share.

Critiquing & Editing Timelines: Critiquing and editing an existing timeline can also be used to demonstrate learning outcomes that are connected to both understanding temporal relationships and evaluating existing constructions of history. Instructors could develop a timeline for students to edit or use one that is available online.

Asynchronously: On MyLS, provide assignment guidelines including the relationship to learning outcomes and any parameters for the timeline. Students work on timelines in their own time and can share their completed timelines through a MyLS discussion board thread. Early drafts can also be shared for peer-review and feedback. Consider asking students to write a short opening narrative to explain and justify their choices, and to briefly describe or explain the significance of each event, idea, and relationship over time.

Synchronously: students can present their timelines "live" by sharing their screen in Zoom. Depending on the size of the class, instructors can have poster sessions in the main room or via breakout rooms where students take turns sharing and engaging in the findings of their posters. Synchronous sessions can also be used to share examples or to provide time for students to discuss their timelines and receive early feedback from their peers.

Resources

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Two-Stage Collaborative Testing

Students first take an exam, test, or quiz as individuals and submit their individual work. Students then retake the exam, test, or quiz in groups of three or four. This method allows for collaborative approaches to learning and offers students the opportunity to discuss and debate answers immediately with their peers. Two-Stage testing reinforces learning as students leave assessment with the correct answer and have talked through why.

Why Would You Use It?

When Would You Use It?

How Would You Use It?

In building this assessment, instructors decide on and communicate to students:

The purpose and goals of two-stage testing and the connection to the intended learning outcome(s).

The tools that will be required for both parts of the test, such as Teams, collaborative documents (Google Docs, MS Word collaboration), or Respondus Lockdown Browser.

The length of each component, noting that collaborative testing generally takes less time (eg. 1 hour for individual testing, 20-30 minutes for collaborative testing with time to submit answers for each).

Weight of the test. The standard practice is for the individual component to be weighted at 85% while the collaborative component is weighted at 15% of the final test mark. Note: if the group mark is lower than the individual exam, the students' individual exam can be weighted at 100% to ensure collaborative testing only improves and does not penalize a student's test score.

Synchronously:

1. Step One: Build a randomized question bank for the individual tests as well as a set of questions to be taken collaboratively that require Bloom's higher-order thinking skills (analysis and synthesis) rather than pure recall or memorization. For example, students can be asked to refer to the periodic table to answer the question rather than memorize it to demonstrate a deeper level of learning. Higher-order thinking questions also make it harder for students to simply "Google" the correct answer.

2. Step Two: Pre-form teams by grouping students according to their ability to ensure a diverse mix of ability. A diagnostic pre-test can be offered at the beginning of the course to determine student abilities. Grouping by ability helps to create more balanced teams, by using first quiz results to show a mix of students with different test performance abilities. Stronger test performing students can then assist lower test performing students in the collaborative testing process.

3. Step Three: Have students complete and submit their individual tests through MyLS during the synchronous session - in MyLS, instructors can use the question bank to provide students with a randomized question order. Synchronous testing can be administered through Respondus Lockdown Browser or Teams.

4. Step Four: Provide a 10-minute window between the two sessions (individual & collaborative) to allow students to upload individual exam results between stages.

5. Step Five: For collaborative testing, use one of two methods: either have students sent to Zoom breakout rooms with instructors' pre-set groups or use Teams by setting up a private group channel with a set Word, PPT, or Excel file for each group. Students answer the questions collaboratively and submit one document with their answers for grading. Groups should consist of 3-4 students.

Asynchronous Alternative: students can also be given a specified time frame to complete the individual exam, such as within a 24-hour time period. Likewise, the group exam can be carried out asynchronously with students choosing meeting times with their group at their own convenience and can work through the questions at their pace for the allocated time period (24 hours or 1-2 days). This approach is most successful when using written response questions that require higher order thinking skills.

Further Resources

With thanks to Dr. Jaclyn Stewart and Dr. Jay Wickenden, Associate Professors of Teaching, from the University of British Columbia's Chemistry Department for sharing their experiences in remote learning.

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What Tools are Available to Support Academic Integrity?

The following tools have been approved for use by the university have been reviewed by relevant university departments for fitness for purpose and use in teaching, and have met the requirements and expectations set by the institutional procurement process, which includes a Privacy and Security Impact Assessment. These tools can be used to support academic integrity in your assessment processes, as well as fostering academic integrity in students' skill development. The tools outlined are housed within MyLS, unless otherwise stated, and more information regarding supports for these tools can be found on Connect.

Turnitin

Laurier subscribes to Turnitin, which can be enabled in the dropbox tool in MyLS in order to identify similarities between submitted assignments and other sources. Written work can be checked against current and archived web content, journals, periodicals and other papers submitted to Turnitin from institutions worldwide.

An originality report is generated for any paper that is submitted, highlighting matches to other sources. In addition to aiding your marking, this report can be made available to students for review, to engage them in the process of learning how to manage citations and appropriately referencing sources.

Resource

Peer Marking Approaches

Peer marking strategies can be used to improve student understanding and self-reflection around academic integrity and course assessments. Peer marking allows students to grade and provide feedback on other students' assessments (with any personal information removed) at the penultimate draft stage so that students can use that feedback to improve on their work before final submission.

Peer marking assists students in seeing how rubrics guide the marking process, assists students in developing an understanding of what quality assessment looks like, and can allow them to clarify how moments of questionable academic integrity practices are displayed.

Rubrics

Rubrics can be created and attached to a variety of assessments in MyLS including dropbox folders, discussion topics, or individual grade items in the grades tool. Rubrics help promote academic integrity by providing clear, quantified instructions and expectations so that students know what achievement looks like on their submitted assignments.

Use rubrics to clearly outline the criteria by which an assessment will be graded, along with the variable weighting attached to each one, and make them available to students to review while they are completing the assessment. In addition to providing as much clarity as possible, rubrics allow students an additional opportunity to reflect on their work before they submit it for a grade. Consider asking students to use the rubric to self-assess their assignment before they submit, and they can even submit the self-assessment rubric along with their assignment.

Gradescope

Gradescope can be used to facilitate grading feedback and offer students more transparency into the assessment process. Gradescope uses dynamic rubrics that allow for quick grading and supports grading in large courses with multiple graders (like TA's or marking assistants). Gradescope works to develop consistency in the grading and feedback process by enabling coordination and collaboration across multiple graders.

Resource

Discussions

Discussion topics in MyLS can model proper citation and referencing and allow students a chance to practice before they submit their own assessments. Attaching discussions to the development of written assessments creates opportunities for students to practice their citation skills. By providing feedback on these discussion posts, you can assist students as they formulate and hone their ideas for assessment and help them make corrections to their developing citation skills before they submit assignments where referencing is required.

Resource

Questions Pools and Randomizations in MyLS Quizzes

When creating quizzes and tests using the Quizzes tool in MyLS you can create a unique test for each student by developing question banks to pull a smaller number of questions from a larger set. Creating unique tests for each student lowers opportunities for academic integrity concerns related to collusion in test taking. The Quizzes tool enables you to set up multiple pools of questions in order to evenly distribute questions to your students (e.g., five questions each from chapter 1, chapter 2, etc.). If you don't have enough questions to pull from a larger bank, you can use "shuffling" to assign questions in a random order. You are also able to randomize the order of answers.

Resource

Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor

Respondus LockDown Browser can be used if your learning outcomes require the assessment of students through the use of mid-terms and/or final exams. LockDown Browser is a custom browser that supports academic integrity through locking down the testing environment within MyLearningSpace, preventing access to other applications and files while the online test is being written. Respondus Monitor is a companion application for LockDown Browser that leverages a computer's webcam and video technology to record students during online exams, flagging certain behaviours that can be deemed to potentially breach academic integrity (like seeing more than one face, or attempting to navigate away from the test) for further review by the instructor. The Respondus Monitor tool integrates seamlessly with MyLearningSpace.

Resources for Laurier faculty and students

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Choosing Assessment Strategies | A Guide to Remote Teaching, Learning and Assessment | Wilfrid Laurier University

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Approaching assessment remotely begins during the course design process, and requires careful consideration of student learning progression and outcome attainment in the course and the program. Creating authentic assessments in the remote environment that both engage and measure the right outcomes is one of the fundamental tools you have to communicate and emphasize the key knowledge and skills being developed in your course.

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Fun formative assessment: 12 easy, no-tech ideas you can use tomorrow

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Formative assessment means providing students with opportunities to show you what they are learning while you are teaching it. These assessments inform

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Assessments should reveal how well students have learned what we want them to learn while instruction ensures that they learn it. For this to occur, assessments, learning objectives, and instructional strategies need to be closely aligned so that they reinforce one another.

To ensure that these three components of your course are aligned, ask yourself the following questions:

Learning objectives: What do I want students to know how to do when they leave this course?

Assessments: What kinds of tasks will reveal whether students have achieved the learning objectives I have identified?

Instructional strategies: What kinds of activities in and out of class will reinforce my learning objectives and prepare students for assessments?

What if the components of a course are misaligned?

If assessments are misaligned with learning objectives or instructional strategies, it can undermine both student motivation and learning. Consider these two scenarios:

Your objective is for students to learn to apply analytical skills, but your assessment measures only factual recall. Consequently, students hone their analytical skills and are frustrated that the exam does not measure what they learned.

Your assessment measures students' ability to compare and critique the arguments of different authors, but your instructional strategies focus entirely on summarizing the arguments of different authors. Consequently, students do not learn or practice the skills of comparison and evaluation that will be assessed.

What do well-aligned assessments look like?

This table presents examples of the kinds of activities that can be used to assess different types of learning objectives (adapted from the revised Bloom's Taxonomy).

Type of learning objective

Examples of appropriate assessments

Recall
Recognize
Identify

Objective test items such as fill-in-the-blank, matching, labeling, or multiple-choice questions that require students to:

recall or recognize terms, facts, and concepts

Interpret
Exemplify
Classify
Summarize
Infer
Compare
Explain

Activities such as papers, exams, problem sets, class discussions, or concept maps that require students to:

summarize readings, films, or speeches

compare and contrast two or more theories, events, or processes

classify or categorize cases, elements, or events using established criteria

paraphrase documents or speeches

find or identify examples or illustrations of a concept or principle

Apply
Execute
Implement

Activities such as problem sets, performances, labs, prototyping, or simulations that require students to:

use procedures to solve or complete familiar or unfamiliar tasks

determine which procedure(s) are most appropriate for a given task

Analyze
Differentiate
Organize
Attribute

Activities such as case studies, critiques, labs, papers, projects, debates, or concept maps that require students to:

discriminate or select relevant and irrelevant parts

determine how elements function together

determine bias, values, or underlying intent in presented material

Evaluate
Check
Critique
Assess

Activities such as journals, diaries, critiques, problem sets, product reviews, or studies that require students to:

test, monitor, judge, or critique readings, performances, or products against established criteria or standards

Create
Generate
Plan
Produce
Design

Activities such as research projects, musical compositions, performances, essays, business plans, website designs, or set designs that require students to:

make, build, design or generate something new

This table does not list all possible examples of appropriate assessments. You can develop and use other assessments - just make sure that they align with your learning objectives and instructional strategies!

CONTACT US to talk with an Eberly colleague in person!

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Align Assessments, Objectives, Instructional Strategies - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University

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Assessments should reveal how well students have learned what we want them to learn while instruction ensures that they learn it. For this to occur, assessments, learning objectives, and instructional strategies need to be closely aligned so that they reinforce one another.

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Cheat Sheet For Choosing Assessment Methods

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I created this rubric with the help of my mentor teacher during my 5 week practicum at Crestwood. This assessment is a poster project about Peru.

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I created this rubric with the help of my mentor teacher during my 5 week practicum at Crestwood. This assessment is a poster project about Peru.

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Alberta Assessment Consortium this a fantastic resource to anything assessment. 

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Alberta Assessment Consortium this a fantastic resource to anything assessment. 

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There is still time to register for our upcoming session.
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#assessmentpractices #assessmentforlearning #AAC #VirtualPD #albertaassessment

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What's New at AAC? AAC Events are now open for registration! Click here to register for events! × Dismiss alert We have an awesome Fall schedule planned and a brand new registration platform! Follow the link below for session details and registration. Suggest a topic: info@aac.ab.ca SESSION LIST After-school sessions A comprehensive exploration of current ...

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SplashLearn Blog - Educational Resources for Parents, Teachers & Kids

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difference between summative assessment & formative assessment

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What Makes Summative Assessment a Powerful Tool for Teachers

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Read to know all about summative assessment - examples, benefits, limitations, etc. Also, know the differences between formative & summative assessments.

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Edutopia blogger Bob Lenz shares the Envision Schools’ framework for assessing high school students during their four-year academic journey.

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An assessment called a one-pager has students use art to show what they know-and it can be used across the curriculum.

I'm not a fun teacher. It's embarrassing to admit, but making my class engaging does not come naturally. Many of my middle school colleagues fit right in with our quirky middle school students, but I don't. So I need to work extra hard at being engaging.

In my second year of teaching, I realized I could make my assessments something my students looked forward to doing by switching to a strategy called a one-pager.

Assessing Learning With One-Pagers

With a one-pager, a student mixes art with parameters related to course content on a single sheet of white 8.5 x 11 printer paper to show what they understand about the content. A teacher can make the assessment formative or summative by modifying the parameters and increasing or decreasing the rigor.

The most powerful part of using art this way is that it makes the one-pager less about finding the single correct answer and more about crafting a response to the criteria the teacher presents. Students get to be creative, and since there are many different ways for them to answer the prompt, their thinking is challenged in new ways. They're not trying to find the solution-they're trying to find a solution they can stand behind.

While one-pagers have criteria, there aren't rules. This point is critical because it means students have freedom to lay out their one-pager in any way they want. I've seen incredibly creative one-pagers, and grading them is fun. I know that doesn't sound possible, but one-pagers are often so unique that seeing how students document their learning can be really enjoyable.

The most crucial element is that students have freedom in the evidence they select, the answers they create, and the placement of different elements on the page.

I'm an English teacher, but after I shared a short presentation on one-pagers with the math department, two math teachers sought me out to let me know they had tried this strategy with their students and found it really effective. I realized that this assessment tool might be useful in other areas as well.

Using a One-Pager With a Nonfiction Text

If you want to assess students' understanding of a nonfiction text, you can start by having them write the title and author somewhere on page. Next, they should add a quote from the text-their favorite line, or the one they see as most important-and explain in writing why they chose it.

Next they should explain the main idea or ideas of the piece in their own words, and write down two questions they have about the text-I often give sentence starters for this.

Then they get to the art, drawing a picture that relates to the main idea or ideas. Students have a lot of fun with this. It's important to emphasize that you're not assessing the one-pager based on appearances-what matters is that they show their understanding.

I also ask them to list a couple of key terms-they decide what those are-and supply their own definitions, and to list a couple of interesting or fun facts they learned and a couple of personal connections to the text.

Finally, they can add images or icons to their key terms, and write captions for their images, to make the one-pager understandable to someone who hasn't read the text.

Using a One-Pager in Math Class

To use a one-pager in a math class, students write what type of problem they're explaining. They also create two real-life examples-little stories like, "We had 10 apples after the party, and we know Sarah took 5, but we aren't sure how many we had to begin with. How many was it?" Then they draw a real-life example. Coming up with the real-life examples often takes as much creativity as the artwork.

Next they show different ways to solve the problem, if there are multiple ways. They also write their own sample problem modeled on the teacher's example. They should list and explain key terms, and think of a question they have about the process or application-once again, giving them sentence starters can help here.

Finally, they should describe the step that's trickiest to remember, and come up with a strategy for remembering it.

Some Additional Tips

If students don't like to draw, they can find an image on the internet, print it, and either cut it out or trace it. Few of my students have done this, but it's an option. I tell students that icons and stick figures are fine-the idea is not to create a masterpiece but to display deep understanding.

I make coloring the images optional because sometimes students get too caught up in making the art perfect.

When making an exemplar, I always show students one that's based on a different text from the one they're working with-and it's purposefully an exemplar where the art is not outstanding. I tell students I made it and explain what I was thinking for each of the elements. I tell them I could have done better with my drawings, but was more focused on the ideas. And I let them know it's fine for them to focus on both the ideas and the art.

There are many ways to use one-pagers aside from assessment-as posters, for example. But starting off using them to assess learning will help your students see themselves as creators of their own knowledge.

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An assessment called a one-pager has students use art to show what they know-and it can be used across the curriculum.

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Great teachers like you know the importance of having various assessments guiding their teaching, but did you know that specific types of assessments should happen at particular times in the learning process? Let's check up on your use of assessment for learning vs. assessment of learning in math!

Assessment FOR vs. Assessment OF Learning

Assessment for learning occurs at the beginning of a unit and continues throughout. This assessment drives your instruction and helps you determine what needs reteaching or what your students already understand. It is a method of delivering feedback to your students for how they can improve. Assessment for learning is what has traditionally been referred to as diagnostic and formative assessment.

Assessment of learning occurs at the end of a unit and evaluates the knowledge the student has acquired. This assessment is judged and given a score or a level that refers to the curriculum's standards or expectations. It is the type of evaluation that has traditionally been referred to as summative assessment.

Assessment For Learning

At this stage, you are looking to see where your students are, where you want them to be, and make decisions about how you will get there. There are many ways that teachers can engage in assessment for learning. Gone are the days when the paper-and-pencil evidence was the only thing that mattered. This triangulation of data, or relying on data from three different sources, is an essential part of the evaluation process in education today.

Observation

Teachers have professional judgment. Your observations are a very valid form of assessment in your classroom. The key to doing this well is all in how you document the observations you make.

I like to use sticky notes with the expectations or evidence that I'd like to see from each of my students for a particular lesson.

I can use these as checklists and places to jot quick notes about the students' performance. I have an evidence collector page for each student, which is simply a place to stick each note that I gather on that student.

Another strategy I use is to observe my students' level of mastery with an activity. This is something that I typically use during independent work with the whole class. All I do is jot each student's name into a column on my chart to record their success with a task and put general notes about the next steps for my teaching at the bottom of each group.

I also sometimes just use a basic chart with spaces for each of my students to record my observations in point-form or coded format. An example of a coded format would be to use letters to stand for behaviors I observe, such as:

E = Engaged O = Off Task D = Distracted

P = Proficient G = Getting There S = Struggling

Whatever code you'd like to use is OK! This is only for your own reference.

Conversation

Having conversations with your students, whether they are informal as you move through the classroom or more planned, like an interview, are an excellent way to gather data on your students' understanding of a topic. I use my observation forms to jot notes when I have conversations with my students.

Conversations allow you to gather important information about how your students are progressing with their learning.

1. Can you explain your thinking?

2. Can you show me what you did here?

3. Can you demonstrate how you found that answer?

4. Can you tell me what you've learned?

5. What are you finding easy?

6. What are you finding difficult?

This is a particularly effective way to evaluate understanding in situations where written explanations might be challenging for students. Often, your students will be better able to talk about what they did than write about it.

Student Work

Of course, there is still a place for paper-and-pencil, or product-based, evidence. Worksheets or activity pages are easy to collect and assess at another time. Still, for any activities involving an element of demonstration or giving proof, such as with manipulatives, it can be challenging to collect this evidence to refer to later.

I love having some iPads in my classroom so students can take photos of their work. They can drop these photos into a shared Google folder, , or another portfolio platform. Check with your technology team to see what is available and approved for use in your area.

What do I do with this information?

The goal of assessment for learning is to provide students with strategies and steps for improving their understanding. You will want to take the information you gather and:

1. Make adjustments to the lessons you have planned. Consider whether it would be appropriate to teach instead of whole-class lessons to better differentiate the lessons.

2. Provide feedback in oral or written form.

3. Share next steps that students can implement independently or with support.

Assessment Of Learning

Assessment of learning is the evaluation stage. This data shows you whether or not students have understood the expectations or standards in the curriculum. This assessment receives a mark or grade, and it can also be collected using triangulation. You will need to continue documenting your evidence in the same way you did during the assessment for the learning process.

Observation

If you teach your math lessons in small, guided groups, you will have some fabulous opportunities to observe your students as they engage with the math topic.

It is possible in these small groups to closely observe what students do as they work through a math process or problem. Watch for:

1. How they interact with and use manipulatives.

2. Whether they recognize errors or misconceptions.

3. What they do when they make a mistake.

4. How well they can persevere to complete a task.

5. How they contribute to partner or group activities.

Of course, this is also a great time to have conversations about student learning!

Conversation

Assessment of learning can also occur through conversations with your students. The types of questions need not change. It is how you use the information you gain from the student responses that is different.

1. Can you explain your thinking?

2. Can you show me what you did here?

3. Can you demonstrate how you found that answer?

4. Can you tell me what you've learned?

5. What are you finding easy?

6. What are you finding difficult?

Student Work

As with assessment for learning, the student work you evaluate in this stage of the process can vary. It is possible to collect paper-and-pencil tests or assignments, but having the student demonstrate a process or understanding may be more valuable information!

Managing Your Data

How you manage all of your observations and evidence of learning matters most when completing report cards. You don't want to be shuffling through piles of random pages trying to locate the information you need for each student.

I have several methods of tracking student progress in my classroom.

I have a binder for my whole-group observation pages. I usually use these to monitor progress and as a way to build my small groups for targeted teaching, so they aren't as essential to have on hand during reporting.

Any marks I collect throughout a unit are entered into my iDoceo app. This is a paid app, but well worth the money, in my opinion. There are no privacy concerns when using this app, as all the data is stored on your device and not in a cloud or server somewhere.
Be sure to grab the observation forms for your classroom right here:
If you'd like more information about the resources I've shared in this post, you can find them here:

If you have enjoyed this post, please share it with friends and colleagues on Facebook or pin it on Pinterest:

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How to Plan Successful Assessment For Learning vs. Assessment Of Learning in Math

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Great teachers like you know the importance of having various assessments guiding their teaching, but did you know that specific types of assessments should happen at particular times in the learning process? Let's check up on your use of assessment for learning vs. assessment of learning in math!

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I created this assessment during my practicum at Crestwood. We decided to do a poster instead of a postcard, however, I decided to keep this one just incase I ever wanted to revise it and use it in the future.

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I created this assessment during my practicum at Crestwood. We decided to do a poster instead of a postcard, however, I decided to keep this one just incase I ever wanted to revise it and use it in the future.

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This is a rubric for building bridges. This assessment was a great success, however, in the future, this will be revised to have the students' input again. I felt that including the students to create the rubric fostered engagement and was an important part that contributed to its success. 

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This is a rubric for building bridges. This assessment was a great success, however, in the future, this will be revised to have the students' input again. I felt that including the students to create the rubric fostered engagement and was an important part that contributed to its success. 

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A great resource for creating authentic assessments. I like that the assessments relate to the real world. 

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A great resource for creating authentic assessments. I like that the assessments relate to the real world. 

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I know I am not alone in the engagement challenge. In a world where students can stream fistfights and stand-up comedians, how do you get them to care about what's going on in your little classroom? There are more distractions for students now than any other time in history. Yet, we are tasked with making school feel even more important, relevant, and engaging than ever before. What's a teacher to do? Enter authentic assessments.

What Are Authentic Assessments?

I'm going to give you the quick-and-dirty definition here and then illustrate with an example.

You know what an assessment is: a culminating test, project, paper, or assignment that is meant to measure a student's level of growth in a subject matter.

When you and I were in school, many of our assessments were multiple choice scantrons. Or maybe a ton of standard 5-paragraph essays.
Traditional assessments have been formulaic. Rote. Boring.
So what's an authentic assessment? It's an assessment that is, well, authentic. It's real.

Never in my profession has my principal asked me to take a multiple choice test. Or even write a 5-paragraph essay. Those tasks just don't have much meaning in the "real world." Why, then, do we make our students do them?

Students have a nose for time-wasting crap. They know that in the long run, being able to write a thesis probably won't be all that important. So why put in the effort?

Authentic assessments replicate real-world activities or pursuits. A multiple choice test on fractions doesn't reflect real life tasks. However, having students bake 12 cookies using a cookie recipe that yields 48 suddenly makes their knowledge of fractions high-stakes.

In an English class, the 5-paragraph essay can be replaced with all kinds of projects that are more likely to occur in real life: speeches, debates, discussions, pamphlet or letter writing, etc.
Authentic assessments give students a purpose behind their learning.
So, how do we go about creating authentic assessments for our students?

Authentic Assessments: One Example

This past week I had the pleasure of being involved in two different authentic assessments-one in my own classroom, and one in a colleague's.

In both of the authentic assessments I took part in this past week, there was nervous energy around the students. They cared about their performance.

During the process, you could see the confidence gained and how proud they were of themselves for completing the task.

I'll focus on the example in my colleague's leadership class.

For his final exam, his students had to make a speech about the person who had impacted them most during their life. The speech was only two minutes, but it had all the components of an authentic assessment.

Components of Authentic Assessments

In order for an assessment to be truly authentic, it needs to include three critical components.

#1: A Real-World Task

In my colleague's leadership class, students had to make a speech.

Students know that important people make speeches. They've seen Ted Talks. They know that in business, they will have to speak in front of others.

Making the connection between this assignment and the world after high school is not much of a leap.

#2: Real-World Audience

Students weren't just presenting their speeches to their teachers, however. They weren't even just presenting to their classmates.
No, these poor students had to perform in front of staff and administration (many adults that they didn't know).
During final exams, teachers on prep and support staff were invited to come in and watch the speeches. This is how I ended up having the privilege to watch these young people speak.

Having to perform in front of some strangers as well as peers made the students nervous. But that nervousness is a good thing! Because it means they cared.

I watched student after student walk up to the podium, shaking or jittery. But they didn't give up. They gave their speeches and then congratulated on another for facing their fears.
Even more important than the ability to write or present a speech was the students' learning that they can overcome difficult challenges.
#3: Hands-On or Performance-Based Task

All students were given the option to use an outline (you could see the regret on the faces of those who had decided to skip that tool).

Ultimately, however, their instructor expected them to speak smoothly and freely which meant no reading straight from the page. This meant students had to prepare and practice before giving their speech.

With authentic assessments, you have to actually use the knowledge or skills you've acquired in your studies. Merely showing up and guessing will never be enough.

If your authentic assessment takes place in the classroom, I also encourage you to modify the room for the event. Changing students' everyday setting helps them realize that this task is different and elevated from their normal routine. It makes things a bit more "real" in my opinion.

For the speeches, the teacher had reorganized the classroom to create staging area. He had also set each place at a table with snacks, treats, and drinks to be served family-style.

The first ten minutes or so students and staff chatted and snacked together. Students reviewed their outlines and shared their nervousness while the staff gave them words of encouragement.

You could tell who had taken their speeches seriously and rehearsed. You could also tell who wasn't going to do well.

The Power of Authentic Assessments

In their speeches, students had to talk about a person whom they deeply admired.

Clearly, some students were better prepared than others, and some were more comfortable speaking in front of others. But the stories they shared in just two minutes were incredible.

I won't forget the student who was grateful to his father for always working hard for his family, even when the student and his parents were living together in a van.

Another student told about the time his family had no food and no electricity, so he stole a frozen pizza from the corner store and cooked it over a bonfire to feed his siblings.

Some students got teary-eyes talking about the support they receive from friends and classmates.

Not only were the speakers engaged during their speech, but their classmates were fully immersed in the stories their peers shared. Those students won't forget sharing that part of themselves, and no one in the audience will forget either.

This authentic assessment won't be forgotten because their was emotion attached to it. Not only was the content of the speeches sometimes emotional, but simply the act of overcoming stage fright left some students emotionally hungover.

Next time they have to write a speech, they'll know exactly what to do, what will be expected, and how to prepare.

Authentic Assessments Are Unforgettable

Not only did students have meet the standards for speaking and listening and do some writing, but most of them face a real fear of speaking and sharing in front of others.
And now they know they can do something that before would have seemed impossible.
This is what engagement looks like. Students' hearts were beating quickly. They were nervous, and there was a lot of fidgeting.

When it was over, they congratulated and praised one another. They smiled. Students had pride in the task that they accomplished.

There were no cell phones. There were no side conversations. Yes, much of this had to do with the positive classroom culture that had been created over the course of the whole quarter, but their eyes weren't glazed over either.

Creating Your Authentic Assessment

Finding that "real-world" task always seems daunting at first, but it can be much easier than we initially think.

Submitting writing to a contest is a real-world activity with an authentic audience and real stakes. Writing letters about an important issue and sending them is another way.

Remember the power of reading and writing; how can your students use it in a meaningful way right now? How can you gets students' words in front of a real-world audience?

One Last Example

The other authentic assessment I worked on this past week was my The Hate U Give classroom discussion.

Discussions are very real-world-they happen every day at parties, at work, on the bus, etc. I bring in other adults-teachers, guidance counselors, the librarian, my instructional coach-to discuss with students at small round tables.

I decorate our desks with table cloths and place-cards and bring in snacks for students and staff to eat while discussing the novel. Students must support their thoughts with quotes and examples from the book which they collect by close reading the novel as we go through it during the quarter.

My students are always nervous before our conversations begin. And they are always proud of themselves and happy from deep, fulfilling conversations afterwards.

Conclusion
Whatever you decide to do with your students, remember to include that real-world applicability, an authentic audience, and a hands-on task.
I can't guarantee that everything will be smooth and perfect; these are long term projects for both the students and you. They take some time to set up.
However, I can guarantee that the effort and experience will be ones that neither you nor your students will forget.

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Increase Student Engagement with Authentic Assessments - It's Lit Teaching

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I know I am not alone in the engagement challenge. In a world where students can stream fistfights and stand-up comedians, how do you get them to care about what's going on in your little classroom? There are more distractions for students now than any other time in history.

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Project-Based Learning (PBL)

Photo credit: heraldpost via flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Project-based learning can provide an intentional and effective opportunity to integrate the arts across disciplines and curriculum. While valuable as a stand-alone discipline, arts education can be given further power and value when used in a PBL project as part of the core curriculum.

When teachers begin designing PBL projects, they often start small, maybe with a recommended idea to internalize the design process and a reflection on how to improve. As teachers become more familiar with PBL, integration is a great next step for taking it up a notch. This is where the arts come in! If you are thinking about your next PBL project, consider using one or more of these intentional moments to integrate art.

The Arts as the Entry Event

When launching a PBL project, it is crucial to have an entry event that engages students and creates excitement for the project. From movies and music to activities and simulations, teachers can launch a project with one or more entry events that relate to the arts. Start the project with an art anchor text, not only to build inquiry, but also to keep the momentum going along the way by revisiting that anchor.

The Arts in Culminating Products or Performances

PBL demands voice and choice in how students spend their time and how they show their learning. Each project culminates in a presentation or product that is presented to a public audience. The best products meet the needs of the audience, which means that creating the project must focus not only on relevance, but also on engagement. Teachers can use this design element to further leverage the arts by providing an arts product as one or more of the choices. We know students can show their learning in a variety of ways and through multiple intelligences. In addition to a persuasive letter, consider a collage or songbook of lyrics.

The Arts as Scaffolding

Students need scaffolding through a variety of instructional activities that will arm them with the skills and content they'll need to be successful on the project. As you consider this scaffolding, include arts-related activities. Use these activities to help students process their content and represent their thinking. For example, have students do a "tableau" activity where they represent the structure of the cell. From this, the teacher helps students metacognitively and transparently connect this individual activity to the larger project. Students learn from this arts-based activity during the project and will apply it to their product. Role-plays, simulations, music comprehension strategies, visual processing, dramatic acting -- all these activities and more can help support and scaffold the many learning targets within a PBL project.

The Arts As Formative Assessment

Similar to assessing their students' culminating products or performances, teachers must formatively assess learning objectives and skills throughout the PBL project. As students participate in scaffolding and activities, use the arts as the method to formatively assess content and 21st century skills. If you are assessing collaboration, use a visual representation as evidence.

While arts integration in the core discipline alone is valuable, doing it within the context of a PBL project can make the integration seamless as well as valuable. PBL projects provide a space to meet multiple learning targets, whether those are core discipline standards or arts standards. Whether or not you are intending to assess arts standards on your PBL project, you can still find intentional instructional moments for using the arts, not only to value them, but also to create engagement for everyone. Your students can learn the arts as well as learning through the arts.

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Project-Based Learning as a Context for Arts Integration

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Project-Based Learning (PBL) Photo credit: heraldpost via flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0) Project-based learning can provide an intentional and effective opportunity to integrate the arts across disciplines and curriculum. While valuable as a stand-alone discipline, arts education can be given further power and value when used in a PBL project as part of the core curriculum.

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Do you have a love-hate relationship with grading? On one hand, assigning grades with letters and numbers is something all students understand. But, while this standardized system appears clean-cut, does a percentage really depict learning? What does a letter really mean, anyway?

Grading systems are continually being revamped, especially as Standards-Based Grading continues to trend around the nation. What is the difference between assessment and grading? How can we authentically assess our students' process and product without being punitive?

Here are some key points to consider when reflecting on your grading practices.

1. Grades and assessments are not the same.

How many times have you used your amazing point rubric only to find the grade doesn't match the students' work? You think, " Malachi just earned a 'C' according to that rubric, but he is making some really incredible and imaginative artwork. Liza was awarded an 'A' using that same rubric, but she was simply following the instructions; the work is overall subpar." You recalculate your points and wonder, " How can this be? "

The first question you need to ask yourself is, " What criteria should I actually be assessing? " It all boils down to what you value when teaching the lesson. If you value imaginative thinking, emphasize this idea when teaching your lesson and reflect this focus in your assessment. Make sure your criteria points align with the overarching standards you're putting into practice. For example, if you teach a lesson where risk-taking is the focus, then the percentage of points awarded in your assessment must be worth more than other concepts. You can't be too upset with poor craftsmanship if that wasn't the point of the assignment. Neither should your students be docked heavily for it.

2. Redefine what you value.

The second question you need to ask is, " How should I be assessing?" Checklists, rubrics, point sheets, and reflections are all valid forms of assessment, depending on what it is you are assessing.

Rubrics are important assessment tools, especially for end-of-unit artworks and final exam portfolios. They are valuable when you are looking for specific techniques and concepts taught throughout a particular work. A thorough rubric can help make grading a snap. Descriptors in each category demonstrate what you are looking for in quality work and easily identify where a student needs improvement. Sometimes putting number values to your rubric, however, can limit your holistic view.

Levels of proficiency are a great way to help students gauge where they are in their learning process. When building technical competence, for example, we want to make sure students understand what different levels of quality look like. When giving a grade for technical skills, break it down into different strategies or techniques to help a student identify where they might be struggling. Instead of giving a "C" for drawing a realistic still-life, empower that student with targeted areas for improvement. Define key techniques such as shading, line weight, and scale. A student can then determine exactly where they went wrong and with which specific skill they need more practice.

Align assessments to essential questions and standards.

Looking at standards or essential questions can also help redefine the importance of your students' creative process. If they take only one class with you, what do you hope your students have learned? Exploration, risk-taking, and reflection are key aspects to creating. How can you encourage creative thinking without squashing it through assessment? Taking risks is a vulnerable thing. If our assessments do not reflect this value, the artwork is penalized, and students will stop taking risks for fear of failure or punitive marks. For example, if you value risk-taking and exploration of new media, then you cannot give a consequence when that risk doesn't pay off in the end product. However, you can ensure that the student has learned from taking those risks through reflection and revision opportunities.

Student voice through reflection demonstrates learning.

Self-assessment, reflection, and metacognition are essential aspects of the learning process. When students are able to articulate ways in which they have learned, struggled, and achieved success, we are empowering them to authentically engage with their learning. Instead of focusing on the end-product, implementing daily reflection on their individual goals will ultimately drive their product over time. Emphasizing the process over the end result focuses student thinking on day-to-day learning and less on achieving a specific result. Developing students' creative process will ultimately drive their end product.

One way to do this is through The Studio Habits of Mind. When utilizing these as your standards, you are reinforcing overarching daily habits artists go through to create. We know technical development is crucial to visually convey our ideas, but we also have to help our students develop ideas in the first place. You can use these as assessment standards when looking at how your students are learning and growing as artists holistically.

3. Focus on the feedback.

We all know feedback is essential for students to learn and grow. It's important to ask yourself, " How are my grades providing valuable feedback? " Grading simply teaches students how to check the box to get that "A." Feedback provides students the opportunity to improve through refinement as well as to value their process and achievements. There are different levels of feedback: daily nudges in the right direction, peer critique as they develop their critical eye, written notes on your assessments, or even one-on-one conferences. All levels of feedback are valuable to the growth of a student.

Ensure your feedback is what drives your students' learning and not the grab for the grade. Hold students accountable for that feedback. Expect your students to not only use feedback to improve their work but also discuss ways in which feedback pushed their ideas further or helped them hone their technical skills along the way.

4. They might not do it either way.

Taking grades out of assessment has a lot of benefits. But, let's be honest: the same kids who didn't write reflections when they were receiving a grade are often the same kids who won't do it without a letter grade, either. Taking away the letter grade for particular aspects of learning does take the anxiety out of the process. However, it won't miraculously change the hardest to reach students into fully engaged learners. Students who are disenfranchised by the educational structure, who are used to being penalized no matter how hard they try, and who are not necessarily recognized for their own unique intelligences are going to take time to trust these new expectations.

Taking risks and allowing yourself to fail is a very vulnerable endeavor. If a student isn't submitting reflections for their work or filling out their daily goal sheets, it doesn't mean they aren't learning. Instead of losing points left and right for not completing these tasks, shift the focus to growth. This allows students opportunities for success in a variety of ways. That's not to say students shouldn't reflect just because they don't want to. Instead, focus on what they are creating and developing in your classroom, and look for other ways to demonstrate reflection. By doing this, you are modeling that you value what your students have to offer regardless of their weaknesses.

5. They still get a grade because they have to.

Most educational systems still expect you to provide a letter grade that sums up student achievement in your class. How can we get around stamping a letter on their learning? One way is to zoom out and look at students' growth over time.

Did your students take risks, explore media, develop techniques, persevere through obstacles? Did they apply this knowledge to create personal and meaningful artwork and articulate how they did all of this? Compare the very first and last artworks your students created in your class. Can you and your students identify ways in which they have grown as artists?

Take another look at the standards. If students missed big sections of learning, how is this reflected in their overall grade? Consider what you value. Does what you value help develop the student who may never take another art class, as well as the student moving to advanced levels? Do different course levels value different expectations? It's essential to consider how your grading practice, and the letter grade the student ultimately earns, is aligned to all of these factors.

As educators working in a school system, we are confined to the grading and assessment policies of our district administration, state, and nation. As art educators, we are often fortunate enough to have some flexibility and autonomy as to how we work those policies to enhance student learning in our classrooms and departments. Regardless of how you assess your students' work, be reflective and authentic to what is best for your students in your community. Don't forget to be creative in how you view authentic assessment to best enhance student learning in your classroom.
What criteria do you use to assess your students? How do you grade your students? Do you focus on process, product, or both? How can you work with your administration to develop authentic assessment?
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.

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Do you have a love-hate relationship with grading? On one hand, assigning grades with letters and numbers is something all students understand. But, while this standardized system appears clean-cut, does a percentage really depict learning? What does a letter really mean, anyway? Grading systems are continually being revamped, especially as Standards-Based Grading continues to trend around the nation.