Traditional Assessment

This week was quite a challenge for me. I really had to spend some time thinking about how i could incorporate traditional assessment into my world. After the aforementioned conversations with my husband and experiencing susie's pre-assessment, I thought that the pre-assessment concept was going to the be the way to go for me. So I decided to go ahead and create a pre-assessment surrounding the NETS for teachers as an opening activity for my technology class.

Once I had figured out the "what" of my assessment, I had determine how I wanted to deliver it to my students. I decided to use Google forms to create a form that looks more like a survey rather than a "test". I liked that the interface is more casual so that the students could feel comfortable.

The other aspect of the Google form that I liked is that the results backfeed into a spreadsheet which will give me a great opportunity to have the individual results as well as the group results at a glance in order to determine the next learning steps.

I am excited to try this out on a group of my next "unsuspecting" students:)
thea

CEL 590 Personal Learning Plan

So as I begin my journey toward learning more about assessment and evaluation, I believe that the most important thing for me to do is examine my own philosophies and bias about assessment and evaluation.

First off, I am a firm believer in the need for both assessment and evaluation in order to inform the learning process on both sides of the books:) My biases lie within a DEEP adversity to testing or quizzes. I was having a conversation with my husband the other day and basically intimated that I could not see a need for a quiz or multiple choice test pretty much ever. He opened my eyes to some new uses of the tools and because he is practically a genius, I listened:) we talked about how he uses quizzes....not as a gotcha but more as a pre-assessment (like Susie did) to help get a gauge for his students baseline knowledge on the aspects of the content. This was interesting to me as I just always picture vocabulary quizzes and end of chapter multiple choice type instruments. I also know that I have been the subject of much unnecessary stress due to professors trying to "trick me" with excruciatingly difficult multiple choice tests. I am an over analytical person so I can talk myself into almost ANY answer being correct. Just imagine me with a 60 question M/c test in philosophy....enough to give me an ulcer!

With all of that said, it leads to my first and most important goal:
PL Goal #1: I will approach this course with an open heart and mind to the various types of assessment and evaluation so that I might learn NEW uses for familiar tools.

PL Goal #2: I would like to gain a better understanding of multiple choice and other traditional assessment terminology.

PL Goal #3: I LOVE rubrics! I probably overuse them in my work but I am all self taught so I would like to learn more about the terms for the parts of a rubric and tools to help make mine better. As a part of this goal, I hope to create a few rubrics that are much needed in reference to a project that I have created within my coursework.

PL Goal #4: As the instructional specialist at my school, I do a lot of work with teachers encouraging them to assess students with something other than a test or quiz thus, I am always looking for more depth of understanding in the areas of Authentic assessment and Alternative assessment.

PL Goal #5: I am VERY interested in learning about the various types of evaluation as this is an area that I have very little knowledge of.

PL Goal #6: While I am familiar with Kirkpatrick's model of evaluation, I need to gain a better understanding of the model so that I can utilize it in my quest to learn more about class and program evaluation.

PL Goal #7: I want to take all of my learning from this course and apply it to my course planning and preparation in order to ensure a quality alignment in my activities with my learning objectives.

PL Goal #8: I would like to create a course evaluation that I implement at mid and end of course to inform my process:)

Lofty goals, I know but I aim high! In order to complete the goals that I have set for myself in this course, I will engage in the following learning strategies:

Strategy for completion: I will utilize the activities in this course to gain a stronger understanding of assessment and evaluation techniques. I will also take note of ideas presented within the learning community and how I might use the ideas my peers present in my own teaching. As I complete products, I will share them within the learning community for feedback from my peers in order to garner suggestions. Based on the activities of the course, I will begin to create stronger assessment and evaluation tools for my own courses to include rubrics, formative assessments, and a mid/end of course evaluation. Lastly, I will engage in research regarding all assessment and evaluation techniques presented and how I might use them in alignment with my own teaching philosophy.

Here's to a great semester of learning in a community!

Thea