How do we know when our students are learning?

1. HOW DO WE KNOW
WHEN OUR STUDENTS
ARE LEARNING?
Strategies for Evaluating Learning

2. Workshop Goals
 Faculty explore the various types of formative
assessments available to enhance student
learning and instruction
 Faculty become proficient in the use of
different online tools available for them to use
in the classroom to expand assessment
options

3. What is formative assessment?
 Formative assessment provides faculty with an
opportunity to check student understanding
along the way.
 It helps faculty be more aware of the learning
process and provides impetus to modify
his/her instruction if necessary
 It is an assessment of the learning process

4. Why is Formative Assessment Important?
Little variation in
teaching, results in great
variation in student
learning
Guskey, T. (2005, April). Formative classroom assessment and Benjamin S. Bloom: Theory,
research, and implications. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational
Research Association, Montreal, Canada

5. Mastery Learning Process
 Bloom suggests classroom assessments be used as
learning tools, followed by feedback and corrective
procedures.
 For example: students who are successful
academically look up their mistakes on an
assessment, ask the instructor for clarification, and
refer back to texts and resources to ensure
understanding
 Instructors should provide and facilitate this type of
learning. Teaching and activities should be
instructionally aligned to objectives.
Guskey, T. (2005, April). Formative classroom assessment and Benjamin S. Bloom:
Theory, research, and implications. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada

6. Just-in-time Feedback
 Feedback is diagnostic and corrective.
 "Just-in-time" feedback helps connect students
with needed resources they need
 Second formative assessments are
recommended to assess student gains
Guskey, T. (2005, April). Formative classroom assessment and Benjamin S. Bloom:
Theory, research, and implications. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada

7. Bloom’s Mastery Learning Process
Guskey, T. (2005, April). Formative classroom assessment and Benjamin S. Bloom: Theory,
research, and implications. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational
Research Association, Montreal, Canada

8. Correctives
 Correctives provide students with alternative
approaches to learning and address different
learning modalities.
 Following feedback, the instructor can group
students for peer teaching, cooperative
learning activities, or instructor
remediation/clarification in small groups
Guskey, T. (2005, April). Formative classroom assessment and Benjamin S. Bloom: Theory,
research, and implications. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational
Research Association, Montreal, Canada

9. Reducing the Achievement Gaps
Greater variation
in teaching,
results in less
variation in
student learning
Guskey, T. (2005, April). Formative classroom assessment and Benjamin S. Bloom:
Theory, research, and implications. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada

10. South Florida Initiative
 Following the General Faculty Meeting, all
course syllabi will identify a minimum of one
formative assessment for the course
 By including this in the syllabus, faculty are
holding themselves accountable to this
assessment
 The goal is to create a culture of assessment
at our campus

11. FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENT IDEAS

12. Use Quizzes
 Quizzes test student’s knowledge by posing
questions
 Create quiz questions that are true-false,
matching, multiple choice, completion, and
short-answer, or essay.
 Be sure to connect questions to specific
learning objectives.

13. QuizStar for Teachers
quizstar.4teachers.org
 QuizStar allows instructs to create formative
quizzes that users take online.
 Students can compare their answers with the
desired responses, and see their overall scores
 It's best to use QuizStar as a learning tool, rather than
for final assessment
 Include an unlimited number of multiple choice,
true or false, and short answer questions.
 Advanced options also organize students by class
name and permit the teacher to activate and
deactivate the quizzes.

14. Formative Assessment
Weekly Quiz
The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees
equal protection of the law for:
A. minorities only.
B. public employees only.
C. private employees only.
D. all citizens

15. Formative Assessment
Weekly Quiz
An effective sexual harassment
policy should have all but which of
the following features?
A. A statement of possible
sanctions against those who
harass others.
B. A workable definition of sexual
harassment.
C. Prompt investigation of every
claim, no matter how trivial.
D. A disclaimer of responsibility for
coworker behavior.

16. Formative Assessment
Weekly Quiz
What are the minimal conditions needed
for effective learning to take place?
1) Motivate the trainee to improve his/her
performance.
2) Clearly illustrate desired skills.
3) Allow the trainee to participate actively.
4) Provide an opportunity to practice.
5) Provide timely feedback on the trainee's
performance.
6) Provide some means for reinforcement
while the trainee learns.
7) Be structured from simple to complex
tasks.
8) Be adaptable to specific problems.
9) Encourage positive transfer from the
training to the job.

17. Bloom’s Taxonomy
Cognitive Domain Objectives
Knowledge/Remembering - define, list, memorize, recall
Basic
Comprehension/Understanding – classify, explain, review
Application/Applying - apply, demonstrate, illustrate
Intermediate
Analysis /Analyzing – infer, differentiate, examine
Synthesis / Creating – construct, create, design, develop
Advanced
Evaluation / Evaluating –appraise, assess, judge, defend

18. Use Posters or Brochures
www.Wordle.com; www.edu.Glogster.com;
 Assess student learning from student individual and
group research projects
 Creation of an individual poster/brochure or team
poster/brochure as a weekly assessment to primarily
ensure weekly objectives are understood.
 A poster presentation guides the student through the
basics of the study, freeing the presenter to focus on
discussion of essential elements of the work.
 Decisions about poster format and design contribute
to efficient and accurate transfer of information using
this medium

20. Glogster.com
 Online multimedia posters
 with text, photos, videos,
graphics, sounds,
drawings, data
attachments and more
 A Glog is created using a
very easy to understand,
drag and drop interface
 enjoyable, and scalable for
students of all ages and
learning styles
 Encourages students to
express independent and
creative thought, and be
competent and confident
problem solvers

21. Brochure - Microsoft Template
 Brochures provide
information on an array of
topics.
 Brochures can be created
over the progression of a
course or a new brochure
can be created each week
highlighting the week’s
objectives
 Brochures can contain
anything from information
on How to…, to medical
information and religious
course content.

22. Use Concept Maps
www.bubbl.us
 Concept Maps are useful formative techniques that
helps students learn more effectively, improves the
way that they record information, and supports and
enhances creative problem solving.
 Concept Maps are useful for summarizing
information, for consolidating large chunks of
information, for making connections, and for
creative problem solving.
 To use Concept Maps effectively, make sure
students use short words, use different colors to
add visual impact, and incorporate symbols and
images to further spur creative thinking

23. Week 2:
OBJECTIVE: Explain the job analysis. Outline a workforce planning system.
OBJECTIVE: Explain the selection process for staffing

24. Use In-Class Essays
 Essays assess higher-level cognitive skills
 Use essays to
analyze, reflect, compare, justify, contrast, com
pile, interpret, or formulate conclusions
 Focus on personal perspectives in order to
help students formulate and express their
opinions and attitudes
 Give students options so they can write about
what interests them

25. Use Portfolios
www.rcampus.com
 A portfolio is a compilation of work, developed by
the student that demonstrates what he or she
knows and can do
 Documents the student’s efforts, development, and
accomplishments throughout a course or degree
program
 Show the evolution the student has gone through
to reach their current performance level.
 Student can self-reflect and self-evaluate their
work as they progress.

26. Use Portfolios
www.rcampus.com
 Student’s can build
ePortfolios to track and
showcase their work.
 Create learning portfolios
for
 reflective assignments
 teacher-student engagement
 evaluation of SLOs
 peer-review
 authentic assessments
 and more
 Student’s can create
career ePortfolios that
they can keep years after
schools.

27. Use Performance Evaluations
 Assessing a skill a
student needs to
learn in order to
accomplish a specific
task
 Performance
evaluations not only
requires students to
know what to do, but
also how to do it
 Use a performance
standard checklist that
features a scoring
system

28. Use Interviews
 Conducted with instructor asking questions
and the student responding
 Develop a set of questions that covers specific
objectives
 Consider structured questions requiring a
specific response and open-ended questions
that allow for detailed answers.

29. Use Journals
 Journals are records learners keep as they
work through a class or program
 Learners in a process-oriented course, record
their learning stage by stage
 At the end of each stage, students write out
their thoughts and experiences about what
happened during the process.
 Promotes self-reflection; good tool for
formative learning

30. Use Journals
 Gives the student the opportunity to reflect on
their own learning and experiences in the
class
 Great way to uncover the internal journey of
each student
 In some cases, the personal journey of each
student may be more significant than the
instructor can observe from the outside.

31. Use Team Reflective Papers
 Reflective team papers document student’s
learning processes during a course.
 At the end of each class students compile their
cumulative records of their learning experiences
and write a discussion paper.
 A summary of common themes
 Identify and describe personal insights, moments of
critical questioning, and comments or ideas
 What effect do they have and what
dilemmas, questions, or possibilities do they raise?
How do these issues affect the
clarity, order, confusion, or chaos of your thinking?
How will you explore these issues further?

32. Use Website Development
www.wix.com
 With increased use of the World Wide Web it’s
become common practice to encourage students
to develop sites to:
 Educate others in their field (teach about something)
 Perform a task (teach how to do something)
 Present facts
 Teach concepts and definitions
 Show procedures/steps
 Demonstrate processes/stages
 Provide principles/guidelines
 Instructors can evaluate websites with respect to
their content, their design, or both

33. Use Website Development

34. Use a One-Minute Assessment
 Allows instructors to ask questions and collect
responses on-the-spot.
 Involves asking students to respond to a
couple of questions to help the instructor
evaluate the class
 Questions should focus on current student
learning

35. Use a Pretest/Post-test
Approach
 Pretest/Post-test measures students
knowledge and skills before instruction
 Measures growth and knowledge during
instruction
 Measures what students learned at the end of
instruction
 It is a direct measure of a unit/lesson/course’s
effectiveness.

36. Use Learner Tryout
 Student teaches the class by offering an
instructional activity.
 They are learning are basic principles of
communication
 Students discover how much more they have
assimilated unconsciously than they had been
aware
Ogawa, N. (1997), Let Your Students Teach Their Class.
Retrieved at http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Ogawa-
StudentsTeach.html

37. Additional Ideas?
 Share your best practices…

38. Questions?