Assessing Your Assessments:

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Assessing Your Assessments The Authentic
Assessment Challenge
Dr. Diane King Director, Curriculum
Development School of Computer Engineering
Technologies dking1_at_mdc.edu March 13, 2009
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SESSION OBJECTIVES

• How to identify and define learning outcomes
• How to align assessment with learning outcomes
• How to assess learning outcomes

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• What is assessment?
• Why do we assess?
• What do we assess?
• Is it working?

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What is Assessment?

• Assessment is the systematic gathering and
  analyzing of information (excluding course
  grades) to inform and improve student learning or
  programs of student learning in light of
  goal-oriented expectations
• Effective Grading A Tool for Learning and
  Assessment Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Johnson
  Anderson Jossey-Bass, 1998

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What is Assessment?

• Techniques used to analyze student
  accomplishment against specific goals and
  criteria
• UW-Madison Assessment Manual

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Authentic Assessment

• simulate or replicate important real-world
  challenges (Wiggins and McTighe)
• measures a students ability to perform a real
  world task (Northern Illinois University)

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Authentic Assessment

• A form of assessment in which students are asked
  to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate
  meaningful application of essential knowledge and
  skills. 
• Student performance on a task is typically scored
  on a rubric to determine how successfully the
  student has met specific standards. (Mueller)

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Why Do We Assess?

• To know if students can apply what they have
  learned in authentic situations
• (Mueller)

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Why Do We Assess?

• To Improve
• To Inform
• To Prove
• UW-Madison Assessment Manual Using Assessment
  for Academic Program Improvement April 2000
• Program Improvement Revised April 2000 

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What Do We Assess?

• How do we know what to assess?

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Where To Start?

• At the END!!!
• with the OUTCOME!!!!

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Outcome

• Specific accomplishments to be achieved
• (Hatfield)

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LEARNING OUTCOME

• What do I want my students to KNOW as a result of
  taking this course?
• KNOWLEDGE
• What do I want my students to be able to DO as a
  result of taking this course?
• SKILLS

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Learning Outcome

• HOW are my students going to APPLY what they have
  learned in here, out there?
• PERFORMANCE

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Learning Outcomes

• As a result of this program/course, students
  will be able to.
• College wide
• Discipline specific
• Program level
• Course level

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Institutional Outcomes
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Backward Design

• 1. Identify desired results
• 2. Determine acceptable evidence
• 3. Plan learning experiences and instruction
• Wiggins and McTighe

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Desired Result

• Participants will identify one key learning
  outcome for a course they teach
• Participants will design one authentic assessment
  activity to measure

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Performance Task

• Real world application of knowledge or skill

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Measurable Performance

• What criteria will you use to measure how the
  student performed the task?

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Rubric

• A scoring scale used to assess student
  performance along a task-specific set of criteria
  Mueller

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Rubric
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Types of Assessment Methods

• Portfolio - Digital/electronic/web-based
• Special projects/capstones
• Journals/learning logs/digital learning records
• Conferences/interviews
• Oral examinations

• Self-/peer assessments
• Collaborative project
• Performances
• Experiments/research studies/visual
  representations
• Case studies
• Service learning
• Internships logs/journals/reflections

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Types of Assessment Methods

• Education plan
• Faculty critiques
• Documentation of service learning experiences

• Anecdotal observations
• Student generated items
• Industry certifications that show competencies
• Conferences/interviews

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Direct Assessment

• Comprehensive Exam
• Major Project
• Student Portfolios
• Pre-test/Post-test
• Embedded questions
• Performance assessment
• Senior Portfolio
• Embedded questions in exams
• Senior seminar

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INDIRECT ASSESSMENT

• Internship Evaluation
• Alumni, Employer, Graduate Exit survey
• Student scholarly achievement
• Examination of information contained in
  department's own database
• Student Satisfaction Survey
• Student Course Evaluation
• Community perception of program
• Student graduation/retention rate
• Focus group discussions

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Classroom Assessment Techniques
Informal/Immediate Feedback

• The One-Minute PaperThe minute paper is a short
  exercise in which you ask students to write for
  one minute on two questions What was the most
  important thing you learned today? and, what
  question still remains in your mind after today's
  class?
• The Muddiest PointThis assessment method is
  similar to the minute paper. Students write a
  one-minute essay on the muddiest point that
  remains in their minds after a lecture,
  demonstration, or presentation.
• The One-Sentence SummaryIn this method, students
  write and then discuss a one-sentence summary
  that describes the content covered in class.
• Directed ParaphrasingIn directed paraphrasing,
  students summarize a concept or procedure in two
  or three sentences.
• Applications CardsHere, the instructor asks
  students to think of real-world applications of
  topics discussed in class.

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Is It Working?
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Assessing the Assessment
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ASSESSMENT VALIDATION

• 1. Are the following elements present in the
  instrument?
• Learning Outcome
• Product or performance-based assessment
• Real-world relevance
• Application of knowledge
• Alignment with criteria on rubric

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ASSESSMENT VALIDATION

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• 2. Will the assessment task elicit the learning
  outcome(s) being assessed?
•  3. Will the assessment task elicit a full
  expression of ability at a level appropriate to
  the students general education learning
  experience?
•  4. Does the assessment task require students to
  demonstrate proficiency of the learning outcome
  (understanding and ability)?
•  

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ASSESSMENT VALIDATION

• 5. Does the assessment task integrate knowledge
  and skills gained throughout the students
  general education learning experience?
• 6. Does the assessment task permit students some
  individual difference in meeting the performance
  criteria?
•  7. On a scale (from disconnected to fully
  integrated), does the assessment task encourage
  students to integrate competencies with each
  other?

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ASSESSMENT VALIDATION

• 8. Does the assessment task assess both
  knowledge and ability?
•  9. Is the assessment task authentic that is,
  does it involve students in issues they see as
  vital concerns or engage them with problems
  related to the real world?
• 10. Will the assessment task produce results that
  can provide diagnostic, structured feedback on
  students attainment of the targeted learning
  outcome?
•  

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Workshop Applied Learning Tasks Introduction to
Computers/Computer Literacy

• 1. Identify One Learning Outcome
• 2. Develop one authentic assessment task to
  measure that outcome

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THANK YOU!