Teaching Ideas
Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Knowing what you know and don't know focuses learning. Students need appropriate
feedback on performance to benefit from courses. When getting started, students need
help in assessing existing knowledge and competence. In classes, students need frequent
opportunities to perform and receive suggestions for improvement. At various points
during college, and at the end, students need chances to reflect on what they have
learned, what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.
Technology Enhanced Support for the Practice
Use of word processing software, email, and/or other communication tools enables instructors
to provide frequent feedback to students. Electronic portfolios serve as a means for
students to collect and reflect on their own work. Technology tools enable students to
provide feedback to their peers and instructors as well.Assess for Success
Do you know why you give students exams, make them write papers, or present reports?
Have you considered never giving an exam, never requiring a paper, or just forgetting
about those reports all together? Why do we, as teachers, put ourselves through the
tedium and drudgery of grading papers, creating and grading exams, and coming up with
other ways for students to demonstrate their learning? Simple: assessment is an integral
part of the teaching and learning process. Without assessment, we have no way to measure
what was taught and learned.
What to Measure
According to the George Lucas Educational Foundation (2002) assessment should:
-
Provide diagnostic feedback
-
Help educators set standards
-
Evaluate progress
-
Relate to a student's progress
-
Motivate performance
Provide Diagnostic Feedback
Assessment can be used to establish the baseline for students' knowledge of a particular subject or
field. Once this is determined educators can begin sculpting the curriculum for review of previous
learned knowledge and the introduction of new information. This assessment is usually given in the
form of pre-tests. It also helps instructors determine the material to be taught in during a course of study.
Help Educators Set Standards
How do we determine standards for measuring learning? Each field of study defines how we are to
assess students? understanding. Performance on exams, procedures, and application of knowledge are
used to establish standards in the field. These standards are usually determined by the governing
body of the profession, enforced by the department, and measured by the instructor. How these standards
are measured may be governed by the professional body or left to the discretion of the instructor.
Evaluate Progress
Assessment is not just about measuring individual student performance; it is also used to help
instructors measure progress through the material for a class of students. All instructors know
that each class of students is unique and this semester's group may not progress through the material
at the same pace as those in previous semesters. Group dynamics may push students to learn material
more quickly, or they may be progressing more slowly. Instructors can use assessment to determine
whether they should make changes in the course structure or implement alternate strategies to help
students with the material.
Relate to a Student's Progress
Think of learning as a never-ending continuum. As we progress through a field of study there are
benchmarks for understanding. Familiar labels help define our place on the continuum; novice, amateur,
expert, beginning, intermediate, advanced. Assessment is used to gauge students' progress along this
continuum and their readiness to advance to the next level.
Motivate Performance
For Student Self-Evaluation:
In the ideal world of education, all students would have an inherent drive to learn. They would know that every class had meaning and significance in the shaping of their mind and helping them along the path of knowledge. In the real world, we know that some students may be more motivated by other factors, such as grades. Assessment is used to measure performance and provide feedback to students about the gaps in their knowledge base. This feedback should motivate them to study, seek new levels of learning, and apply the knowledge to new situations. Students want to know how they are doing,; assessment is how we help them answer this question. Whether they are motivated by the grade, personal excellence, or the thirst for knowledge, the assessments provided by instructors help them gauge their place in the continuum of learning.
For Teacher Self-Evaluation:
How students perform on the assessments also provides feedback for instructors on whether teaching strategies are working and if students are ready to move on to the next level. If the majority of students seem to lack understanding of a concept, this is a signal to the instructor to review this information before moving on. If students seem to be devouring the information and excelling, this is an indicator they may be capable of handling more in- depth or advanced information. Thus the assessment helps instructors customize the learning experience for the students.
Assessment provides guidance throughout the curriculum planning, creation, and implementation process. Through assessment, educators can determine what students know and need to know; establish standards to measure that knowing; gauge their progress; and reflect on the level of understanding and improve performance.
How to Measure
The guiding principles require the identification of what is to be assessed, the student's level
of understanding, and ability to demonstrate that understanding. We look to Bloom's Taxonomy to provide
the framework for formulating assessment measures, or how to assess the learning.
Benjamin Bloom (1956) provided a hierarchy of student competencies to assist instructors with developing
assessment criteria for meeting educational goals and objectives. These competencies are arranged from
less to more complex. The more complex the cognitive skill to be measured is, the more subjective the
assessment. The following diagram represents Bloom's Taxonomy as a pyramid, with Knowledge, the lowest
level on the cognitive scale, as the base. The second pyramid shows the variety of assessment techniques
that can be used to gauge students' learning.
What second pyramid
| Cognitive Level | Indicators | Assessment Strategies |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluation | Make choices based on reasoned argument | Essays, projects, problem-based cases, portfolio, critique, performance |
| Synthesis | Use old ideas to create new ones | (Objective), essay, take-home or open-book exams, open book, journal/portfolio, performance, case studies, any type of critique, collaborative learning activities |
| Analysis | Recognition of hidden meanings | (Objective), essay, take-home or open-book exams, open book, journal/portfolio, performance, case studies, online discussion forums |
| Application | Solve problems using required skills or knowledge | Multiple-choice, essay questions, open-note exams, take-home exams |
| Comprehension | Translate knowledge into new context | Multiple-choice testing, basic essay questions |
| Knowledge | Observation and recall of information | Objective tests (all types), vocabulary, recitation |
Assessment is not just about one student's performance in one instructor's class. It is about how well
an institution plans and implements an educational experience that prepares learners to think and react
in a global society.
So the next time you give your students an exam or grade a paper, consider how that one assignment
not only addresses not only the student's understanding of the course objectives, but also your instruction
of them as well. Reflect on your assessment practices. Here are some questions to get your started:
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Are there opportunities for improvement?
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Am I measuring what I am teaching?
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Does this assessment answer the question I am asking about their learning?
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Is there another way to do this?
Resources
Bloom, B.S. (Ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals:
Handbook I, cognitive domain. New York ; Toronto: Longmans, Green.
The George Lucas Educational Foundation. (2002). Instructional Module: Assessment. Retrieved November 9,
2005, from
http://www.edutopia.org/assessment
From Spring 2004 ITC Topics
Making the Most of Online Assessment
Making the Most of Online Assessment
Continuing improvements to Online@UT, in combination with increased bandwidth, storage capacity, and
computer literacy among students and faculty, have provided us with a wealth of online assessment
options. Few of us use them to their full potential, however. Below is a general introduction to a
few of these tools, accompanied by practical and proven strategies for implementation.
Online Quizzes
Online@UT's most popular assessment feature is its quiz tool, and for good reason. Automated grading,
instant feedback, and a user-friendly interface eliminate much (but not all) of the grunt work
typically associated with creating and grading those multiple-choice, short-answer, and true/false
quizzes with which we measure knowledge recall and comprehension.
Students like online quizzes, too, but for different and, occasionally, less honorable reasons.
You should assume that your students are taking your quizzes with their books open and in the
company of their classmates. Use this knowledge to your advantage - set a time limit on each quiz,
randomize the ordering of your questions, draw questions from a large test bank, and, perhaps most
importantly, provide good feedback to reinforce important learning goals.
Digital Drop Box and Assignment Tool
If you've ever asked students to submit electronic documents to you via email, then you've probably
had that experience of opening your mail to find forty messages waiting, each using different naming
conventions, and each downloading (slowly) onto your hard drive. Managing files can quickly become a
burden. The Digital Drop Box is a depository of sorts on the Blackboard server into which your students
can spill their documents, thus keeping them off of your computer. One nice perk of the Digital Drop
Box is that each document is time-stamped and dated.
Blackboard 6.0 also introduced the Assignment Tool, a new feature that, like the Digital Drop Box,
facilitates the transfer of electronic documents but with improved functionality. Most importantly,
the Assignment Tool is fully integrated into the electronic gradebook. When you create an Assignment,
the gradebook automatically generates a new entry into which you can enter point or letter grades.
Discussion Boards and the Virtual Classroom
Along with email, Online@UT also facilitates student-teacher and student-student communication via
its synchronous and asynchronous tools. The discussion board, in particular, can be a site of genuine
learning where students are expected to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate course content. Such critical
discussion, however, does not happen by accident. It is your responsibility to establish clear standards
for participation (even stating them in your syllabus) and to steer the discussion in a productive
direction by asking quality questions.
Additional recommendations that are applicable to the Discussion Board and the Virtual Classroom:
-
Determine specific grading criteria. How often will students be expected to participate? What constitutes a "good" post? How will online communication factor into the student's final grade?
-
Model best practices. Your posts should exemplify exactly what you expect from your students.
-
Provide specific feedback. Students are motivated by your response. Short, generic responses like "Good job" and "I agree" will likely be interpreted as a lack of interest on your part.
Group Work
Finally, Online@UT allows you to break students into smaller groups. As in the traditional classroom,
online groups provide students with an opportunity to collaborate on projects and to participate in
closed discussions. Group members can share information with one another through email, through the
Student Pages within Blackboard, and through a members-only Discussion Board and Virtual Classroom.
Again, you are responsible for providing specific grading criteria.
Suggested activities:
-
Ask group members to peer review their formal writing assignments by attaching electronic documents to a discussion thread.
-
At the beginning of each unit, assign a research topic to a group, who will then be expected to work together to synthesize and evaluate the material before presenting it to the class as a whole.
-
Give your groups a case study and assign specific roles to each member. Rotate roles throughout the semester so that each student will gain the full breadth of practical experience.
From Spring 2004 ITC Topics
Mystery of the Rubric...Solved
Mystery of the Rubric...Solved
What constitutes excellent work in your courses? Have you ever actually tried to describe the
characteristics of excellent work—if only for yourself? Do your students know what you consider
to be excellent? How well do your students know the standards against which their work will be
compared? How would it affect student learning if you told students what you are looking for in
their work? Are you confident that you apply the same criteria to all students' work when you grade
assignments or is there a possibility that your criteria shift as you work through the papers
or projects?
Using a rubric just might be the answer for you. What exactly is a rubric? Webster defines a rubric
as "an authoritative rule." When applied to the assessment of student work, a rubric outlines the
scoring "rules" for an assignment. A carefully designed rubric, defining precise criteria for success,
is helpful to both instructors and students. For students, it provides key criteria that that informs
their development, revision, and judgment of their own work. For instructors, it helps reduce grading
subjectivity, reduces student grade anxiety, and drives pedagogy.
Rubrics are classified as either analytic or holistic. Analytic rubrics detail performance levels for
each stated performance criterion. Using analytic rubrics, instructors are able to assess each part
of the whole assignment or product.
Holistic rubrics, on the other hand, do not detail separate levels of performance for each stated
performance criterion. Instead, holistic rubrics use multiple criteria as a whole to assess overall
performance. In many instances, analytic rubrics can easily be converted into holistic rubrics.
A rubric is typically a one or two page document that should be shared with students at the same
time an assignment is made. It should be carefully reviewed with students to ensure a shared understanding
about the assignment and the performance standards. A popular format for rubrics is a grid. The
rows of the grid list the performance criteria (what counts) for the assignment or project. The
columns of the grid contain descriptions of quality or levels of achievement, which usually are
assigned a numeric value.
The notion of using rubrics sounds good, but how does one get started creating one for a specific
assignment? Good rubrics are the product of a thorough analysis of existing samples of student work.
Consider for a moment how you currently grade student assignments. You probably spend time reading
and sorting student work into piles of differing quality. How often do you stop and take a look at
how the piles differ, and more importantly, why they differ? This analysis is the first step in
establishing appropriate descriptors for quality or levels of achievement for the assignment. It
will also help you examine and re-examine your target performance objectives (what counts) on
the assignment.
While rubric creation can be time consuming, the payoff for both instructors and students is great.
Learning increases when learners have a sense of what they are setting out to learn, a statement of
explicit standards they must meet, and way of seeing what they have learned (Loaker, Cromwell, & O'Brien, 1986, p. 47).
Reference
Loacker, G., Cromwell, C., & O'Brien, K. (1986). Assessment in higher education: To serve the learner.
In Adelman, C., Assessment in American higher education (pp. 47-62). Washington, DC: US Department of Education.
From Fall 2004 ITC Topics
How do I grade this? Designing rubrics for multimedia projects
How do I grade this? Designing rubrics for multimedia projects
Traditional assessment happened in a defined space between a student and a professor. With collaborative and problem-based learning becoming more prevalent, the structure of assessment has changed. Your students may no longer be "writing" just for you. A next generation assignment might contain four core elements:
-
Subject
-
Purpose/goal
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Media
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Audience
Media is the new element in this mix, and the rubrics/criteria by which we examine projects that
move beyond text are under development. If the project can now be a series of Web pages, a PowerPoint
presentation, or a video, how are you going to assess that project? How are you going to determine
if the student has provided evidence of mastery?
With visual, multimedia-based outcomes, both student and teacher need a core understanding of the
assessment standard upon which the assignment will be judged. Both groups must also understand
elements of visual literacy and multimedia architecture. A common mistake of students in creating
a digitally enhanced project is the over-emphasis on the tool while neglecting the subject. The
technology should not impede access to the content; it should enhance the content. As the instructor,
it's easy to become intimidated by the latest-and-greatest techniques that you may not have yet
mastered.
A rubric for technology assessment could include any of the following areas:
Subject
This area would be the same as traditional, paper-based assessment and might include:
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Thesis statement
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Logic and flow of paragraphs
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Authentic sources
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Persuasive writing
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Depth of understanding
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Supporting details
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Evidence of synthesis of ideas
Purpose
This could be derived by the professor or the student.
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Project meets the desired outcomes
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Project demonstrates mastery of the subject.
Scope
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Content covered to the depth and breadth required by the assignment
Creativity and Vision
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Subject addressed from a unique point of view
Appropriate Use of Media
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Effective use of the technology
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Enhances the exploration of the subject
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Media selected magnifies the subject
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Media consistent with professional models of practice
Navigation Through the Content
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Content clearly ordered
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Includes an introduction, supporting content, and a conclusion
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Navigational elements (buttons, links, etc.) consistent and easy to use
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Content relatively easy to proceed through
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Provided links assist in the movement through the content
Visuals
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Supporting images included
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Visuals engage the user rather than detract them from the content
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Font choices legible
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Text size easy to read
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Colors pleasing and complementary to the subject
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Readable length of text on each page
Audience
The audience is traditionally the faculty member. You may have defined the audience as the students' peers or a mock boss or client.
-
Language appropriate to the audience
-
Project has the potential to impact the reader
-
Colors and style are consistent with other types of media that speak to the particular target group or individual
From Spring 2004 ITC Topics
Honesty in Testing
Honesty in Testing
Technological advances that change the traditional classroom environment create both opportunities
and challenges in testing and evaluation. Although additional contacts, augmented communication
channels, and automation all present an instructor with more tools and chances to assess student
progress, the setting under which the instructor takes these measurements is more fluid and less
susceptible to control. Instead of measuring learning in the classroom laboratory, the teacher
will often be "field testing."
Sometimes, that's irrelevant. In the case of practice or self-tests, automatic grading and increased
availability of testing materials are advantages that outweigh the minimal disadvantages of the
instructor's loss of control. When such measures count for credit and grades, however, the situation
becomes more problematic. Outside a controlled testing environment authentic evaluation of student
performance carries an additional burden to ensure integrity of the testing process.
The first question the instructor should ask in the enhanced academic setting is no different
than that asked in the traditional classroom: What am I trying to measure and why? A bad test
will generate even worse results in a non-traditional environment than in the brick-and-mortar
classroom because 1) students will have greater opportunity to exploit testing flaws; 2) confusing
or poorly worded tests will take place under conditions that allow few student-instructor interactions.
If the instructor has used open-book tests in the past, that will be to his or her advantage in
adapting to the online environment. Additionally, the teacher needs to communicate with the students
the expectations of them that come with moving outside traditional classroom strictures. One much
touted advantage of educational technology is increased collaboration, so the instructor must delineate
carefully where collaboration ends and cheating begins. For which assignments is collaboration okay
and for which will it be forbidden? Even within the physical classroom, instructors have to consider
the collaborative opportunities present whenever students are able to go wireless.
Plagiarism is an especially pernicious problem, not so much because of technologically enhanced
teaching--a term paper written on paper with ink is almost as easy to copy as one generated by
laser printer--but because of student access via search engine to virtually the full scope of
human knowledge...including term-paper mills. Combating plagiarism requires the instructor not
only be aware of the problem and how easy the Internet makes it, but also strive for original
measurements to begin with. Don't plagiarize your evaluative measures and it will be harder for
students to plagiarize their responses!
Here are some additional online sources for practical tips on using technologically enhanced evaluations:
Esteban, J. (n.d.). Security for on-line testing. Retrieved November 12, 2003, from San Diego State
University, College of Education Web site:
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/security/start.htm
Pink Flamingo's Resources Lists. (2003, November 12). The virtual professor: Dealing with plagiarism,
cheating, and student honesty in online classes. Retrieved November 12, 2003, from
http://www.ibritt.com/resources/vp_plagiarism.htm
Strategies to minimize cheating online. (2003). Retrieved November 12, 2003, from The Illinois
Online Network Web site:
http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/assessment/cheating.asp
From Spring 2004 ITC Topics
Assessment? Evaluation? The CAT is
out of the Bag!
Assessment? Evaluation? The CAT is out of the Bag!
Assessment and evaluation are integral to teaching/learning and are used to guide
and improve learning and instruction. However, they have distinct roles in teaching and learning.
Assessment is:
-
Use of information for the purposes of improvement.
-
Used to determine current understanding and improve subsequent learning.
-
The act of gathering information on a regular basis in order to understand student learning and needs.
-
Focused on the process of continued improvement.
Evaluation is:
-
Use of information for the purposes of arriving at a decision.
-
Used to determine mastery of learning goals and objectives.
-
The culminating act of interpreting the information gathered for the purpose of making decisions or judgments about student learning and needs, often at reporting time.
-
A concrete measurement against an existing standard.
In a short period of time, CATs allow instructors to find out what students are learning, then use
that information to make changes in teaching methods or assignments. According to Angelo and Cross
(1993), a CAT is characterized as learner-centered, teacher-directed, mutually beneficial to students
and instructors, formative, context-specific, ongoing, and rooted in good teaching practice.
To Assess Students' Prior Knowledge, Recall and Understanding, try:
-
The Minute Paper: Students address "what was the most important thing you learned in class today?" and "what important question remains unanswered?"
-
Memory Matrix: Students organize important course content by filling in an empty matrix with related topics
To Assess Students' Analysis and Critical Thinking, try:
-
Pro and Con Grid: Students identify the advantages/disadvantages, costs and benefits, pros and cons of a plan, idea, or concern.
-
Analytic Memo: Students write a one- or two-page analysis of a specific problem or issue.
To Assess Students' Synthesis and Creative Thinking, try:
- One Sentence Summary: Using the format of "who did what to whom, when, where, how, and why?" students answer questions about a process in one clear, long, and grammatically correct sentence.
- Word Journal: Using single words chosen by students from assigned texts, they write a paragraph about meaning and a second paragraph explaining why they chose that particular word to summarize.
Reference:
Angelo, T.A. and Cross, P.K. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers.
2nd ed. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass.
From Spring 2004 ITC Topics
Making the Most of Online Assessment
Making the Most of Online Assessment
The American Association of Higher Education lists "9 Principles of Good Practice for
Assessing Student Learning."
They are:
-
The assessment of student learning begins with educational values.
-
Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time.
-
Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes.
-
Assessment requires attention to outcomes but also and equally to the experiences that lead to those outcomes.
-
Assessment works best when it is ongoing not episodic.
-
Assessment fosters wider improvement when representatives from across the educational community are involved.
-
Assessment makes a difference when it begins with issues of use and illuminates questions that people really care about.
-
Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement when it is part of a larger set of conditions that promote change.
-
Through assessment, educators meet responsibilities to students and to the public.
This document was developed under the auspices of the AAHE Assessment
Forum
with support from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary
Education
with additional support for publication and dissemination from the
Exxon
Education Foundation. Copies may be made without restriction.
Encouraging Student Reflection
Encouraging Student Reflection
One of the most interesting challenges and opportunities in teaching Digital Natives is to figure
out and invent ways to include reflection and critical thinking in the learning process (Prensky, 2001). In what ways do you encourage your students to reflect about their learning?
What tools and/or strategies might you employ? You might consider the use of portfolios (paper or
electronic). Momentum behind the use of portfolios in the class-room is considerable, and many
fields are beginning to use portfolios as a tool for professional self-assessment and development.
Just what is a portfolio? First, a portfolio consists of a collection of student work (artifacts).
Second, the collection is purposeful rather than random. And third, a portfolio provides the opportunity
for students to reflect and comment on their work. Reflection is displayed in portfolios via written
reflective statements in which the author (student) comments not only on their work, but on the process
of creating it and what they experienced and learned in the process. Think of it as a focus on student
Performances, Processes, and Perceptions. Absent of reflection, a portfolio is simply a scrapbook.
Digital technologies (Web, CD, DVD) and portfolios are a great match. Digital technologies allow
portfolio authors to include graphics, audio, and video, and provide them with more options for showing
what they have learned. You'll often hear digital portfolios referred to as "electronic portfolios,"
"ePortfolios," "digital portfolios," and "Webfolios."
Portfolios, regardless of their form, provide opportunities for students to document and reflect
on challenges and learning that emerge over time. There are primarily three types of portfolios:
developmental, assessment, and showcase.
Developmental portfolios can be used to demonstrate the progression of student skills over a given
period of time. They are considered works in progress and include self-assessment and student
reflection and feedback from the instructor.
Assessment portfolios can be used to demonstrate student competence and skill in a well-defined area.
They are especially useful in evaluating student competence as
defined by specific standards and outcomes.
Showcase portfolios can be used to demonstrate exemplary work and student skills. Students typically
show this type of portfolio to prospective employers. Most portfolios are hybrids and, according to
Barrett (2002), "ePortfolios are much more than innovative resumes or scrapbooks. They show reflection,
evolution of thought, and professional development."
How might you guide student reflection in your course? You might ask students to consider the content
of their learning, the context of their learning, and the process of their learning. Asking students
to reflect on what they have learned, how their learning is relevant, and what they have discovered
about their own learning process can be very powerful.
References:
Barrett, H. (2003). Electronic portfolio development. Retrieved November 10, 2005, from
http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000156
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants, part II: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon 9(2).
From Fall 2005 ITC Topics
The Practice in Action
Speech Communication
Speech Communication
An important aspect of Dr. Linda Sennett's teaching is the extensive feedback she and
students provide after each presentation -- to the tune of about four reams of paper
per year, until she started using
Online@UT. Two and a half years ago, Dr. Sennett
approached Dr. Julie K. Little, Executive Director of Educational Technologies and the
Innovative Technology Center, for assistance in providing real time feedback and lessening
the mountain of evaluations. Dr. Little quickly understood the situation, helping Dr. Sennett
build the components of a real time system. She encouraged Dr. Sennett to apply for an ITC
grant so that the evaluation forms could be programmed into
Online@UT. Dr. Sennett began
using the online forms in Fall 2002, and has been improving them each semester since. In
2003, Dr. Sennett received a Faculty First grant from the ITC, and used the award to have
evaluations programmed into an application she can use on a PDA. This allows her to move
her students outside the classroom, giving them more opportunities to practice impromptu
speaking in a variety of environments. She notes that using PDAs would be applicable to a
wide variety of classes, such as ecology -- even laptops are bulky to carry around, but
a PDA can be taken and used anywhere, for reference or for storing data.
From Improving Communication Using Technology; 2004 Spotlight on Linda Sennett, Speech Communication
Foreign Languages and Literatures
Foreign Languages and Literatures
With the assistance of the ITC, Dr. Dolly Young incorporated the Daedalus program (http://www.daedalus.com) into Spanish/French/German 512: Teaching a Foreign Language. The Daedalus program is comprised of six primary features:
-
Invent leads students through a series of questions that help them explore and develop topics.
-
Write is an easy-to-use word processor ideal for in-class writing activities.
-
Respond guides students through the process of reading a peer's draft and writing suggestions for revision.
-
Mail serves as a bulletin board where students post messages about course readings, group projects, and other collaborative activities.
-
InterChange provides a place for online class discussions such as brainstorming, analyzing readings, and other collaborative activities.
-
BiblioCite creates correctly formatted Works Cited and References pages based on source information that students enter into simple forms--now with extensive support for citing online sources.
One of the most revealing experiences using Daedalus occurred midway through the course. In one
class session, students engaged in individual note taking while engaged in oral discussion. The
student assignment was for them to collaboratively create a mind-map of the concepts discussed
during class based on their notes. As a result of this activity, Dolly discovered that many
students had not grasped the full context of some of the concepts discussed in class. The class
activity provided Dolly with some very valuable formative assessment data that suggested she
revisit some of the topic areas. Additionally, students gained valuable experience in the
collaborative construction of knowledge.
From Integrating Technology into Foreign Language Teaching and Learning - 2003 Spotlight on
Dolly Young, Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
Engineering Fundamentals
Engineering Fundamentals
In a discipline where the process of arriving at a solution can be as important as
"getting the right answer," giving students access to solutions when they need to
compare their calculations to a correct model poses a problem. Dr. Richard Bennett
and Dr. D. Raj Raman have "engineered" a solution that works for them and their students.
They keep homework solutions as a separate link on the course's web page and use FTP
to upload the PDF document when students are ready, having already struggled with the
assigned problems.
From Collaboration and Teamwork Energizes Freshman Engineering; 2002 Spotlight on Richard Bennett and D. Raj Raman
Social Work
Social Work
In general, Dr. David Patterson has found that technology broadens the capacity
for the exchange of information. It has enabled him to make a rich set of resources
available for his students, and has allowed the testing process to be paired with
immediate feedback through Online@UT's assessment module.
However, a greater benefit has been his ability to enter into dialogue with his students more easily.
He teaches an experiental class around the group therapy process. Students write a paper every two
weeks, which they submit to him through email. He reads their work in a word processor, adding comments
that are highlighted with bold, italic or colored text. He then emails the paper back to the student.
He has found that this process adds a richness to the classroom experience. It adds a layer of exchange
and depth to the teaching relationship that is valuable for student and teacher. The class itself is
conducted without technology; but the communication and dialogue about the therapeutic process are
enhanced by the use of email in conjunction with the classroom experience.
From Deepening the Dialogue: Extending Classroom Communication; 2001 Spotlight on David Patterson, Social Work



