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Learning Objectives and Gradebooks: A Synthesis that Makes Learning and Assessment More Intuitive Betty Lawrence & Lisa Snyder [email protected], [email protected] Center for Distance Learning, Empire State College, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Goal To articulate more clearly our learning objectives for an online course and align those objectives to learning activities Through this alignment, students and instructors would focus more on meeting stated objectives Theory Constructivism: basis for planned activities Constructive Alignment: articulate connections between objectives and activities Deep Learning: move from superficial completion of assignments to deeper understanding through meeting objectives Student Comments – Module 1 I can relate to your sentiments regarding Math. I am returning to school for the first time in more than 6 years, and I tell no lie, this is a bit intimidating for me. Math, sadly, makes my skin crawl! So I'm over here itching... I do not AT ALL have a brain for numbers or math. I might as well be trying to read Chinese most of the time. Objective-Based Gradebook Problem-Solving Title Grade Comments M 02: Solving Problems (100 pts.) 80% You participated twice in this discussion board. M 08 Does Debt Matter? (100 pts.) 100% Thank you for participating in this discussion! Critter discussion (100 pts.) 100% Thank you for participating in this discussion! M 02: Warm Up Discussion (100 pts.) 80% You participated twice in this discussion board. M 04: Warm Up Discussion (100 pts.) 100% Thank you for participating in this discussion! Category Overall 18.4 (92%) Math Tools Title Grade Comments M 02 Assignment Chapter 1 (100 pts.) 90% Your digraph it outstanding! M 02 Assignment for Chapter 2 (100 pts.) 70% You did not adequately address the requirements for this assignment. M 04 Written Assignment for Chapter 5 (100 pts.) 94% Everything is correct except for the standard deviation. Keep up the great work. M 05 Individual Written Assignments (100 pts.) 100% Please see the attached file for the detailed solutions. Module 07 Written Assignment for Chapter 18 (100 pts.) 40% you have a good start, but you needed to explain your solutions more thoroughly. Module 08 Written Assignment for chapter 21 (100 pts.) 50% I have attached the correct solutions to this message. Category Overall 14.7 (73.5%) Student Reflections – Module 9 I’m sure this class helped me looking at problems differently and with greater critical thinking. One thing that I learned is that mathematics is not as intangible of a subject as once thought. In fact, I have been able to make connections with math to my favorite subject, art. When I think back to how many of you had a strong dislike of math and then reading posts where you started getting it, it made me think of my own students and how I can get them really enjoying math. Solving real-world problems was the key to unlocking some of the mystery, and I actually enjoyed several of our assignments (believe it or not)! Instructor Feedback “As a professor, I found this gradebook to be an outstanding tool for my students and myself. It helped me to gauge my instruction and focus on areas that students needed additional resources. Furthermore, it was an outstanding resource when writing my course evaluations.” --Mark Marino Learning Objective Summary Objective/Assignment Math Tools Critical Thinking Problem- Solving Research and Communication Collabor- ative Learning M2 CH1 Map P S M2 CH2 Neighbor P S S M2 Discussion - Problem Solving P S M4 CH5 Statistics P S M4 C5 Team Statistics S S P M4 Discussion - Statistics Use P S M5 CH9 Choices P S M5 Team Voting S P M6 Project Proposal S P M6 Discussion - Shared Project Ideas S P M7 CH18 Size P S M7 Critter Discussion S P S M7 CH19 Patterns P S M7 Discussion - Shared web sites P M8 CH21 Personal Finance P S M8 Discussion - Debt S P M9 Reflections on Learning S P M9 Final Project S S P Original Objectives In Contemporary Mathematics, the student will learn to: 1. Apply a variety of current mathematical tools and concepts to problems in management, social sciences, the arts, and personal finance; 2. Develop and apply critical thinking skills to these problems; 3. Develop and apply successful problem solving strategies, especially for quantitative problems; 4. Refresh and extend quantitative skills; 5. Research, write about and discuss applications of mathematical skills and concepts to realistic problems; 6. Extend and apply learning to a problem chosen by the student in one of the areas studied. Revised Objectives After completion of Contemporary Mathematics, the student will be able to: 1. Apply a variety of current mathematical tools and concepts to problems in management, social sciences, the arts, and personal finance; 2. Demonstrate improved critical thinking skills; 3. Determine and apply successful problem solving strategies, especially for quantitative problems; 4. Research, write about, and discuss applications of mathematical skills and concepts to realistic problems; 5. Use collaborative learning as a strategy for learning
