Date post: | 30-Jun-2015 |
Category: |
Education |
Upload: | caseyjames |
View: | 2,022 times |
Download: | 0 times |
Come to the edge,He said,They said,We are afraid.Come to the edge,He said.They came.He pushed them…And they flew!
Guillame Appolinaire (1880-1919)
Understanding by Design
A way of thinking about teaching and learning!
Describe a negative assessment/learning experience.
What were the qualities?
What is exemplary assessment/learning experience?
Describe the characteristics of an exemplary assessment experience.
Qualities of Exemplary Assessment
Persistence Learn from
mistakes Fun Challenging Immediate
Feedback Authentic Need Evidence Collaborative
Do over time Apply to a new
context Personal Audience Goal-setting Knows expectations Learned from it
Why do we assess?
Core Premise
The aim of assessment is to improve student performance, not merely audit it.
-Grant Wiggins
Assessment must be:
CredibleBalancedIntellectual-
ly Rigorous
FeasibleHonest yet
FairUseful
Credible
Assessment results must be clear to and respected by all key constituencies-Students
-Parents -Teachers -School boards -Policy-makers
Balanced Reform is not about “either-or” in
assessment Every method of assessment has a
place The aim is to expand the repertoire and
correct the current imbalance Each method of assessment is limited
and flawed A goal is to better assess depth of
understanding and genuine competence.
Honest yet Fair
Assessment must be balanced. Honesty- accurate reporting the level
of achievement against standards Fairness- apt weighing of performer’s
prior experience against reasonable expectations
A single-score or letter grades is thus inadequate
Useful
Primary “user” is the student Assessment must provide more
helpful feedback Tests the test: student should be
able to self-adjust with increasing effectiveness if the system is working
Data-drive staff meetings
Intellectually Rigorous
Genuine competence and sophisticated understanding required
Curriculum anchored by demanding and authentic tasks
Tasks must be designed to require quality work Effective know-how,not just superficial textbook
knowledge Accurate and precise use of core knowledge,not tasks
requiring merely generic skill Effective performances, not just good-faith efforts
Rigor through assessment design standards and performance standards, not just content standards
Feasible
Making form follow function A schedule designed for good
assessment Use of technology and personnel
wisely R&D part of the job description and
appraisal On-going training and peer review of
designs
Assessment is central to learning
Not “after” teaching and learning are over: learning-
Assessment/Instruction seamless Requires a recursive, not a linear
curriculum Through cycles of model-practice-
feedback-revision-perform-feedback
Assessment must be educative Test can and must “teach”, not just
measure Authentic tasks, criteria standards,
contexts Effective feedback built in Self-assessment and self-correction assessedBased on valid, powerful exemplars and
models
We assess what we value, we value what we assess.
Reality
The things we value the most are the hardest to assess
The things we value the least are the easiest to assess
Understanding
How do we know one truly understands?
-J. Piaget
“Real comprehension of a notion or a theory implies reinvention of this theory by the student. Once the child is capable of repeating certain notions and using some applications of these in a learning situations he often gives the impression of understanding; however this does not fulfill the condition of reinvention. True understanding manifests itself by new spontaneous applications.”
Teaching for Understanding or Coverage?
Avoid mere coverage Avoid The egocentric fallacy: I
taught, so they must have learned.
Do integrate assessment and instruction
Do reconsider ideas
You don’t really understand something unless you can…
Avoid common misconceptions or simplistic views
Acts on it effectively in different cases and contexts
Verify it Defend it Critique it Teach it Reveal its power and its limits Apply to novel situations
Understanding
Depth of insight and sophisticated explanation
PerspectiveEmpathyContextual “savvy” (performance
know-how)Self-knowledge
What are the levels of understanding?
SophisticatedGood/SolidKnowledge but naïveMisunderstanding
Design Backwards
Start with the end in mind!
Three stages
Identify desired results
Evidence
Instructional Plan
What do you want your students to understand?
Designs for Understanding
The designs must cause students to dig deeper and revisit ideas
The design must provide reasons and opportunities to rethink what one “know”
What will serve as evidence of understanding?
Performance Assessment Products/Performances Test/quiz Self-Assessment Checks of Understanding
How can you make your performance assessment authentic?
Goal Role Audience Situation Product/Performance Standard
Authentic, Elaborated
Performance is always in “messy” context Good judgment required Realistic (vs. unrealistic) constraints Performance options Inherent distractions Competing purposes Appropriate resources not given, but
available Arbitrary secrecy minimized
Feedback
Key to Improving Student Performance!
From the Harvard Assessment Seminars 1990
“The big point—it comes up over and over again as crucial—is the importance of quick and detailed feedback. Students overwhelmingly report that the single most important ingredient for making a course effective is getting rapid response on assignments and quizzes.
Harvard Assessment cont’d
“Students offer the suggestion that it should be possible in certain courses to get immediate feedback. They suggest that the professor should hand out an example of an excellent answer.
Harvard assessment cont’d
“Secondly… an overwhelming majority are convinced that their best learning takes place when they have chance to submit an early version of their work, get detailed feedback and criticism, and then hand in a final revised version… Many students observe that their most memorable experiences have come from courses where such opportunities are routine policy.
Research by John Hattie (1992)
His findings:Providing students with specific
information about their standing in terms of particular objectives increased their achievement by 37 percentile points!
“The most powerful single innovation that enhances achievement is FEEDBACK. The simplest prescription for improving education must be ‘dollops of feedback’.”
Indicators of an effective feedback system
Learners seek out feedback. They welcome and do not fear or resist it.
Learner performance improves at all levels, especially novice
Improved performance occurs more rapidly than expected
Few quarrels about the results;disputes grounded in evidence
Revision opportunities and coaching built into the curriculum and assessment systems
Norms and standards rise overtime; what was once considered extraordinary performance becomes more common
Rubrics
Pigs Don’t Get Fat by Weighing Them
What is a rubric?
A rubric is a set of guidelines for scoring performance against criteria
Performance is described along a scale of quality
Descriptors are provided for each level of performance
Descriptions provide general traits and concrete indicators to make each level clear (and scoring reliable), avoiding mere comparative and evaluative language when possible.
Kinds of rubrics
Different rubrics serve different needs
Holistic-Analytical Developmental/longitudinal Criterion-specific-
Genre -specific
Holistic vs. Analytic
Efficiency vs. effectiveness trade-offs
Holistic: a single descriptor and score for a complex performance
Analytical-trait: separate scores for distinct performance
Stage 3- Learning Plan
W-Where H-Hook E-Equip R-Rethink E-Evaluation T-Tailor O-Organize
How People Learn
How does the WHERETO ensure improved student performance?