Assessment-as-Learning

1. Preparing Yourself to Teach: Touching all the BasesLIRT ProgramALA 2009 Annual ConferenceChicago, Illinois

2. Assessment-as-Learning Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3. Assessment reveals learning. Learning creates opportunities for assessment. We learnabout learning through assessment. This is assessment for the purpose of improvement – improving learning through assessment.

4. Classroom Assessment consists of small-scale assessment conducted continually in college classrooms by discipline-based teachers to determine what students are learning in that class" (p. 8, emphasis in original). Classroom Research: Implementing the Scholarship of Teaching (Cross and Steadman, 1996)

5. Assumptions Underlying Classroom Assessment • One of the most promising ways to improve learning is to improve teaching. • Teachers need first to make their goals and objectives explicit and then to get specific, comprehensible feedback on the extent to which they are achieving those goals and objectives. • Students need to receive appropriate and focused feedback early and often. • Assessment most likely to improve teaching and learning is that conducted by faculty to answer questions they themselves have formulated in response to issues or problems in their own teaching. • Systematic inquiry and intellectual challenge are powerful sources of motivation, growth, and renewal for college teachers. • Classroom Assessment does not require specialized training. • By collaborating with colleagues and actively involving students in Classroom Assessment efforts, faculty (and students) enhance learning and personal satisfaction. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers (Angelo and Cross)

6. Knowing what you are doing. Knowing why you are doing it. Knowing what students are learning as a result. Changing because of the information. Deb Gilchrist's information literacy instruction assessment framework

7. Assessment Cycle: Instruction Design • Outcome • #1 What do you want the student to be able to do? Curriculum #2 What do they need to know in order to do this well? Criteria for Evaluation #5 How will the student know they have done well? Instruction Program Vision / Mission / Goals Instructor Values / Philosophy Course learning goals Evidence/Data #4 How will students demonstrate their learning? Pedagogy #3 What activity will facilitate the learning? Slide by Debra Gilchrist

8. ngiseD adrawkcaB Identify desired results. Determine acceptable evidence. Plan leaning experiences and instruction. Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

9. ngiseD adrawkcaB Identify desired results. Determine acceptable evidence. Plan leaning experiences and instruction. Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

10. Identify Desired Results Deciding Filters Big idea? At the “heart” of discipline? Require uncoverage? Potential for engaging students? Worth Familiarity Worth Familiarity Important to know and do “Enduring” Understanding Wiggins and McTighe, p. 9-11

11. ngiseD adrawkcaB Identify desired results. Determine acceptable evidence. Plan leaning experiences and instruction. Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

12. Thinking Assessment Valid Reliable Sufficient Authentic Work Feasible Student Friendly Where should we look? Kinds of performance or behavior? What should we look for? Criteria for identifying and differentiating? Wiggins and McTighe, p. 64, 67

13. ngiseD adrawkcaB Identify desired results. Determine acceptable evidence. Plan leaning experiences and instruction. Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

14. Student-Centered Design Beth Woodard, Staff Development and Training Coordinator & Reference Library Head, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

15. Road Map for Learning What is good learning? What is learner-centered? Why do learning styles matter? How do I design instruction with students learning styles in mind?

16. Good Learning • Think of your “Best Learner” • List the characteristics that came to mind • Think-Pair-Share

17. Characteristics of Good Learning

18. Principles to learner-centered classrooms • Balance of power • Function of content • Role of the teacher • Responsibility for learning • Purpose and Process of evaluation • Mary Ellen Weimer

19. Learner-Centered Teachers • Do learning tasks less. • Do less telling and get students doing more discovering • Do more design work to meet goals: • Take students to new skill levels • Engages students’ interest and involvement • Involves students in authentic work of the field • Develops content and skills awareness • Do more modeling • Do more getting students to learn from each other • Work to create climates for learning. • Do more with feedback.

20. Motivating Students Motivated students are easier to teach. Students who are interested in learning do, in fact, learn more. Research indicates certain teaching behaviors correlate with positive student motivation.

21. Strategies to get and keep students interested • Know who your students are. • Establish the relevance of the material • Involve students in choice of materials • Arrange learning tasks at levels appropriate to students’ abilities • Give feed back as soon as possible

22. Understanding Students’ Learning Styles Students vary dramatically in the way they process and understand information. These differences, called “learning styles,” refer to students’ preferences for some kinds of learning activities over others.

23. Sensory Learning Styles • Visual learners—prefer to study graphs, look at models and pictures, and take notes to review later • Auditory learners—prefer to listen closely in class, read aloud when studying or subvocalize during lectures in class, or confer with peers in class to confirm information • Kinesthetic learners—prefer a hands-on approach, actively exploring the physical world around them.

24. Kolb’s Learning Styles A student’s learning style has to do with the way he or she perceives information, through emotional responses or thinking. A student’s learning style has to do with the way he or she processes information in order to learn and apply it

25. Concrete Experience – Learning by Experiencing Reflective Observation – Learning by Reflecting Active Experimentation – Learning by Doing Abstract Conceptualization – Learning by Thinking Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle

26. Examples • Learning to ride a bicycle: • Thinking about riding and watching another person ride a bike • Understanding the theory and having a clear grasp of the biking concept • Receiving practical tips and techniques from a biking expert. • Leaping on the bike and have a go at it. • Learning a software program: • Jumping in and doing it. • Thinking about what you just performed. • Reading the manual to get a clearer grasp on what was performed. • Using the help feature to get some expert tips.

27. Teaching Techniques for Learning Styles Provide a balance of concrete information (facts, data, and experimental results) and abstracts concepts (principles, theories, and models.) Balance materials that emphasize practical problem-solving methods with materials than emphasizes fundamental understanding. Give students opportunities to do something active besides transcribing notes, such as small group brainstorming activities. Give students the option of cooperating on homework and class assignments for active learners. Do not fill every minute of class time lecturing and writing on the board. Provide intervals—however brief—for students to think about what they have been told.

28. Think of your obligations via W. H. E. R. E. T. O. W • “Where are we headed?” (the student’s Q!) • How will the student be ‘hooked’? • What opportunities will there be to be equipped, and to experience and explore key ideas? • What will provide opportunities to rethink, rehearse, refine and revise? • How will students evaluate their work? • How will the work be tailored to individual needs, interests, styles? • How will the work be organized for maximal engagement and effectiveness? H E R E T O Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design

29. Helping Students Learn How to Learn Many students haven’t yet acquired the skills they need to be effective learners. Effective instructors teach not only the subject matter of a course, but also give students the tools they need to learn that subject well.

30. Learner-Centered Teaching Focus on: what the student is learning how the student is learning the conditions under which the student is learning whether the student is retaining and applying the learning how current learning positions the student for future learning.

31. Learner-Centered Teaching The path to good teaching can be much easier to navigate when we view students as our traveling companions. The more we know about them and how they learn, the more likely we are to experience the joy of teaching.

32. Teaching As Performance Preparing Yourself to Teach: Touching all the Bases 2009 ALA / LIRT Annual Conference Monika Antonelli Minnesota State University, Mankato Presented July 19, 2009

33. How Can Theatrical Techniques in the Classroom Benefit Students? • Can help maintain attention • Can assist with retention and recall • Can make the learning experience more enjoyable

34. Performing in the Classroom • Your Body • Your Voice • Your Stage

35. Your Body • Body Position • Gestures • Movement

36. Body Position • Posture • What does your posture say about you? • Placement • Position • Level

37. Gestures • Get attention • Creates physical variety • Should be natural

38. Movement • Can use to draw focus • Try not to “walk” on “lines” • Eliminate distracting movement

39. Your Voice • Warm up • Control • Volume • Pitch and Diction • Silence • Variety

40. Volume • Have to be heard • Don’t strain the voice • Deep breaths

41. Pitch and Diction • Record your voice • Use vocal warm ups to relax the throat • Articulate

42. Silence is Golden • Eliminate uh and um • Let listeners catch up • Highlight points Use the Pause to…

43. Vocal Variety • It’s not only what you say, it’s how you say it • Boring speakers have little vocal variety • Your voice is an instrument - play it

44. Your Stage • The Room • Props • Music • Costume • Rehearsal

45. Your Stage, Your Room • Break the 4th Wall • You don’t have to stand in the front of the room

46. Props • You use them already • Handouts • Visuals • Captures focus • Assists with retention

47. Music • Creates a mood • Use to relax • Use as a cue

48. Costume – Your Clothes • Costumes are not just for the audience • What you wear effects how you feel • Experiment

49. Most Importantly… Wear a Smile!

50. Rehearsal • Important part of preparation • Always check the room before your presentation to make sure the equipment works! • Make a video recording of your rehearsal or instruction