nuts 
&
bolts

Also: Last of CAT series (5) --

Faculty develop new SCI learning targets

This month's issue of Nuts & Bolts concludes our series of how-to stories on Classroom Assessment Techniques for new instructors (and not-so-new instructors like your editor who didn't go to education school). And we're running the new learning outcomes statement developed by SCI faculty at a Dec. 9 assessment workshop and compiled by Eileen Kolich, associate Benedictine University provost for academic affairs and chair of SCI's re-accreditation steering committee. They were adopted Dec. 14 by the Assessment Committee as a working model for learning outcomes assessment at SCI, and are printed below to assist you in planning course goals, outcomes, objectives and assignments.

Common Student Learning Outcomes

Springfield College is committed to preparing students for a life of learning, leadership, and service in a diverse world. As a result of the College's Associate Degree Programs, graduates will develop:

Content Knowledge (Lifelong Learning)
§ Know and apply the central concepts of the subject matter
§ Use current research to support assumptions and beliefs
§ Use technology to enhance learning

Communication Skills (Lifelong Learning and Leadership)
§ Communicate effectively in oral and written forms

Problem-Solving Skills (Lifelong Learning and Leadership)
§ Use inquiry and collaboration to solve problems
§ Seek information and develop an in-depth knowledge base, grounded in research
§ Use self-reflection to enhance personal growth and understanding of content

Social Responsibility (Service and Leadership)
§ Evaluate how choices and actions affect others
§ Make ethical and informed decisions
§ Develop good citizenship

Global Perspectives (Diversity)
§ Recognize the importance of diversity of opinion, abilities and cultures

Self-Direction and Personal Growth (Lifelong Learning)
§ Develop a sense of intellectual curiosity

CATs: Formative feedback a 2-way street

As I've been writing this series and reflecting on my own teaching, I've mentioned several inner-city teachers whose writing inspired me when I returned to the classroom 10 years ago. Now as the series is coming to an end, I'd like to share some wisdom from Jaime Escalante, the California math teacher who was featured in the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver. In 2002, he told Government Technology magazine how he got low-income black and Latino high schoolers in East Los Angeles to learn advanced calculus.

"You have to have the [cognitive] domain of the subject," he said, and you have to know how to get students to relate to that knowledge. He added, "Third, you have to understand human relations. You have to look at the kid as a person, and you respect the kid. And that way you motivate them. And you develop that gradually over a whole semester or two weeks or three weeks, that good relationship. And if you do that, when you have the feedback from the student mathematically speaking, then the kid speaks back, and you know he is learning."

So what teaching boils down to, Escalante suggested, is communication. And communication is a two-way street. So it is with classroom assessment. It tends to be "formative," to use a $13.95 word favored by educators. Here's a little background and a translation: Assessment comes in two flavors, (1) summative; and (2) formative. The provost's office at Central Michigan University, which has an excellent electronic "toolkit" on assessment, defines summative assessment by noting that it "is comprehensive in nature, provides accountability and is used to check the level of learning at the end of the program." On the other hand, formative assessment is defined by Carol Boston of the Center for the Study of Assessment Validity and Evaluation at the University of Maryland as the "diagnostic use of assessment to provide feedback to teachers and students over the course of instruction."

Boston says as the feedback goes from teacher to students, and back from students to teacher, it helps everybody. "Feedback given as part of formative assessment helps learners become aware of any gaps that exist between their desired goal and their current knowledge, understanding, or skill and guides them through actions necessary to obtain the goal." She adds what all classroom teachers soon learn, detailed comment on student work "encourages students to focus their attention thoughtfully on the task rather than on simply getting the right answer."

Of the eight classroom assessment techniques we're tracking at SCI, seven are wholly formative in nature. And the eighth, pre- and post-testing, can be used formatively when teachers use pre-test results as a prior knowledge inventory or background knowledge probe and plan lessons accordingly. (Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville's classroom assessment website explains how to do a background knowledge probe.) The rest of the CATs we're tracking boil down to asking students to think about what they're learning and share their thoughts with the instructor. To that extent, they can be considered as variations on the "minute essay" discussed in the November issue of Nuts & Bolts. They are:

• Muddiest Point. Students are asked at the end of each class to write and submit the most difficult or confusing topic of the lecture. It's explained further on the SUIE website and an informative webpage titled "Five Examples of Classroom Assessment Techniques" put up by the Faculty Development Services office at the University of Pittsburgh. One word of warning: When I've tried it, some of my students found the word "muddiest" to be, well, uh, muddy. I substitute "most confusing."
• Three Question Survey. Students are asked what they have learned, are uncertain about, and one question they would like answered. Used by some instructors at SCI, it's basically a variation on the minute essay and "muddiest point" exercises that provides a little more direction for the next day's lesson.
• Directed Paraphrasing. Students are asked to briefly paraphrase important idea(s) from the day's class. If you want an example of how it works, try it yourself: The SIUE website has a sample form that asks instructors to define classroom assessment in terms "that would make sense to your faculty colleagues regardless of their academic disciplines." Muddy enough?
• Misconception/Preconception Check. Students are asked to describe any misconceptions or preconceptions that they had which were brought into question by the day's class. "This technique is particularly useful in social and behavioral science courses that deal with controversial or sensitive issues," according to assessment gurus T.A. Angelo and K. P. Cross, who are quoted on the faculty development website at Pitt, which has detailed guidelines for doing it so students don't feel the exercise is "patronizing, threatening, or obvious."
• RSQ2C (Recall, Summarize, Question, Comment, Connect). A complex exercise in which students describe an issue from the day's class and try to connect it to a broader understanding. It's explained, also quoting Angelo and Cross, on the SIUE website: "RSQC2 is a powerful and multifaceted assessment tool that takes time to administer and evaluate. ... Student feedback through RSQC2 may be crucial for aiding a professor to identify where students really need help the most but get it the least -- on relationships betwen ideas."
• Assignment Assessments. Student input is requested to evaluate assignments. A more elaborate form is used at Curtin University of Technology in Australia. "Students self assess, attach their assessment to each assignment they submit, and are able to compare their marking with the instructor's assessment," says Peter Radloff of the Behavioural Health Science program in the School of Nursing. "Two drafts of the assignment are also involved and are submitted with the assignment. Use of this procedure is valued by students who appreciate its structured support of their assignment preparation, planning, writing and revising."

For teachers, the benefits of formative assessment are obvious. We learn what we can do better while we still have time to do it. But Boston says it works the other way, too, when students are invited to give feedback on how well they are meeting the goals and objectives of a course.

"While feedback generally originates from a teacher, learners can also play an important role in formative assessment through self-evaluation," Boston says, citing research that suggests "students who understand the learning objectives and assessment criteria and have opportunities to reflect on their work show greater improvement than those who do not."

So, in the end, it all comes back where it began ... with goals, objectives and outcomes.

-- Pete Ellertsen, chair, Assessment Committee

1. Boston, Carol. "The Concept of Formative Assessment." Practical Research, Assessment & Evaluation. 8.9 (2002). 19 Dec 2004 http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8&n=9.
2. Burns, Matthew, et al. CMU Assessment Toolkit. n.d. Office of the Provost, Central Michigan University. 4 Jan. 2005. http://www.provost.cmich.edu/assessment/toolkit/toolkit.htm
3. "Classroom Assessment Techniques." 2004. 19 Dec. 2004. Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. http://www.siue.edu/~deder/assess/catmain.html
4. Escalante, Jaime. "Excellence: Do It Right the First Time." Government Technology. Interview with Wayne Hanson, ed. Feb. 2002. 18 Dec. 2004. http://www.govtech.net/magazine/visions/feb98vision/escalante.php
5. "Five Examples of Classroom Assessment Techniques from Angelo and Cross, Classroom Assessment Techniques." n.d. Faculty Development Services, University of Pittsburgh. 18 Dec. 2004. http://www.pitt.edu/~ciddeweb/FACULTY-DEVELOPMENT/FDS/example.html
6. Radloff, Peter. "Can Assignment Assessment Sheets Promote Learning and Performance?" Teaching and Learning Forum 96, Curtin University of Technology. 1996. 18 Dec. 2004. http://lsn.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf1996/radloffp.html
   

Nuts & Bolts is an electronic newsletter published by SCI's Assessment Committee. Members are: Bob Blankenberger, history and philosophy; Brian Ferguson, chemistry; Amy Lakin, English; Matt Mogle, fine arts; Rick Rossetto, biology; Steve Stowers, math; Barb Tanzyus, math; and Pete Ellertsen (chair), English and mass communications. Kevin Broeckling, dean of students; and Jeff Mueller, dean of the college, serve ex officio. The newsletter is available on line at http://www.sci.edu/assessment/newsarchive.html

• link here to back issues of Nuts & Bolts
• link here to SCI's assessment website

If you have information, comments or feedback, please contact any committee member or Nuts & Bolts editor Pete Ellertsen, in Becker L-16A on the SCI campus, 525-1420 ext. 519 or by e-mail at <ellertsen@sci.edu>.