To Test or Not To Test?

After six weeks of discussion about student participation and engagement in our classrooms we arrived here: how do we know if our students are actually learning? Especially if we might find ourselves getting answers like these.

Participants in the last TA Consultant workshop were asked to evaluate different strategies for assessing and evaluating student learning. Participants were also introduced to and asked to analyze “backward design” strategies for lesson-plan development. We culminated with a discussion of actual assessment tools, including an in-depth discussion of the pros and cons of using a pre-post test (or “diagnostic assessment”) to gauge student learning. What follows is a brief description of our activities:

It began with a quick write. Take a minute and answer the following questions yourself:

Emily then led us on a discussion of backward design for lesson plans. Participants were asked to describe their basic protocol for developing a lesson or developing a course. It requires three steps:

1. Identify the desired outcomes of your lesson: what do you want your students to learn?
2. How will you know if your goals have been achieved? What evidence do you need?
   
3. Plan the activities and identify ways that you can help your students meet the desired outcomes.

Some participants already planned their lessons using this method, others used a more linear strategy (topic, activity, assessment, reflection). But backward design gets us started in a different place – we start where we normally finish—with the assessment!

We then moved on to a discussion about actual assessment and evaluation techniques. Different (broad) learning goals were posted around the rooms and participants had a chance to walk around in small groups and write down ways to assess if these goals were met. Goals included “Students will be able to organize and communicate their ideas” or “Students will demonstrate understanding content about a specific subject”. It was great to see ideas generated from other workshops pop on these lists (Blogs! Skits!). Individually, participants then walked around and read all of the suggestions and put blue dots by strategies they commonly used and a red dot by one example of an assessment strategy that actually evaluated teaching.

During our discussion we generated a list of direct ways to evaluate teaching. This included student evaluations at the end of the quarter, and mid-quarter interviews half way through. Minute-papers were suggested, where students are given a minute to respond in writing to the following questions “What did you like about class? What didn’t you like? What are you still confused about?”

So here’s a thought: remember that quick-write from the beginning? Take it again. Answer the same questions again! What changed?

The quick write was meant to serve as an example of a pre-post test you could give your students to gauge where they’re at with the material. We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of such an assessment. The advantages include: it doesn’t have to be multiple choice, it can provide students with some idea of what to expect over the course, it can help you tailor the course to their level. Some disadvantages include: it might make the class intimidating, it’s one more thing to grade, and it may not be the most accurate tool (especially if the questions are not worded well).

We ended as we do every workshop: with an evaluation! How appropriate for this time around, right? One of the questions on our final evaluation was: what other workshop topics would you like us to cover in the future? If you’ve been lurking, reading these posts, please comment! We would love to hear what you’re interested in!

And finally, a big, heartfelt thank you to the participants who stuck with us for all 6 weeks; we valued your participation, and we hope that you gained as much from this experience as we did!