**This is a part of Competency 5 of the Certificate in College Teaching (CCT). The second part includes the Mentored Teaching Project. You can learn more about the CCT competencies here.**
Core Competency 5 focuses on assessing student learning outcomes through summative and/or formative approaches.
Core Competency 5 focuses on assessing student learning outcomes through summative and/or formative approaches.
Workshop: Certificate in College Teaching Institute
Completed: May 9, 2024
Description: This workshop was led by Dr. Kirsten Parkin (Associate Professor, Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology) and focused on how to assess student learning. In this lecture, we learned about Backwards Design to create and align student goals, assessments, outcomes, and activities. We learned ways in which we can assess student learning that includes more than just multiple choice questions; for example, Dr. Parkin gave examples of assessment that she has used, including having students read and deconstruct an academic journal abstract and having the students write an exam question, along with the explanations behind the correct and incorrect answers. We then discussed equitable grading practices.
Artifacts and Rationale:
Artifact: CCTI Assessment PowerPoint
Rationale: This PowerPoint was provided to 2024 CCTI participants to help us understand how educators assess student learning. The PowerPoint has examples of MSU's undergraduate institutional learning goals, a discussion of how to assess student success, how to create and modify learning goals for your courses using Backwards Design, Bloom's Taxonomy, and equitable grading practices. The PowerPoint ends with additional resources for developing educational materials. I plan to use this PowerPoint and resources when I begin designing my courses, and thus wanted to include it as an artifact in my ePortfolio.
Material Developed for the Course: Threshold Concept/Micro-Assessment (pictured below)
Completed: May 9, 2024
Description: This workshop was led by Dr. Kirsten Parkin (Associate Professor, Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology) and focused on how to assess student learning. In this lecture, we learned about Backwards Design to create and align student goals, assessments, outcomes, and activities. We learned ways in which we can assess student learning that includes more than just multiple choice questions; for example, Dr. Parkin gave examples of assessment that she has used, including having students read and deconstruct an academic journal abstract and having the students write an exam question, along with the explanations behind the correct and incorrect answers. We then discussed equitable grading practices.
Artifacts and Rationale:
Artifact: CCTI Assessment PowerPoint
Rationale: This PowerPoint was provided to 2024 CCTI participants to help us understand how educators assess student learning. The PowerPoint has examples of MSU's undergraduate institutional learning goals, a discussion of how to assess student success, how to create and modify learning goals for your courses using Backwards Design, Bloom's Taxonomy, and equitable grading practices. The PowerPoint ends with additional resources for developing educational materials. I plan to use this PowerPoint and resources when I begin designing my courses, and thus wanted to include it as an artifact in my ePortfolio.
Material Developed for the Course: Threshold Concept/Micro-Assessment (pictured below)
Rationale: We did this micro-assessment at the end of the second day of the CCTI. This assignment required each person in the group to discuss a threshold concept in their field and discuss it with a partner (my group talked a bit to everyone, which provided us a really cool opportunity to learn more about each other's research and fields). For mine in particular, I discussed the biocultural approach and embodiment theory with a diagram that I drew. I am including this as my artifact because I created an assessment question to ask students after my lesson. While this assessment question is a broad one, I think that it could begin a really interesting an thought-provoking discussion about different biocultural interactions that can (and do) affect the skeleton.
Reflection:
What skills and techniques did I learn that will help me become a better educator?
The most surprising thing I learned was that assigning homework and making it a higher percentage of the student's grade is inequitable. I always assumed that it was because it gave students time to work on the material, however not every student has the same time allocation as others, so it is an innately inequitable practice. We also learned about how we should not penalize student learning by taking the average of two exams. When we do this, we undermine student learning.
What things am I still uncertain about regarding this topic that I need to investigate further in the future?
I still have a hard time coming up with learning goals, objectives, and outcomes. I discuss this a bit in another competency's reflection, but it is a daunting topic. I appreciate that Dr. Parkin provides several examples and resources that we can use to help guide us through the process (especially the idea of Backwards Design).
Additionally, another participant brought up a good point - how do we make things like lab assignments more accessible and the grading more equitable? I know we discussed having online examples, but I think that this could prove difficult with some subjects (for example, anatomy and osteology, two courses that are really hands-on and can be even more difficult when working from only photos).
How can I apply materials from this session to my own class to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning?
First, I will be using Backwards Design to create all of my learning objectives, assignments, and outcomes. Having this tool available has already lifted some of my anxiety regarding this part of teaching. I may still have a lot of learning to do, but I feel better having a method to follow.
Second, I will assign homework assignments for students, but I will not make them a high percentage of student grades. Additionally, I will not average secondary exam/assignment grades with the originals. I will use tools like Crowdmark and Gradescope to help with grading writing and drawing assignments (as long as they are supported by the university that I'm working at).
Lastly, I love the example assignments that Dr. Parkin provided us - especially the abstract reading and deconstruction. I plan to do this with any undergraduate course that I teach. I remember having a step up in my undergrad because I was a part of a lab group that read and discussed academic research journal articles each week, but not all students have that opportunity. I think providing this opportunity can help make science more accessible to students.
Reflection:
What skills and techniques did I learn that will help me become a better educator?
The most surprising thing I learned was that assigning homework and making it a higher percentage of the student's grade is inequitable. I always assumed that it was because it gave students time to work on the material, however not every student has the same time allocation as others, so it is an innately inequitable practice. We also learned about how we should not penalize student learning by taking the average of two exams. When we do this, we undermine student learning.
What things am I still uncertain about regarding this topic that I need to investigate further in the future?
I still have a hard time coming up with learning goals, objectives, and outcomes. I discuss this a bit in another competency's reflection, but it is a daunting topic. I appreciate that Dr. Parkin provides several examples and resources that we can use to help guide us through the process (especially the idea of Backwards Design).
Additionally, another participant brought up a good point - how do we make things like lab assignments more accessible and the grading more equitable? I know we discussed having online examples, but I think that this could prove difficult with some subjects (for example, anatomy and osteology, two courses that are really hands-on and can be even more difficult when working from only photos).
How can I apply materials from this session to my own class to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning?
First, I will be using Backwards Design to create all of my learning objectives, assignments, and outcomes. Having this tool available has already lifted some of my anxiety regarding this part of teaching. I may still have a lot of learning to do, but I feel better having a method to follow.
Second, I will assign homework assignments for students, but I will not make them a high percentage of student grades. Additionally, I will not average secondary exam/assignment grades with the originals. I will use tools like Crowdmark and Gradescope to help with grading writing and drawing assignments (as long as they are supported by the university that I'm working at).
Lastly, I love the example assignments that Dr. Parkin provided us - especially the abstract reading and deconstruction. I plan to do this with any undergraduate course that I teach. I remember having a step up in my undergrad because I was a part of a lab group that read and discussed academic research journal articles each week, but not all students have that opportunity. I think providing this opportunity can help make science more accessible to students.