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Assessment as Learning

Presented at the Teaching & Learning Innovations 17th Annual Conference University of Guelph

May 12, 2004Peggy Maki, Ph.D.

PeggyMaki@aol.com

Material from Maki’s forthcoming book (May, 2004): Assessing for Learning: Building a Sustainable Commitment Across the Institution. Stylus and AAHE

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Assessment: Driven by intellectual curiosity about

the efficacy of our educational practices

Provides us with evidence about our work through our students’ texts—behaviors, performances, projects, creations, interactions, self-reflections, responses, values….

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List Strategies You Use To Learn:

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

________________________________

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About Learning (National Research Council)

Learning is a complex process of interpretation--not a linear process

Learners create meaning as opposed to receive meaning

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Deep learning occurs over time—transference

Meta-cognitive processes are a significant means of reinforcing learning (thinking about one’s thinking)

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Knowledge is socially constructed (importance of peer-to-peer

interaction)

People learn differently—prefer certain ways of learning (learning inventories, such as Kolb or Vark)

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Learning involves creating relationships

between short-term and long-term memory

Transfer of new knowledge into different contexts is important to deepen understanding

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Practice in various contexts creates expertise

•Surface Learning

•Deep Learning

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PeersPeers

Spiritual Leaders

Spiritual Leaders

Lab Assistants

Lab Assistants

Graduate Students;Teaching

Assistants

Graduate Students;Teaching

Assistants

Support Services

Staff

Support Services

Staff

Librarians and Resource Staff

Librarians and Resource Staff Athletic

Coaches

AthleticCoaches

AcademicAdvisers

AcademicAdvisers

Intern Advisors

Intern Advisors

MentorsMentors

Student Services Staff

Student Services Staff

TutorsTutors

FacultyFaculty

Learning

Learning

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Intellectual Curiosity about:

Who Learns? …….. What?

…………..When?

………………Where?

…………………..Why?

………………………How?

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Specific Questions

What do you expect your students to be able to demonstrate, represent, or produce?

What do the curricula and other educational experiences “add up to?”

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What educational processes are responsible for the intended student outcomes the institution seeks?

What do you do in your classes or in your programs to promote the kinds of

learning or development that the institution seeks?

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Which students benefit from which teaching/learning strategies or educational experiences?

How can we help students make connections between classroom learning and experiences outside of the classroom?

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What pedagogies/educational experiences develop knowledge, abilities, habits of mind, ways of knowing/problem solving?

How are curricula and pedagogy designed to develop knowledge, abilities, habits of mind, ways of knowing?

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How do we intentionally build upon what each of us teaches or fosters to achieve programmatic and institutional objectives—contexts for learning

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Integrated Learning….

Cognitive

AffectivePsychomotor

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What methods of assessment capture desired student learning--methods that align with pedagogy, content, curricular and instructional design?

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Integrating Teaching, Learning, and Assessing

Pedagogy

Curricular design

Instructional design

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Educational tools

Educational experiences

Students’ learning histories/styles

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Clarity about:

• Learning Outcome Statements—sentences that describe what students should be able to represent or demonstrate or produce based on how and what they learn

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Quantitative Reasoning

Interpret mathematical models such as formulas, graphs, tables, and schematics, and draw inferences from them.

Represent mathematical information symbolically, visually, numerically, and verbally.

Use arithmetical, algebraic, geometric and statistical methods to solve problems.

Estimate and check answers to mathematical problems in order to determine reasonableness, identify alternatives, and select optimal results.

Recognize that mathematical and statistical methods have limits.

(http://www.maa.org/pubs/books/qrs.html)

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• Opportunities for Students to Represent and Reflect on Their Learning

•Transfer

•Apply

•Integrate

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Multiple and Varied Opportunities for Students to Learn and Demonstrate Their Learning: Formative and Summative Assessments

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•Clearly Articulated Standards and Criteria of Judgment:

•Norm-based

•Criterion-based (see example for senior thesis in psychology)

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“What and how students learn depends to a major extent on how they think they will be assessed.”

John Biggs, Teaching for Quality Learning at University: What The Student Does. Society for

Research into Higher Education & Open University Press, 1999, p. 141.

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Works Cited

Biggs, J. (1999). Teaching for Quality Learning at University: What The Student Does. Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press, 1999, p. 141.

Maki, P. (forthcoming, 2004., May). Assessing for Learning: Building a Sustainable Commitment Across the Institution. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC, and the American Association for Higher Education.

National Research Council. 2001. Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press