assessment

What price do we pay when school systems go for the rankings? [Christian]

On 05/03/2022, in assessment, Daniel S. Christian, education, K-12 related, Learning Experience Design, Michigan, student-related, teachers, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
When I saw the recent article below out at mlive.com, I couldn’t help but recall the words that our daughter just said the other day — that they had yet another day of standardized testing to do that day. (She works in a public school system here in Michigan.) In fact, she said that the relaying of new content had already ended a while ago and the last two months of the year were being allocated for reviewing what had already been covered and then taking these standardized tests. I’m guessing that neither students nor the teachers and other teaching/support-related staff were all that excited about that agenda.

In such cases, I’m guessing that the love of learning goes right out the window — as does the love of teaching. All of this is to:

assuage the legislators in our state’s capitol — especially to see how Michigan is stacking up in the comparison game with other states
give bragging rights to administrators in the comparison game as they compare their school district to other districts in Michigan
give the realtors and communities reasons for the increased prices of their houses (in a different but related comparison game)

Am I oversimplifying this? Most likely. But it still bothers me nonetheless.

These are the 50 highest rated Michigan high schools in the new U.S. News rankings — from mlive.com by Martin Slagter

Excerpt:

Three Michigan high schools are once again rated among the top 100 best high schools in the country in the latest U.S. News & World Report best high school rankings released on Tuesday, April 26.

Rankings are based on several weighted factors, including college readiness (30%), college curriculum breadth (10%), state assessment proficiency (20%), state assessment performance (20%), underserved student performance (10%) and graduation rate (10%). The data used is from the 2019-20 school year.

While the six ranking indicators that determined each school’s rank were the same as those used in the three prior years, U.S. News adjusted its calculation of these measures to account for the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on schools in the 2019-2020 school year.

Also relevant from mlive.com, see:

‘We need them to love what they do:’ Veteran teacher trying to inspire young educators as Michigan loses teachers — by Melissa Frick

What Educators Need to Know About Assistive Tech Tools: Q&A with Texthelp CEO — from thejournal.com by Kristal Kuykendall and Texthelp CEO Martin McKay

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

THE Journal: What are some examples of the types of assistive technology tools now available for K–12 schools?
McKay: There are a broad range of disabilities, and accordingly, a broad range of learning and access difficulties that assistive technology can help with. Just considering students with dyslexia — since that is the largest group among students who can benefit from assistive tech tools — the main problems they have are around reading comprehension and writing. Assistive technology can provide text-to-speech, talking dictionaries, picture dictionaries, and text simplification tools to help with comprehension.
…
It’s important that these tools need to work everywhere — not just in their word processor. Assistive technology must work in their learning management systems, and must work in their online assessment environment, so that the student can use the assistive tech tools not only in class, but at home as they work on their homework, and perhaps most importantly on test day when they are using a secure assessment environment.

The Re-Emergence of Competency-Based Education: What It Might Look Like and Why It’s Needed in Today’s Classrooms [Look]

On 04/18/2022, in assessment, competency-based learning/education, education, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, Learning Experience Design, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

The Re-Emergence of Competency-Based Education: What It Might Look Like and Why It’s Needed in Today’s Classrooms — from thejournal.com by Keith Look

Excerpt:

For the current or upcoming unit of instruction, identify three learning targets to be assessed. Have students show what they know through both traditional modes of assessment as well as through CBE experiences. Then, consider what the data shows:

For which learning targets is student competency better presented through traditional assessment? Through CBE?
- Is that a factor of the learning target or the way in which the assessment (traditional or CBE) challenged students?
- Based on this experience, what kinds of learning targets may lend themselves more to CBE? To traditional assessment?
Are there students who more effectively demonstrate competency through the CBE than the traditional assessment?
- Why is CBE a more effective vehicle for those students?
- Could the task itself be revised to unlock the same potential in other students?

Short and Sweet: The Educational Benefits of Microlectures and Active Learning [Zheng]

On 04/18/2022, in A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adjunct faculty, assessment, colleges, community colleges, education technology, engagement / engaging students, higher education, instructional design, interaction design, interactivity, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, tools, universities, by Daniel Christian

Short and Sweet: The Educational Benefits of Microlectures and Active Learning — from er.educause.edu by Hua Zheng; with thanks to the Learning Now TV Newsletter – April 2022
The combination of short videos and the techniques of active learning can create rich, engaging educational experiences to maximize learning.

Excerpt:

The goal of interspersing a microlecture with active learning approaches is to improve student engagement and learning performance when participating in online, hybrid, or face-to-face instruction. Empirical studies have shown that active learning approaches, such as combining pause points with interactive quizzes, tasks requiring written responses, or note taking, can improve student performance.

L&D Go Beyond Podcast: Writing Better Multiple-Choice Questions to Assess Learning — from upsidelearning.com by Amit Garg and Patti Shank

Excerpt:

In this episode of the L&D Go Beyond podcast, Amit Garg interacts with Patti Shank, President Learning Peaks LLC. They talk about a very interesting topic – Writing Better Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) to Assess Learning.

Rethinking the Faculty Role in Students’ Career Readiness — from insidehighered.com by Rachel Toor; with thanks to Ryan Craig for this solid, well-written resource
It’s time for all of us on campuses, not just the people in career services, to step up and help offer the competencies employers say they’re looking for, Rachel Toor writes.

Excerpts:

Career centers on campuses can offer students coaching, resources and connections. But, as Angle points out, they tend to be a just-in-time service. They are also, he says, “scary places for a lot of students.” Many young people don’t want to face the reality of life after graduation. Often, it’s a case of too little, too late.

Instead, they come to people they know—professors like me—for help with cover letters and résumés. And while I can comment on language, until recently I had no idea about how most résumés are read first by a version of R2-D2 and his little robot friends who make up automated tracking systems. If an applicant doesn’t include the right keywords in a résumé or cover letter, into the trash bin they go.

The truth is, I have not applied for a job in 15 years; for many of my colleagues it’s been even longer, and some of them have never worked outside academe. It’s not surprising that employers are seeing recent college grads—smart students, hard workers—who don’t know how to present themselves as potential employees.

From DSC:
I can relate to that part about R2-D2 reading the resumes first (i.e., trying to get by the Applicant Tracking Systems before one’s resume ever makes it in front of the eyes of a fellow human being). Many faculty/staff members and members of administrations haven’t been out interviewing in a long while. So it can be a rude awakening when they/we need to do that.

Also, I wanted to say that it’s not fair to assess the learners coming out of higher education using a different set of learning objectives:

That is, faculty members within higher ed have one set of learning objectives and their students work hard to learn and meet those learning objectives. Unfortunately, those students did what was asked of them, and then they…
…come to find out that the corporate/business/legal/etc. worlds have different ideas about what they should know and be able to do. That is, these other organizations and communities of practice are assessing them on different sets of learning objectives that these same students didn’t cover. Some (many?) of these graduates leave their interviews discouraged and think, “Well, it must be me.” Or they can leave frustrated and angry at their former institutions who didn’t prepare them for this new assessment.

As I’ve said on this blog before, this disconnect is not fair to the students/graduates. We need more mechanisms by which faculty and staff members within higher ed can work more collaboratively with those within the corporate world to better align the learning objectives and the curriculum being covered. If this doesn’t occur more frequently, the constant appearance and growth of new alternatives will likely continue to build further momentum (as they should, given the incredibly steep price of obtaining a degree these days!).

P.S. This disconnect of learning objectives can also be found in what happens with legal education — including having to pass today’s Bar Exams — and then these graduates get out into the real world to find employers who are frustrated that these graduates don’t have the “right”/necessary skills.

“The incentive structure is for law schools to teach students how to pass the bar exam, not necessarily to do the things that employers expect,” Gallini said.

A quote from this article, which I also
want to thank Ryan Craig for.

Skill assessments: The future of personalization in learning [Rasch]

On 02/04/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, assessment, education, education technology, future, innovation, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, online learning, personalized/customized learning, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Skill assessments: The future of personalization in learning — from edyoucated.org by Julian Rasch

The future of personalization in professional online learning lies in detailed, but fast and effective skill assessments. Here’s how we do it at edyoucated.

2021 Resource Recap from Quality Matters

On 12/17/2021, in accessibility / UDL, assessment, higher education, instructional design, interaction design, interactivity, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, online learning, quality, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, by Daniel Christian

Quality Matters > Higher Education News > December 2021

Throughout the year, we — along with members of our amazing community — share resources to help all of us deliver on our online promise. Here are some of the most popular items from 2021 for you to use and share:

QM Bridge to Quality Course Design Guide — printable PDF version
Accessibility and Usability Resource Site
QM Self-Review Tool
Video: Redesigning Assessments for Interaction & Engagement
QM-Hosted Research Webinar Recordings
QM Success Stories (members only), including “Walking in Someone Else’s Shoes: The True Impact of Digital Accessibility“
Dr. Steven Crawford’s series on multimedia use in online learning — start with “Designing Multimedia Presentations for Your Course”

Writing Multiple Choice Questions For Higher Order Thinking [Malamed]

On 11/17/2021, in adjunct faculty, assessment, corporate universities / corporate training, education, faculty, higher education, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, teachers, teaching & learning, training / L&D, by Daniel Christian

Writing Multiple Choice Questions For Higher Order Thinking — from theelearningcoach.com by Connie Malamed

Excerpt:

One of the biggest criticisms of multiple choice questions is that they only test factual knowledge. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can also use multiple choice questions to assess higher-order thinking.

Higher Order Thinking in a Nutshell
Higher order thinking goes beyond memorizing and recalling facts and data. It even goes beyond comprehension. Higher-order thinking refers to cognitive processes that involve analytical, critical and creative thinking. The concept is based on various learning taxonomies, such as application, analysis, evaluation, creation, problem-solving, connecting ideas and making decisions. Keep in mind that many of these cognitive tasks, including the recall of information, appear to occur simultaneously. See Alternatives to Bloom’s Taxonomy for criticisms of the hierarchical classifications.

Because test items must be aligned with performance objectives, you’ll need to include higher-order thinking skills from the start. And yes, these may be better measured through open ended questions, essays and discussions. But if you find yourself needing to use multiple choice tests, you can make the best of this situation with these three approaches.

Inspire, Create & Celebrate: 6 Steps to turn your Library Learning Commons (LLC) into a place where students want to be! [Campbell]

On 11/10/2021, in animation, art, assessment, collaboration, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, drama/theater, education technology, homeschooling/homeschoolers, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning preferences, library / librarians, mathematics, metacognition / metacognitive skills, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, music, presentations, reading, science, story, storytelling, vendors, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

Inspire, Create & Celebrate: 6 Steps to turn your Library Learning Commons (LLC) into a place where students want to be! — by Mira Campbell

Also see/get:

What Are The Best Online Teaching Strategies For eLearning Classrooms? — from teachthought.com

A Crusade to End Grading in High Schools — from washingtonpost.com by Thomas Toch and Alina Tugend; with thanks to Ryan Craig for this resource
One educator is leading an effort to evaluate students differently. Can it catch on?

Excerpt:

He envisioned schools where students learned math, history and science not as isolated subjects in classroom-bound courses but while working together to address real-world issues like soil conservation, homelessness and illegal immigration. Such learning would make schooling more meaningful for students and thus more engaging, Looney believed. It would let students demonstrate more talents to colleges, holding out the prospect of a wider, more diverse range of students entering higher education’s top ranks.

The existing high school transcript, however, with its simple summary of courses and grades, wouldn’t do justice to the interdisciplinary, project-based learning he wanted. It wouldn’t capture students’ creativity, persistence and other qualities. Looney needed a radically different way to portray students’ high school experiences, one that replaced grades with a richer picture. But he didn’t know what it was.

Today, 275 private high schools and 125 public schools are part of the nonprofit Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC). They are in various stages of designing and launching the transcript — and working to make Looney’s radical vision a reality. Started in 2017, the organization is expanding rapidly.

AI+ alumni + real-world practitioners + accreditation agencies = outcomes for next year [Christian]

On 10/06/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accreditation, adjunct faculty, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, assessment, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, experimentation, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, law schools, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, Legal operations, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, Michigan, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, online learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, smart/connected TV, society, surviving, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, by Daniel Christian

AI+ alumni + real-world practitioners + accreditation agencies = outcomes for next year -- by Daniel S. Christian

Learning from the living class room

Learning Ecosystems

Short and Sweet: The Educational Benefits of Microlectures and Active Learning [Zheng]

Reflections on “Rethinking the Faculty Role in Students’ Career Readiness” [Toor]

Skill assessments: The future of personalization in learning [Rasch]

2021 Resource Recap from Quality Matters

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