Category: Edci565

Rational For Created and Curated Resources

July 27, 2020 / fnicholas / 0 Comments

Introduction:

Photo from Pixabay

Assessment is a crucial component of learning used in both K-12 and post-secondary education. In order to support other educators, we wanted to examine assessment through the lens of an online learning environment. Assessment is meant to focus on “student involvement and authentic, meaningful assessment, leading to the development of a variety of assessment forms” (Weurlander et al., 2012). Quality assessment requires knowledge of provincial curriculum frameworks, district vision and goals, as well as teachers’ expertise with traditional and online tools to support it. Furthermore, there is an emphasis on competence-based curriculum focusing on “capability rather than factual knowledge” (Weurlander et al., 2012). The resources we curated as well as the resources we created are supported by research and support our learning outcomes.

Formative Assessment:

Formative and summative assessment are vital aspects of all learning environments. Formative assessment informs teachers of students ongoing learning and understanding, whereas summative is a final capturing of students overall learning. According to Weurlander et al. (2012) formative assessment can influence “students’ learning in a number of ways. It sends messages about what counts as important knowledge; it has an impact on students’ approach to learning and gives feedback to students about their learning” (p. 749). Additionally, they included research that found formative assessment “positive[ly] impact[s] student learning” (p. 749). When considering or creating assessment, it is important to include a variety of “assessment tasks [as they] have the potential to support student learning in different ways” (p.758). Moreover, a multitude of assessment strategies, including collaborative and blended learning approaches, increases student engagement (Vaughan, 2014).

Summative Assessment:

Summative assessment is meant to be a final snapshot of students learning. However, it can exclude learners or create anxiety when the stakes are high for a singular assessment for both in-person and online learning environments. Harlen, 2005 states that,

“[h]igh– stakes tests are inevitably designed to be as ‘objective’ as possible, since there is a premium on reliable marking in the interests of fairness. This has the effect of reducing what is assessed to what can be readily and reliably marked. Generally, this excludes many worthwhile outcomes of education such as problem-solving and critical thinking” (p. 209).

Another concern about high-stakes summative assessments is that they may encourage cheating, a pressing concern for teachers, particularly in an online environment (Mellar et at.,2018). Creating a variety of authentic summative assessments and giving students choice can help to ensure their validity (Mellar et al., 2018). Therefore, it is imperative that students are provided with a variety of summative assessments with low stakes when teaching online.

Formative and Summative:

Picture from Pixabay

When integrating formative and summative assessment strategies, teachers should consider the quantity, as creating too many assessments to track student progress can have a negative impact (Vaughan, 2014). This also restricts teachers from providing timely feedback to their students, a key component of successful online learning (Gaytan and Mcewen, 2007). “Feedback is therefore a key component in formative assessment, and students need to understand and be able to act on the feedback they receive in order to improve their learning” (Black and Wiliam 1998; Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick 2006; Sadler 1989, 1998; as cited in Weurlander et al.,2012., p. 748). Furthermore, Shea and Bidjerano (2010) discovered that teaching presence along with teaching students the technological skills they need to complete and navigate given tasks leads to “successful online learning” (p. 1727). Thus, well planned online learning experiences along with feedback, help and encouragement also improves learning success for at risk learners (Hughes, 2007).

Picture from Pixabay

Conclusion:

In conclusion, when considering online or in-person teaching environments, summative and formative assessments are vital. Formative assessment should be used to continually check in with students about their understanding of content, leading into a summative review of their learning. When assessing students, a variety of tools and strategies should be used in order to reach all learners for both types of assessments. Overall, the focus of this project was to provide teachers with a realistic and comprehensive overview of what assessment in classroom and online environments could entail.

Reference List:

Gaytan, J., & Mcewen, B. C. (2007). Effective Online Instructional and Assessment Strategies. American Journal of Distance Education, 21(3), 117–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/08923640701341653

Hughes, G. (2007). Using blended learning to increase learner support and improve retention. Teaching in Higher Education, 12(3), 349- 363. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13562510701278690

Harlen, W. (2005). Teachers’ summative practices and assessment for learning – tensions and synergies. The Curriculum Journal, 16(2), 207–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585170500136093

Mellar, H., Peytcheva-Forsyth, R., Kocdar, S., Karadeniz, A., & Yovkova, B. (2018). Addressing cheating in e-assessment using student authentication and authorship checking systems: teachers’ perspectives. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-018-0025-x

Shea, P., & Bidjerano, T. (2010). Learning presence: Towards a theory of self-efficacy, self-regulation, and the development of a communities of inquiry in online and blended learning environments. Computers & Education, 55(4), 1721- 1731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.07.017

Vaughan, N. (2014). Student Engagement and Blended Learning: Making the Assessment Connection. Education Sciences, 4(4), 247–264. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci4040247

Weurlander, W., & Soderberg, M., & Scheja, M., & Hakan, H., & Wernerson, A., (2012). Exploring formative assessment as a tool for learning: students’ experiences of different methods of formative assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 37.(6). 747-760, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2011.572153

Unlocking Assessment

July 18, 2020 / fnicholas / 0 Comments

As educators, assessment is a large part of our job and there are a vast number of tools and pedagogies available. Therefore, as a group we chose to look at the specific aspects of assessment and online assessment tools for the current time we are in, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We first created a set of learning outcomes for assessment (see below), then our curated list and finally we collaborated on a blog post. The Key to Unlocking Assessment seeks to provide educators with ideas of how to transition into the blended and online learning environment that will likely be our reality in the fall. These sources, strategies, and tools were chosen with a critical lens in order to provide practical resources for the everyday educator. The remainder of this post provides our rationale behind this curation. We focused on a range of resources from connections to ministry curriculum, different types and formats of assessments, tools to conduct them, and opportunities for professional development. To achieve this, we examined government and university articles, commercial enterprises, as well as public/private blogs. The CRAAP test was applied to each entry, to evaluate whether they were: Current, Relevant, Accredited, Accurate, and Purposeful. There were only a few resources in our curated list that did not meet every aspect of the test, however they were included for the following reasons.

Old ministry document: This document is not considered current as it was created in 1994. However, the PDFs are still useful as a starting point for educators; although some adjustments will need to be made in order to address updated curriculum. Included in the list are the updated curriculum resources.

Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment: A 2001 summary of a 1998 literature review that provides a detailed outline of the important building blocks of assessment by answering the questions of why assessment is important and how it aids learners. It focuses specifically on formative assessment for learning. Although the literature review was written over 20 years ago the information provided is still applicable to today’s learners and educators.

Assessing the Online Learner: Does not contain a specific date but does contain referenced work from 2007, therefore we can reasonably conclude that it was written sometime after this. The information shared is applicable, purposeful, reliable, accurate and could be a very useful resource for teachers.

Learning Outcomes for Assessment:

Identify self-assessment tools that allow students to engage with content through:

Explanation
Justification
Personal connection

Build and apply rubrics and scales to assess curricular competencies.

Investigate and utilize various forms of formative and summative assessment for online learning environments.

Develop a variety of assessment methods to engage students in a subject area using technology.

Consider teaching/learning environment (online vs blended)
Personalized to consider student needs.
Voice and choice
Use assessment to inform instruction

Construct timely assessment or appropriate support to ensure student success.

Check-ins
Support Blocks
Office Hours
Communication Home

What’s Next?

Our next step is to create resources and evidence informed content that will authentically assess student understanding, in our new learning context. Additionally, we aim to aid educators in developing their own assessment skills, strategies, and tools, that will fit both in-class, blended and online environments.

Co-Authors: Faune, Jerry, Leanne, Rhyanon and Rochelle.

Designing Curriculum? Drink In The Beauty

July 9, 2020 / fnicholas / 1 Comment

Thought’s Prior:

This week we started to discuss the project we are about to embark on as a Cohort. We are creating an online resource that aims to support parents and teachers during this transition into online and blended learning models. This is obviously an unprecedented time within the world and within education. However, it is also a great opportunity to learn and strive for a new understanding of what education can look like. What a glorious undertaking you’re thinking. Although that’s true, I have very recently realized how difficult creating learning outcomes and designing curriculum truly is. As a teacher, I am handed the play book on what I have to accomplish. Essentially, I sit down one day, look at the various outcomes and put them into a plan of attack. How do I accomplish these? What’s the best way to blend multiple subjects together? How do I best distribute these outcomes across my entire year plan? Oh, and how do I teach all of this with all the vacation time I’m given? No problem though, this is what I was trained for I practice this skill every single year when I create my year plan. As I move from year to year I better learn the outcomes and know how to integrate them more and more. So what’s so hard about designing the curriculum?

Reality Check:

Well, let me be completely honest when I say designing curriculum is not easy, trust me. Between the entire 26 people in my cohort I am sure many of us at one point or another thought “wait…what?” I have always been given the playbook on curriculum, I have never had to step all the way back and ask myself “what is important for someone else to know and teach in this area?” I found we circles around massive ideas about student engagement, assessment, participation and connection. These topics is not small by any means. They encompass thousands of ideas and routes one can take to accomplish these goals. However, they also pose major road blocks. So although I am extremely excited for this opportunity to take a step back and look at the biggest picture, I am realizing that this is not going to be a small task. Anybody else have a new respect for those who actually designed our curriculum? I sure do!

Check back in to see what other types of struggles and strives I make is this area of learning.