EdTech 542 Week 4: Plan the Assessment

The assessments I have planned in my PBL unit of study are effective because they are for students, are faithful to the work they can actually do, are public, and promote ongoing self-reflection and critical inquiry (as promoted by the website www.whatkidscando.org). In my Lionfish PBL unit, students are responsible for finding the facts and materials they know they will need to inform and direct their audience to a certain solution.  They are assessed on what they know and do.   Therefore it’s more personal.  Students are encouraged to take ownership over both the process and product of their work.  Assuming a unique community perspective, which is one of the features of my unit, the learners are constantly reflecting (in their learning logs) and discussing (in their interest groups) the information they are processing.  Therefore, their assessment is public.  In fact, all of the artifacts they create throughout the unit will be on display at Exhibition Night, and the students know in advance that they products they create comprise a huge drive for community awareness of the issue.  In fact, their collective work will be viewed and judged by a large range of people, many of whom are adult practitioners in the field.

More specifically, the summative evaluation tools for this unit are: Expert Groups’ Fact-Sharing Presentation, which involves research and perspective-taking, a Group Persuasive Essay in which each production group creates a written proposal for the Bermuda government that puts forth a solution based on research and scientific evidence (and compromise), and a Community Activism product in which students collaborate to create informative, activism-focused fund-raising (and awareness-raising) items to sell.  There will be many formative assessment tools as well, but most will allow for students “voice and choice” in their content and/or presentation.

My evaluation tools are also effective, according to J.S. McTighe’s Seven Principles for Developing Performance Assessments, because:

1. Establish Clear Performance Targets: Task objectives are stated explicitly at the top of all direction sheets and are explained by the instructor.  Each assignment pertains to one or several specific content or skill curriculum objectives.
2. Strive for Authencity in Products and Performances: My assessments are typically exercises that a scientist or writer in that field might find themselves engaging in.  Creating concept maps*, summarizing and making connections to research, brainstorming solutions, defining words, writing persuasive letters (to an authentic (government) office), and selling goods to inspire activism are not “busy work” or worksheet-based exercises.  They are active, realistic, and involve critical thinking.
3. Publicize Criteria and Performance Standards: Rubrics are provided for all assessments, with clear criteria categories and performance indicators. In the case of the students’ presentation to their peers, the interest groups themselves create a rubric that guides their peers’ evaluation.
4. Provide Models of Excellence: I will provide examples, if necessary, or will describe the elements of an excellent project/task.  Equally, checklists and rubrics will serve as a pathway to excellence.  For more complex activities, I will engage in self-talk to scaffold the metacognitive thinking process that is required to do an excellent job.
5. Teach Strategies Explicitly: Especially when it comes to artifacts that require new technology, I will set aside time to teach useful strategies.  I will also review note-taking, persuasive essay writing, compare/contrasting, and teamwork strategies with a much attention and depth as my class requires.  That will help ensure all students are on track to complete the task successfully using the required strategy.
6. Use On-Going Assessments for Feedback and Adjustment: Learning Logs, group discussions, and informal observations will guide the overall timeline and daily lesson plans required for each class.  Flexibility is key.  A few traditional quizzes in conjunction with more open-ended graphic display mini-projects, for example, will help me assess whether my students have ample background knowledge and whether they can synthesize that knowledge into useful, informative, and attractive tools.
7. Document and Celebrate Success: I will document my observations in my own reflection log.  I will take note of students who need extra support as well as activities that seem to work best.  As a class we will celebrate daily what is going well (or what needs to be improved) in each group.  That means that students have many chances to improve their products so that they are evaluated on their best work.  They are assessed on what they know, not what they don’t know.  Surprise or shame over report card grades should not be a common issue, as communication is key.

I will have to adjust my teaching during this project to allow more student input in their evaluation tools.  As it currently stands, most of the assessments will be “spelled out” before the unit begins.  The students can choose different ways to respond to the activity’s objectives, typically, but they are not so much in charge of the evaluation tools themselves.  One way around this is for student groups to experience creating a rubric for their peers to aide them in improving their presentation of lionfish facts (and other driving question sub-questions.)  They will create the criteria and performance indicators for which they will be held accountable.  In addition, the presenting groups will also learn how to use Google Forms to create a quiz about the content of their presentation.  Students will feel more in control and organized in their project design if they think about their own “take home” message or most important set of facts.

Overall, I will need to be flexible with timelines and daily plans to accommodate students’ designing, selecting, or responding to assessments in their own way.  I will also need to provide ample support to make sure I’m not “dumping” instruction or lofty ideals on them.  I am confident in tackling this type of open-ended assessment, but I think time will be the hardest thing for me to manage!

* As I wrote on the class discussion board, the students will create an illustrated concept map that highlights all the relationships between components of the Bermuda coral reef ecosystem that are relevant to the lionfish invasion situation.  This includes interrelationships among the plant and animal life, but should also include human forces as well (both positive and negative).  Students can create a color coded key that further defines or elaborates upon each relationship, interaction, or interdependency.  For example, a student could identify the producers, consumers, decomposers in the coral reef and trace the nutrient cycles and energy flow.  Separate markings would highlight the vector of invasive species, and the various degrees of species endangerment, and human efforts in the environmental management (or mismanagement?) in the reef.  This would become an interactive web of information to “set the stage” for decision-making and problem-solving as to what to do for the next step.  It helps the students to identify all players and understand their role.

To create this graphic diagram, students could use technology tools such as:
- mind42.com
- www.mindmeister.com
- bubbl.us
- www.gliffy.com
- www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/readwritethink-webbing-tool-30038.html
- SMART Ideas Concept-Mapping Software