Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GradSTEP 2011
John Morrell
Blaine Smith
Which of these best describes the discipline in
which you teach?
1. 15 or fewer
2. 16 – 30
3. 31 – 60
4. 61 – 120
5. 121 or more
Now think of an assignment in that course that will
be challenging to grade. What kind of assignment
is it?
1. Test / Exam
2. Homework
3. Short Paper
4. Long Paper
5. Project
6. Presentation
7. Other
Muddiest Point
What is the most challenging or confusing
aspect of assessment for you?
Alternative Assessment
Written
Multimodal
Genre
Media
Questions to Ask
Does the assessment meet outcome goals?
Does the assessment enable students to
demonstrate their progress and capabilities?
Do the assessments use authentic, real world
tasks?
What options/choices are allowed?
Will the assessment be meaningful and engaging
to students so that they will be motivated?
Does the assessment involve real problems,
situations, and audiences?
Revamp an Assignment: 3-minute Paper
• Evaluation
• Motivation
• Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic
• Ranking relative to others
• More?
What are the potential problems
with grading?
Validity
Reliability and Accuracy
Fairness
Bias
Others?
The Curve
Norm-Referenced Assessment
Obtain information about a learner’s performance in
relation to others’.
ACT, GRE, MCAT, etc.
Can take more than a year for a single multiple choice question
to be approved.
Some instructors “curve” test scores for various reasons
Department requirements, personal preference, compensating
for lower than average scores, etc.
Is the adjusted distribution fair to all of the students?
Do you have other assessments that reflect similar score
distributions for the same students?
Criterion-Referenced Assessment
Define the content for assessment in terms of what
knowledge and skills the student must demonstrate
Define a grading scale for judging student
performance
Make sure that the assessment requires students to
perform the same skills they practiced during their
learning activities prior to the assessment
Absent.
1.
2.
Demonstrates adequate preparation: knows basic case or reading facts, but does not show evidence of trying to interpret or
analyze them.
Offers straightforward information (e.g., straight from the case or reading), without elaboration or very infrequently (perhaps
once a class).
Does not offer to contribute to discussion, but contributes to a moderate degree when called on.
3.
Demonstrates good preparation: knows case or reading facts well, has thought through implications of them.
Offers interpretations and analysis of case material (more than just facts) to class.
Contributes well to discussion in an ongoing way: responds to other students' points, thinks through own points, questions
others in a constructive way, offers and supports suggestions that may be counter to the majority opinion.
4.
Demonstrates excellent preparation: has analyzed case exceptionally well, relating it to readings and other material (e.g.,
readings, course material, discussions, experiences, etc.).
Offers analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of case material, e.g., puts together pieces of the discussion to develop new
approaches that take the class further.
Contributes in a very significant way to ongoing discussion: keeps analysis focused, responds very thoughtfully to other
students' comments, contributes to the cooperative argument-building, suggests alternative ways of approaching material and helps class analyze
which approaches are appropriate, etc.