What Is Assessment | Origin: ED136
This is a general discussion forum for the following learning topic:
Assessment Alternatives for Instructors --> Introduction to Learning Disabilities
Post what you've learned about this topic and how you intend to apply it. Feel free to post questions and comments too.
Not sure where this goes:
In Nuclear Navy training, if a student did poorly on an exam or practical, an "REMEDIAL" was issued. This was in addition to the standard qual card, requiring a student to make up, re learn, recheck out or requalify on the items missed. It required extra effort to maintain timing of the program requirements. This also happened with qualified operators at times.
in civilian education, Some professors have given make up exams or second (even third) exams so that students could get good grades... and demonstrate knowledge or proficiency... wanting to be on the students side instead of the judge side.
in the military (nuclear navy) and qualification card was use to docuement knowleges and skill... if you could demonstrate knowledge, or perform this skill, you would get a signature on the qual card (similar to badging in the civilian education world). If not, you studied more, and were trained more, until you could pass the knowledge check or demostrate proficiency.
Think Forest Gump assembling his rifle.
If the institution is ABET accredited, having a new instructor complete ABET documetion, without any guidance, seems problematic with ongoing periodic trends.
Part of IDCTE is to train teachers - specifically new teachers, and to certify them to some standard level.
Orienting new teachers and assessing their capabilities should be the educational institutions responsibility, with IDCTE as a partner, which goes beyond the initial week of orientation.... Deans, department heads, program directors and whomever else should be part of the orientation and assessment team. Mentors should be assigned. A year long program of 1 semester observation, then 1 semester "student teaching" should be followed, with feedback to the new instruction.
1st year observation should not be the new instructor sitting in the classroom, but interactive, much like a teaching assistant, with the instructor and program chair or other administrator with a new teacher orientation checklist covering specific items to help a new instructor be preprared for teaching: Items like Setting up a Roll in the LMS, taking Roll in the LMS, handing out papers, tests, taking the test, grading homework and test, adding / removing materials in the LMS, as directed by the teacher, reviewing the quiz bank, and exam question bank, reviewing lesson materials, leading classes (a second semeter activity, but perhaps done in the observation semester) proctoring exams, helping with labs, grading and inputting grades into both the LMS and the educational intistution's grade tracking system.
It the instittuion has an "early warning system" or an alert system for students with difficulties, this should also be trained during the observation year.
I would like the Observation year "just observing": to the "student view of the LMS" and active "Teaching assistant" participant as the "teacher view of the LMS... giving a new teacher a more complete picture of what goes on behind the scenes in running a classroom - what might be called the mechanics of teaching.
To have the new teacher "experience" everything the teacher would be doing in the obervation year. If the first time the new instructor is exposed to roll taking, grading, grade inputs, etc is his/her first year of actual teaching... it will be a challenging and unfulfilling semester.
Are you setting up your new instrutors for failure, training them to be mediocre, or preparing them for success?
As teacher observations are also part of a teachers performance review: having the new instructor observe not only his/her primary mentor, but other instructors along the way, USING the evaluation forms or observation forms used by the institution, is a good way for the new instructor to become familiar with what criteria is being used for those observations, for what they will be evaluated on, and for them to look at seasoned teachers using those forms. This latter concept is for the new teacher to become more integrated with the staff as a whole, and not isolated to their own program.
Assessments can be used to get a baseline or to monitor and make sure learning is taking place.
ADDIE, which stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Most of my training is formative assessments and the summative assessment is is usually at the end of the course and worth more points
Utilizing different types of assessments can give a teacher multiple ways to assess the students progress.
there are different kinds of assessments and reasons to do formative vs. summative for different outcomes
Demonstration of skills is one of my (and my students') favorite methods of assessment. There is a lot of value in using demonstration of skills for CTE courses.
I didn't know alternative assessments is for demonstration of skills. Good to know!
Summative and formative assessments combined are good networked ways of finding out what students are learning. I liked the additional layer of authentic-subjective assessment.
I have not heard of the term 'authentic' assessments, nor did I realize the difference of this type of assessment.
Authentic assessments is a new term that I was unaware of. The module explains how authentic assessments are those that provide students with opportunities to apply what they learned to real-world situations. It is different from a multiple choice assessments; examples include simulation, case studies, clinical assignments, and active learning strategies such as having students make and present a pamphlet for a Community Health class.
I think we use traditional assessments in the classroom and authentic assessments in lab, clinical, and SIM. We have to know our students have an understanding of disease process and consequence, and appropriate nursing actions but we also need to know that they can perform the skills necessary to practice safely. It's important to have both types of assessments because nursing is knowledge and competency based.
I think formative assessment is especially important in helping students learn. This is how they know what areas to improve in. It helps them be successful in their summative assessment at the end of the course.
I believe that both traditional and authentic assessments are very important. The traditional assessment is great in the classroom, and the authentic may work best in nursing education areas such as simulation and clinical sites. When the student is able to link theory to practice, and demonstrate appropriate skills in the clinical or simulation environment, that student has achieved educational goals.
Comment on Barbara Islas's post: Wow Barb, you really summed up the assessment process well. It was good to read your take on what we have learned so far in this module. Thanks for your post
There are formative and summative assessments. The formative assessments are given frequently and are not high stakes. The summative assessments usually occur after a module, midterm or final.
In addition, there are traditional and authentic assessments. The traditional assessments are reliable but does not evaluate the skills of the students. The traditional assessments are in written form. An example of this type of assessment would be the SAT college entrance exam. For the nursing realm, HESI is an example of a traditional assessment. The authentic assessment is less formal and can include hands-on learning. The authentic assessment can take a lot more time and expense to put together and administer. However, it can help the student to link skill with knowledge. An example of this type of assessment might include a group activity to help students link the sexually transmitted disease with the signs/symptoms and treatment for the sexually transmitted disease. Our team instituted this through a "dating game" and included plush toys for each STI.
Assessment is to determine what the students can "do" with their knowledge.
