Using Alternative Assessments | Origin: ED136
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Assessment Alternatives for Instructors --> Using Alternative Assessments
Post what you've learned about this topic and how you intend to apply it. Feel free to post questions and comments too.
Having multiple means of assessing student progress allows for flexibility in students' learning.
using a variety of assessments will evaluate the students knowledge and understanding at a deeper level
I think team projects are great because creative and analytical thinkers can combine their skills to produce better work. Analytical skills include comparing, contrasting, and evaluating. Creative skills include wondering, flexibility, and thinking of multiple solutions.
We do class projects that the student can take home, so several of these create a physical portfolio of work.
Integrating PBL and Portfolios- a great way to document problem-solving processes. A growth portfolio is a really positive authentic learning tool.
I really enjoy using alternative assessments, especially during interactive case studies.
I'm thinking about how we can make our case studies more of a problem-based learning activity so students are having to think through the role of a nurse and expected findings related to a disease process. I think our case studies do not really require the students to put the pieces together because the pieces are all presented. A problem based learning might actually help them think through expected findings and appropriate actions.
I think it's important that these assessments help with critical thinking.
When developing an authentic assessment consider the task and allow the students to be creative while developing it. Authentic assessments will allow the instructor to refine their instruction based on the outcome of the assessment. Break down the assessment into specific steps to be evaluated. Get input from the students.
There are several types of authentic assessments. Embedded assessments can collect information about the students' learning to determine how to proceed with the next lesson. There may be times when information may need to be reinforced based on the information gained.
Portfolios, case studies and problem-based learning are examples of embedded assessments. Portfolios can present information showing student development of competency. There are several types of portfolios, depending on the purpose. The showcase portfolio will include the best finished pieces of the students' work. Growth portfolios will show the progress of the students' work. Evaluation portfolio is the final type of portfolio.
Case studies are widely used to show a breakdown of a solution to a problem or issue. We use a lot of case studies in nursing school. One type of case study involves having the students act out a scenario to demonstrate their ability to care for a client with a particular problem. We have also utilized reverse case studies. For the reverse case study, the group of students are given a particular set of problems that a client may have. The group of students do the research to create a story including the risk factors, signs/symptoms, treatment, complications, etc. The group will act out the scenario.
While I'm supportive of alternative assessments, they ought to be as rigorous as the normal ones. I think often alternative assessments tend to be easier and designed to move students forward regardless of what they've learned or not.
I would like to use portfolios with my students. They complete so many projects in auto collision. It would be great to have them take pictures of all the projects. They could keep a portfolio of the pictures and scored rubrics to show their growth throughout the course.
So many tech resources in nursing. Getting students to stick to those that are compliant with their particular learning system is the challenge. Older learners have struggled with technology, and I'm not sure how to help with that.
Student learning portfolios are a very good tool.
I've been struggling in some of these courses to understand PBL and how it applies to my discipline. This module helped me with this. All of the troubleshooting labs we do are PBL!
Using online technology, such as learning management systems, web conference platforms, social media, and various apps, in the classroom is essential for enhancing student engagement, facilitating communication and collaboration, providing access to resources, promoting personal learning experiences, and preparing students for the digital-age workforce.
Prior to taking this online course, I was not very familier with the rubric process for grading and also other assessments. This will be very helpful in the classroom, and also when in the lab.
For what I teach, Music production throw digital software, Alternative Assessments are great in the sense that are really open for creativity.
I like the idea of using the rubric for grading. Knowing up front what to expect. As a welding instructor I have to visually grade lots of welds and at times there is question of who gets what grade and why. The rubric would make it much simpler.
I am a HUGE fan of alternative assessments. The course I am involved with does not lend itself to formal testing. I leverage discussion posts, video collaboration and project/artifact production to assess student engagement and understanding. We have had a lot of success using open-ended questions to "extract" the connections made by the students with the material. I purposely do not have a "word minimum or maximum" on the discussion posts. The students are free to post as little or as much as they want. I believe this "freedom" has led to richer reflections as the students know there is not an arbitrary number of words they need to post - it's more authentic.
