黑料正能量

Teaching and Learning Assessments

Contextualizing the Issue

• The difference between is distinguished in this article; it provides a useful framework for beginning to think about how to evaluate the teaching and learning that happened in Spring 2020.
• Likewise, according to , Greene (2020) argues:
  • 鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to assess anything about this year鈥檚 teaching, let鈥檚 limit it to a cautious and compassionate evaluation of what 鈥� if anything 鈥� we have learned about specific technological tools and flexible teaching practices.  What worked in this crisis?  What didn鈥檛?鈥�
  • 鈥淒on鈥檛 imagine that we can meaningfully assess the capacities of people rapidly deploying those tools and practices, with minimal support, in conditions unlikely to be repeated (one would hope) in quite this way ever again.鈥�
• In that spirit, three templates might be useful in considering how to assess your transition to remote teaching this semester, which should be based on your overarching goals.  Are you hoping to:
  • engage in a self-reflective process about your teaching;
  • gather student feedback; or,
  • evaluate student learning?

1.  Self-Reflective Teaching: Here are some potential self-reflective questions, developed by the University of California, Merced.

• What did I do as an instructor to reduce student apprehension and anxiety during this time of disruption?  What might I do more of next time?
• Which course modifications were most/least successful in terms of my ability to:
  • maintain student engagement in their learning?
  • effectively identify student progress and barriers to learning along the way?
  • effectively assess student learning for their final grade?
• What, specifically, worked well?
• What unexpected student, instructor, and/or TA needs did I encounter?  What did I learn from those experiences?
• What, if anything, might I do differently in the future to build flexibility into my course, in case of other (hopefully less significant) disruptions to my teaching?
• Given my students鈥� experience in my course this semester, what adjustments or special considerations should be made for AY2020-21 courses?  For example, is there an anticipated impact on student readiness for the next course in a specific sequence?

2.  Gathering Student Feedback: Here are some potential student evaluation questions, developed by the University of Michigan.

• How did the unexpected change to remote course format affect your learning experience in this course this term?
  • Responses are quantitative with a scale ranging from "Very Positively Affected" to "Very Negatively Affected".
• What teaching methods worked well? [e.g., videoconferencing, asynchronous interactions; etc.]
  • Responses are open-ended.
• What were your greatest challenges in remote learning for this course? [e.g., internet connectivity; personal motivation; managing life stresses; etc.]
  • Responses are open-ended.

Another Potential Question

• If this course had to be taught in a remote format again, what suggestions for improvement would you have?

3.  Evaluating Student Learning: Finally, instructors could (in)directly assess student learning during this transition to remote learning through student reflections on their learning through journals, reflection papers, artistic work, informal meetings, group projects, or other measures.  For instance, in my SO 227: Social Research Methods course, I am meeting individually with each student for 10 minutes.  During this time, they will respond to the following questions:

• What is one key term, idea, or lesson from SO 227 that will help you become a better social researcher?
• Reflect on the work that you have completed in SO 227 thus far (pre- and post-Spring Break).  Consider the effort you have put into the class overall 鈥� group work contributions, completion of assignments and quizzes, participation and engagement, level of demonstrated responsibility and accountability, adjustment to remote learning, etc.
  • What are your overall strengths and weaknesses in SO 227?
  • Given our current situation, what are your personal academic goals for the rest of the semester? How can I help support these goals?

References and Additional Resources

How To鈥�

• Create a Qualtrics survey. All faculty have access to it with their 黑料正能量login. Please contact Joe Stankovich directly should you have additional questions about Qualtrics
• Create a theSpring questionnaire (see attached).