Formative Assessments and Me

Now that I'm digging deeper into this course, I'm left wondering if I really use formative assessments...well, at all!?  I guess in one sense I do; that is, by stringing together a line of different tests and assignments within a single course.  But each of these assessments is like a snapshot in time...the materials I go over post-evaluation are related in the context of the course profile, but typically not consistently reinforced thereafter.  For example, once I've talked about Pasteurization in beer, its effects and how it's perceived in the marketplace, then tested students on it...we don't really go over it again.  Maybe a word here and there, but not in the form of a regular review.

Mind you, I'm not sure I have a truly summative test either...at least not regularly.  I don't like final exams because I'm tired of the simple chug and gag reflex of cramming and regurgitation that students seem so apt to practice...either because of workload or failure to demonstrate due diligence in their preparations. So each of the tests and assignments I use are kind of somewhat formative and somewhat summative...is this the proverbial Biog Deal?  I'm not sure.

I can see the value of incorporating a distinctly formative evaluation.  And I'm no longer concerned about whether they should be accorded a mark, although I've noted that students are MUCH more transactional than me in this area...if it isn't worth something in the form of a mark, then the resistance or basic disinterest spikes appreciably.  But that said, why wouldn't I want to see how their progress is truly going?  It's easier in practical things, or so it seems....we can see how they progress from not having a clue in the brewery to becoming quite adept at the use of most of the technology in there. We show, we ask them to copy/demonstrate, we correct, they get it!  Simple, right?  But I'm left wondering if it's a harder task in writin', readin' and rithmetic?

With respect to the reading, writing and arithmetic, I do use some mild forms of formative assessment...grammar, referencing, spelling; basic stuff really...they all inflict a mild bloodlet of sorts when I catch errors.  And one would presume that they would see that which I want and they would react accordingly.  Not so, at least as often as I might like unfortunately but it's still worth a go.  Perhaps a real issue here is that I'm not being imaginative enough in terms of the kinds of dilemmas or issues I should be posing...I'd wager that I'm certainly not devious enough to camouflage them sufficiently either so that students can't perceive them as a test of sorts.  But try I will...I guess I'm so used to spending 80% of my time on 20% of the students whom generate or have problems (Pareto's Principle), that it affecting my judgement in this matter...do what's right for the majority whom will make the effort and worry less about that other 20%.

ISS redux

Egads!  I'm now into the second course ISS5002 with the intent of getting 'em all under my belt this year.  Madness perhaps, but achievable.  Seems to me that what must be done, must be done, and like everything else, we all muster sufficient courage, discipline and whatever else it takes to finish off the beast as it were.  Given that this too is an elective of sorts, one might think me quite mad given the chaos and rampant 'overwhelmedness' that stalks my life, or it is my career?  I'm not sure, the two are inseparable and perhaps I am simply merely built that way (simple that is...)...50's codger if you like.

This first post is past due, so I'd better haul it.  There are a number of questions that each seek an answer:

• What purpose does evaluation/assessment play in your courses?
• How do you think your students view your assessment techniques?
• Do they seem to value them, or is it just a hoop to jump through to get a final mark?
• What do you do with the information you gain from student assessments?  Do you use it to change anything in your course organization or delivery?

Firstly, evaluation is a metric that I use to determine the level of knowledge attainment in my courses. This all might seem a bit droll given our readings thus far, but my stock in trade with these evaluations isn't just to have students regurgitate the facts.  I'd like to think that the questions I ask are nearly always demanding in the sense that they can't just be answered with facts...they require some thinking, some thought, some assembling of data that brings together a diverse set of features, ideas and assumptions into one cogent answer...well mostly.  Do you know how boring it is to read the same darn answer? This happens when you put a student into automatic...read n'regurgitate is how I see it, so even if I need to see something unique, that works!

Secondly, students have been bred in the bone to write a test, get a mark, pass (or fail) a course. Works for me. To some extent, I've done the agonize bit over whether my test are fair or representative of the information we've covered both in and outside of class and whether I get a flippin' normal marks distribution.  I've used stats to get a Bell curve in my marks and I felt awful for it...maybe I DO have a bi-modal distribution in the class!?  Clearly, we all get this part...me test, you write test, I spend hours marking and hopefully we're all content at the end.


Thirdly. we all get a view, along the line...datum points that indicate just how yer doin', eh? Is anyone fooled by the fact that these marks, as we currently use them, are any particularly good indicator of how well someone will do in a given arena of work?  In a career?  In a life? I think not.  I see them in part as candy...relished for a while until you move on to the next challenge.  And I think students see this too.

How do my students see my assessment techniques?  They're really, really long and involved!  I no longer really 'do' T/F or multiple choice...it's all essay baby...all 10-15 of them in a 2 hour beast. Their reflections give me succour in a sense...I have either done my job or have not.  Assemble, craft, create..not regurgitate.  And when they get a good mark, it's because they earned it through hard work.  That's at least what I hope.  I test them monthly, give them assignments monthly and they typically have weekly 'obligations' as I call them. There is a PILE of information and learning that we go through...they have 16 months to cram it all in, have it make sense and get out there and apply it in a career of their choosing. It should be demanding!

There's those darn hoops again.  Depends.  Some students love learning...anything.  Some love specific areas...others must be thinking that 'we' should work to just get them the heck outta there as soon as you can, man...(methinks some of them do wish it was a block course that would terminate, mercifully, in 3 weeks...ingrates!)  When their work is done well, as it so often is by quite a few of them, I love to look at it.  I love to read it.  I am gleeful that they have achieved so much and demonstrated a level of competence that, I must confess, sometimes exceeds my own state of knowledge.  This is art, this is learning, this is a gift...to me.  And then there are the others, the hoop jumpers...disappointing, base, forgetful.

I change my courses as if I am a terminal fidget.  It's me really.  But what drives me, at least in part to change anything and everything, is feedback.  Questions I craft with the greatest of care often fail and don't elicit the information I'm really seeking.  Good questions give me the gusto to go and create variants on a theme.  But change is perpetual and frequently sitting alongside as I view the latest testament to my assessment crafting prowess.