QUESTION: I‘ve gotten to the end of the semester, and I feel like I don‘t know whether my students have actually LEARNED anything or not. I‘m so frustrated!
ANSWER:
Frustrating indeed! But you‘re not alone. Many of us get to the point where we wonder whether we‘re having any impact at all on student learning. Have we really transformed their understanding of our discipline (and the world) or have they just crammed in enough information to pass our exams and forgotten it all the next day?
Research and often our own experience! suggest that this fear is not totally unfounded. I know I got A‘s in college on classes that I couldn‘t even pass if I had to take the final exam again today didn‘t you? But it doesn‘t have to be that way. The trick is not to wait ‘til the end of the semester to find out what students are learning. We need to shape that learning from Day One and assess it early and often.
Shaping student learning starts with the crafting of learning outcomes that identify not only the topics we plan to cover in the class, but specifically what we want students to know and be able to do as the result of having taken the class. For example, instead of saying “In this class we will cover the rhetorical concept of audience,” we say “Students who successfully complete this class will be able to tailor their writing for a variety of audiences”.
The next step is to make sure the assessment of student learning is an ongoing process. If we identify our objectives early, we don‘t want to wait until the end of class to find out what kind of progress students are making toward accomplishing those objectives. Remember, too, that “assessment” doesn‘t have to mean “a test.” In fact, while tests may be the best measurement of some kinds of learning, they may not be the best measurement of other kinds of learning. Certainly they should not be our only measurement of student learning.
Consider integrating quick Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) into your class at least once a week. These can be as simple as asking students to construct analogies: An AUDIENCE is to a TEXT as a [WHAT] is to a [WHAT]? (See the end of this article for links to some good online sources of CATs.)
Consider, too, offering chances for students to get formative rather than summative assessment. The latter is what we traditionally think of as assessment: tests and other performances that affect students’ grades. The former is what we traditionally think of as “feedback”: commentary on drafts of papers, in class responses to student practice and so on. This helps students, but it also helps us get a sense of student progress toward the ultimate goal, the learning objective.
And think outside the box when it comes to summative assessment as well. If your course has 300 students enrolled, multiple choice or short answer examinations may well be the way to go. But how about giving a number of exams throughout the semester and making each one cumulative, even having each test score replace the previous score? In such a system, students can try, come up short, receive feed-back on their efforts, and try again on a subsequent examination (Bain 161).
In smaller classes, consider alternatives to examinations . . . the more real world, the better. Performances, poster presentations, portfolios, whatever approach best demonstrate the extent to which students have met the course objectives. Ask yourself this: What do practitioners in my field DO that uses what they learned in school? Then have your students do the same.
