I am very glad this part of my assignment is over! Creating a rubric for a course you are proposing, but have never taught, is like trying to pour milk into a an eye drop container with a blind fold on your eyes. I have racked my brain trying to come up with a way to measure blogs that have both summative and formative components in them. I think it takes more than one form of assessment to keep students or learners on track throughout a course. It has been quite a challenge for me.
One of the best things I did this week was meeting with a fellow student, one I consider a friend, and spending time with her discussing the course, this week’s module and ‘big ideas.” I value her judgment, because she has taught and has insights far beyond mine. She likes to tell me how accomplished I am; yet, she is actually projecting some of her competencies on me. I respect her opinions and insights; but, I also think often times we are our own worst critics. I wonder if we’re puzzling out just what genius means.
There was nothing particularly challenging about the module this week; until…I hit the part of designing a rubric around an imaginary course. Trying to convey to students what you want them to achieve, by using a rubric is a high level task and to do it right will take a lot of trial and error. It is challenging, frustrating and will probably never really be finished. Nevertheless, I think rubrics should always be improved upon. I am excited about the thought of using rubrics in my on-line course. I have spent a lot of time refining and thinking about what I really want to teach and why.
Assessment is the building block I had hoped would help me build the course I am designing. Now that I have contemplated the rubric and started creating it, I am wondering if it really will help me teach and assess my learners in the ways I hope to do so. I suppose time will answer those questions for me.
This task has helped me understand why Backward Design makes sense. I think the idea was way beyond its time and will serve instructors and teachers for years to come…or until something even better comes along in the world of education. Having to deal with each step of the design is no small task. Doing it in small chunks seems to prove the point Black and Wiliam made when they said testing small chunks of learning within a week helps the learner do the very tasks we are asking of them and helps keep them in their long term memory for a longer period of time. I am not about to forget anything I learned in this course and the others in the certification program.
This video is a bit long; nevertheless, I highly recommend watching it.
JOYSTECHTOOL 
Major green checkmark! From what you write I infer that you’re now really struggling with what it’s like to be a teacher. Not that I’m a sadist, but I’m delighted to see this: it’s the most important work.
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LOL! You cannot imagine in your worst nightmare the struggle this is for me. I have been out of the university system just long enough to have had everything I know changed and turn toward backward design. While I love the concept, it is difficult making my mind bend in the way it needs to. Actually, I taught morality and ethics to grade school and high school students for many years. We had teacher’s manuals and everything was pretty much set out for us…to set up a course with. I have seen many of the things talked about, when it comes to student behavior. Holding the attention of Catholic high school students, sitting in a class they were forced to take, was difficult. I had not been to the university at the time (I was taking classes at our local University, undeclared) and refused to go into education when I finally was, because of the experiences I had teaching.
Oddly enough, I used summative to a limited extent and formative assessment without knowing what it was. My main objective was to get them to gather researched information on a moral issue and after this process make a moral decision (like teenage sexual activity) when they knew the facts and what position the church took and why. The decision had to take into consideration what was the kindest thing for everyone involved. Then they were to face it and defend their position. The following week we had a class round table discussion to clarify the different ideas that were brought up in the process of making the decision. This was done in a non-judgmental environment. Next they had to answer open end questions on the test. I spent a lot of time making comments on their papers and re-thinking if I was getting through to them.
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