This week was spent studying rubrics. I think I had a pretty good idea how that was going to work. But, I think it will take quite a bit of teaching to really tailor make them for student learning. One of the things I want to measure is the learner’s ability to think critically and analytically about an ill-structured problem. Assessment helps us do this.
There are many similarities between formative and summative assessment. In our readings authors Black and Wiliam (1998) have stated short tests are far more productive than long comprehensive tests at the end of the course. The following ideas of Black and Wiliam were taken from, The Concept of Formative Assessment written by Carol Boston whose paper was based on experts in the field:
- Frequent short tests are better than infrequent long ones.
- New learning should be tested within about a week of first exposure.
- Be mindful of the quality of test items and work with other teachers and outside sources to collect good ones.
Interestingly, I spent 10 years in the university system of which five were spent as an undergraduate and five as a graduate student. Most of the learning of concepts and “big ideas” were assessed through term finals. It was a horrible way to learn. It took days to go back through all the points and ideas presented in lectures. I did not sleep for three days at a time before finals (without the help of drugs) and crashed for 24 hours after the final was taken.
Since writing, critical thinking and analysis was the main focus of my studies in Political Science, I was groomed from the time I declared a major until the time I left my doctoral studies, to write tomes. These were original pieces on researched hypotheses. My work was torn to pieces by my committees. They were written and re-written for months at a time. Yet, these were the most useful forms of assessment, since I could see the under-developed ideas and where I needed to make changes. Today, however, I would never put students through this rigorous process of formative assessment (however, I will leave that for their editors at some future date). There were no rubrics and there was no way of knowing, besides the tests and the grades on them, whether I was on the right track or not.
I think the only Capstone experience I can think of was my oral tests and final tests and the defense of my papers with my committee members. Today, an on-line portfolio seems like a thing of beauty to me. Not only can the student see their progress weekly by participating in discussions in a variety of Web 2.0 applications and writing their blogs ; but they can use it as a Capstone resume for showcasing their work at the end of their degree and/or for a certification program. Even projects at the end of a course can be Capstone pieces. In the end, the students decide what they want to offer future employers as evidence of their accomplishments.
In thinking about the short-comings of portfolios or Capstone portfolios, I suppose it depends on how well the student learned the necessary and required elements in the course or how good a researcher and writer they are. When I think about on-line portfolios, I tend to see the positive; because each blog is a re-cap of what they have learned or did not learn during the module week. I would require them weekly and doing so would help me assess where they are at. The perk for the student, is the fact they are handling smaller chunks of information, they can always refer back to if needed. This type of assessment can be both formative and summative. Why, because I would comment on them and let them know what they might have missed, over-looked or just not understood. I particularly like the meta-cognitive blogs we do as part of this course for that reason; it gives us a chance to reflect on our work and how we got to where we are and where we still have to go.
I am giving you an example of my rubric idea. I would modify it for my learners. Since I want them to become excellent researchers and think critically and analytically about current issues, my rubric was taken from the ideas presented by the University of Wisconsin-Stout. I have modified it a bit to fit my thinking and needs.
JOYSTECHTOOL 
Joy, I liked the way you showcased your course rubric on a video! I would have liked to see your categories and the language you used at the various levels, but alas, my eyes can’t see such small print, even with glasses! I think your students will like the formative feedback they get each week as they write their blogs–that is a great idea! It is always fun to read what you write in your posts–as you know, I see so much depth, sometimes an alternate viewpoint, but YOU and your passion always shine through!
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Thank you for your comments. I appreciate them, as always. If you hit the button at the lower right hand corner of the video it enlarges the video so you can see it. It is in HD so if your computer is not, it might seem blurry. I don’t know since my screen is HD.
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I’ve been fussing ever since we talked, worried about how you’d confront the problem of doing a rubric, not having taught. And you did just the right thing–adapting/adopting. This is how all us teachers start out–using tools that are “out there” to get ourselves started, then adapting them over time so they end up being completely our own. If you wanted to do a bit of practice on your own, you might try using the rubric on some of our EDUC 252 blog posts to get a feel for what the evaluation process is like. You might end up revising this rubric so it more closely fits with the blog postings we’re doing here. Because I’ve set few limits on what qualifies as “good” for us, you could set your own standards. As I work on this idea, I’m thinking it might be really useful for you. Choose a couple you think are excellent, a couple that are good, but not as stellar, and well-who would suggest that any work done here is weak?? Then start describing to yourself the difference between stellar and good posts.
As if you needed me to give you more work . . . . But it WOULD be a great exercise.
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Actually, I have been doing this. Granted not with a rubric; but as a scholar. When I saw the one rubric on Twitter posts, it got me started. I would expect students posts will be a bit different since they are not instructors. I am amazed at how some of the posts do not consider an audience that may not be just from our class. But, I know not everyone has been coached to write the way lawyers and political scientists have to, in order to be published and taken seriously in their professions. Great Idea!
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Joy – I liked the idea of how the portfolio could be a capstone activity. It is a final gathering of all that is learned in a class, but I hadn’t considered it as a tool for conclusion. I usually think of the capstone as a “big idea project”, but there is no reason it can’t be cummulative.
A video approach to the rubric is interesting. I think this would be a great way to introduce the rubric, especially with elearning when students are asynchrounously engaging in the program and may want a reference. I’d also offer this along with a hard copy.
Ann
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That is an excellent idea! Thanks Ann for your comments and ideas.
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