Planning for learning is, according to Wiggins & McTighe (2005), “to be more thoughtful and specific about our purposes and what they imply” (p. 14). Using a planning methodology such as the backward design of Wiggins and McTighe (2005), is a great place to start. When designing assessment methods, thought needs to be given to the purpose of the assessment, and those that are being assessed. Despite the pitfalls outlined by Brown (2001), I believe the challenge I will have in the assessment methods I choose, is that they will be used with teachers. Teachers, and learning, and feedback, and improvement, are all words intricately woven into perceptions of self-efficacy for teachers. After all, teaching learners is what teachers do. In order to assess for the planned learning objectives, I am going to need to build motivation for “student” improvement in such a way that sets aside performance posturing/anxiety/paralysis and helps them forget, for the moment, that they are teachers [read: are learning].
References
Brown, G. (2001). Assessment series 3. Assessment: a guide for lecturers. LTSN Generic Centre: York.
Wiggins, G. McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books?id=hL9nBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
Hi Keri;
I have a similar issue with my audience. My learners are all practicing healthcare professionals. They take great pride in what they already know. Continuing education is supposed to be an opportunity for them to improve their knowledge and skills, but it has to be a safe environment for learning where they never feel that their professional expertise is being called into question.
It can sometimes feel like walking on egg shells.
Good luck!
Tanya
Hi Keri and Tanya,
I think when you have an audience like yours, it is a perfect opportunity to use the feedback in the quiz to provide “teachable moments.” Instead of saying “right” and “wrong”, use the feedback mechanism to explain further.
Long time ago, I was working on an online course for teaching soft skills. For every question, I had three possible answers (right, wrong and maybe), but I used the icons instead of words and then usually the whole paragraph as a response, e.g. something like: “This is a great response because…”, or “this could be an option but may not be the best in this situation…,” or “your response may have the opposite effect if you put it like that. Think about…” and so on. It took me a lot of time to create all the questions, but students/participants loved the assessment. There were no grades attached (which was also helpful) and they could take it as many times as they liked. Even if they got the question right, they soon realized that it is good to check why other responses were not the preferred ones.
As I mentioned in my response to Danielle’s posting, I like essay type questions more than MCQs, but MCQ have their own space and purpose.
Natasha
Hi Tanya,
Sorry about the length of time in reply . . . the school week is always so, so, so busy. I wanted to reply about something I found 3 days ago in a Spanish textbook at Simon Fraser University. At the end of each chapter, the ‘review box’ was a reflection/checkbox for various verbs/structures etc. One checkbox was titled “confident” and the other, “review.” To which I thought “This is so Perfect” for adult learners!!
I know my description is lacking but do you think this would be useful for your situation?
Keri
Hi Keri,
Great thoughts about working with teachers. The adult-to-adult professional relationship is a delicate one. As a technology/pedagogy coach, I agree that teacher professionalism must always be at the forefront of our assessment of growth when we work with colleagues. Being a young teacher myself, I try to make it clear that there is a reciprocity of learning in my relations with them – I learn as much from their years of experience or classroom techniques as they may learn from my technological know-how or pedagogical modelling. Levelling that playing field always seems to ease the anxiety of needing to “keep up” and then the path is clearer to work toward common goals together.
Establishing qualitative feedback and support methods is difficult in these situations because it’s extremely humbling to have progress critiqued (whether positively or negatively) by a colleague. Unless there is a solid relationship between the two parties, it could feel overwhelming, embarrassing, diminishing, or any series of other socially awkward emotions. Some level of humility needs to be present in professionalism, too; just because we’re professionals doesn’t mean we know everything either. Owning up to our own strengths and weaknesses through self-assessment is part of the equation and supported heavily by leadership and development of a positive workplace culture. Of course, this fine balance needs to also be struck by folks like you and me who altruistically want to support our colleagues in professional growth.
Victoria
Hi Victoria,
Adult-to-adult professional relationships are additionally complicated by absence. For this I am thinking of my situation. Being at two schools I sometimes miss conversations that I would like to be in on. However, that being stated, I sometimes miss out on awkward conversations too.
The reason I mention this is that I think this “absence” or lack of “presence” affects one’s online learning experience. There are some things that are good about being face to face. There are some things good about not being face to face. I guess one could parallel this to the a/synchronous conversation/thread. There are strengths and drawbacks to all things. The trick is finding the best for each.
It is report card time . . . and you are off 🙂
Keri 🙂
Hi Keri,
These are great points – it’s really hard with some of the assignments supporting teachers like yourself get. I was lucky to be at the same school, but that might not always be the same case for me.
And yes – I’m off! Phew 🙂 On a plane back to Canada tomorrow evening!
Cheers,
Victoria