Assessment Methods that Promote Student Learning - Workshop Series
Are you looking for ways to encourage students to develop a deeper understanding of your course material? Would you like to design assignments that can be consistently graded, emphasize learning and application, and discourage cheating and student shortcuts? Do you want to develop courses that motivate students to learn, reduce grading time, and result in meaningful grades? The CTLO Assessment Workshop Series provides faculty and instructors a collaborative environment to learn about and draft learning objectives that encourage higher-order thinking, explore alternative grading methods like specifications grading, and create specific and informative grading rubrics. Participants can attend one or all of the workshops. Lunch will be provided.
Workshop #1: Promoting and Assessing Higher-Order Thinking Skills: Marzano's Taxonomy
Marzano's taxonomy has been developed as an alternative to Bloom's taxonomy specifically because it is focused on cognitive processes, rather than the complexity of the task. In this workshop we learn about the cognitive levels of retrieval, comprehension, analysis, and knowledge utilization and how this taxonomy is well-suited to STEM-course learning objectives and assessments. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to write learning objectives and assessment questions that differentiate between lower-order you and higher order thinking processes.
Date: Jan. 17, noon-1:30pm
Location: CTLO Large Room Workshop – Center for Student Services Rm. 360
Workshop #2: No More Partial Credit – An Introduction to Specifications Grading
Specifications grading is an alternative grading scheme for courses that gives students a specific set of tasks (specifications or specs) that must be completed to earn a certain letter grade. Proponents argue that it increases student motivation to turn in high-quality work, decreases student cheating, reduces instructor grading time, deepens student learning, creates a less adversarial faculty/student relationship, increases rigor, and deepens learning. In this workshop, we'll learn the basics of specifications grading and draft ways you might adapt your course to this type of grading model.
Date: Jan. 31, noon-1:30pm
Location: CTLO Large Room Workshop – Center for Student Services Rm. 360
Workshop #3: Creating Grading Rubrics
Grading rubrics provide a clear and explicit set of grading criteria for students to follow and for instructors and Tas to use for grading. They not only allow for very consistent grading of student work, but also can be used to guide and improve student performance. In this workshop, participants will learn how to create and grade with a rubric for a variety of types of assignments (projects, posters, essays, etc.). We'll explore best practices and things to avoid and then draft a rubric for an assignment from your course.
Date: Feb. 21, noon-1:30pm
Location: CTLO Large Room Workshop – Center for Student Services Rm. 360