PIDP 3230 Assignment #3 – Informal Assessment Strategy Option B
Transcript
Using electronic tools for formative assessment and instructor evaluation offers a lot of advantages in a time when we are teaching in an online or hybrid format already.
When I read through the formative assessment section of the textbook (Cross, 1993) I found a lot of interesting approaches. Some of them would be suitable for our trades classes, and some are more appropriate for academic courses. The book is from 1993 when few people had even email addresses and we accessed the internet via slow dial-up modems. Today we live in a society that is always connected and we communicate using various electronic tools regularly.
Even in trades education, we teach many classroom sessions online or in a hybrid model.
All of the tests and classroom materials are distributed on learning management platforms like Moodle.
The Assessment Strategy I would like to focus on is number 43 Teacher Designed Feedback Forms. Specifically electronically submitted, anonymous feedback forms.
Formative feedback is an important tool to inform both the students and the instructor of the effectiveness of the instruction. Especially in an online teaching environment, it is difficult to judge how our instruction is received. Getting timely feedback means the instructor can see how they are perceived by the students and can use the information to make changes.
We already have self-marking quizzes and tests built into our Moodle classroom. The problem with using these for feedback would be that they are linked with the students’ accounts and therefore are not anonymous. The same goes for a solution that collects responses by email. When honest, personal feedback is desired, we need a method that can’t be traced back to an individual student.
In this video, I want to introduce how to use Google Forms to collect this feedback.
This strategy works best in an online or hybrid teaching context. But it could also work in a classroom or workshop setting because we can assume that every student has access to the internet.
Google Forms could also be used to collect other formative assessment information. But the desire for an anonymous response would not allow us to support individual students that need help in certain areas. For this, a Learning Management System like Moodle is better suited.
To design a useful feedback form we need to focus on questions that address alterable variables. We aim to improve our teaching and get information that helps us to become more effective. If we examine every question with this goal in mind we will also be able to limit the number of questions to a manageable amount.
How do we provide feedback to our students and show that their responses helped? This is where Google Forms really shines. The tool tallies responses in graphs and a spreadsheet that we can easily share with those that responded to the questionnaire. Those should be shared either automatically after they provided feedback or in class later.
References
Cross, T. A. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, 2nd Edition. Jossey-Bass.
Huett, J. (2014, June). Email as an Educational Feedback Tool: Relative Advantages and Implementation Guidelines. Retrieved from https://itdl.org/: https://itdl.org/Journal/Jun_04/article06.htm
Keeler, A. (2020, April 11). Google Forms Find Student Responses from Google Classroom. Retrieved from YouTube: https://youtu.be/2wKBce1jsT8
LeClair, T. (2020, Oct 7). Feedback & Assessment for Blended Learning. Retrieved from YouTube: https://youtu.be/MDAw61sUzt0
Zhu, C. (2012, 10). Providing formative feedback to students via emails and feedback strategies based on student metacognition. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264974551_Providing_formative_feedback_to_students_via_emails_and_feedback_strategies_based_on_student_metacognition:
