This is the presentation on Learning Goals for FTEP at CU-Boulder by Kathy Perkins and Stephanie Chasteen, February 22 2012.
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Students don’t always learn what it is that we intend to teach them. In several science departments, faculty are addressing this gap by collaboratively deciding on just what it is that they want students to take away from a particular course or lecture. These learning goals have been valuable as a communication tool among faculty and between faculty and students so that everybody knows what the outcomes of the course are meant to be. Once these goals are written, it’s also much easier to write exams and other assessments. But writing clear learning goals takes some practice. In this interactive workshop, you’ll get that practice – in defining goals and designing assessments that address those goals. You will work in groups with faculty from similar disciplines to generate and analyze goals and questions, and will discus how to put ongoing assessment of your students into practice. You are encouraged to work on a class you are currently teaching, so you can apply the techniques immediately.
Web & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdf
What Do You Want Them To Learn Today? Learning Goals and Formative Assessment
1. What do you want them to learn today?
WRITING LEARNING GOALS TO
DRIVE INSTRUCTION & ASSESSMENT
Dr. Stephanie V. Chasteen
Dr. Kathy Perkins
Physics Department
&
Science Education Initiative
Univ. of Colorado at Boulder
http://colorado.edu/sei
Web and blog: http://sciencegeekgirl.com
Email: stephanie.chasteen@colorado.edu
2. Our approach to
course transformation
Establish Using Research
learning goals & Assessment
Faculty & Staff
Apply research-based
teaching techniques.
Measure progress!
3. At the end of this workshop
You will be able to…
Develop and communicate your learning goals clearly
for a given topic
Characterize learning goals or assessments using
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Recognize the value of aligning assessments with goals
4. Let’s get our brains on topic
CASE STUDY: Frustrated student 5 minutes
Think – pair – share
What issues might be contributing to this situation?
Do the assessments give the student any feedback
about what they understand while they are learning
about this topic?
Does the student appear to understand what is
expected of her?
What suggestions do you have for the professor?
Have you faced a similar challenge?
6. Outcomes should drive assessment & instruction
Where
Where
you at? you
goin’ to?
“Backwards design”
Atkin, Black, & Coffey 2001; Otero & Nathan 2008
7. But how do we measure outcomes?
How do you know when you know something?
How do you know when your students know
something?
How do your students know when they know
something?
Buzzword: Metacognition
8. People often don’t know what they don’t know
AND/OR
Think they know something but don’t!
MISCONCEPTIONS
Private Universe
(http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html)
9. Misconceptions can drive instruction
If a camera crew making a
documentary on student
misconceptions were to question your
students at the end of your course or
the end of your degree program, what
would you be most embarrassed to
find out that they didn’t know?
These should be your top goals
10. Learning goals
• Definition:What students should be able to do after
completing a course
• Requirement:Must be measurable
assessment and goals tightly linked
Your goals should reflect what you value in student
learning
Often, students never know what your goals are!
11. Learning Goals are different than a syllabus
Syllabus/ Topic List Learning goals:
• Material covered (and time Outcome and student oriented:
spent)
• Identifies what students will be
able to do as a result of learning
• Defines what students are
expected to learn
Learning Goals (for a whole course) can be broad.
At the topic or lecture level, the learning objectives
should be more specific
12. Goals at different levels
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Course-scale learning goals
(~5 to 10 per course)
Topic-scale learning goals (~2-5
per topic)
Class-scale learning goals(~2-3
per class period)
Consistent & aligned
13. But what does “understanding” mean?
How do we define goals?
1. What are the different types of knowledge
we want students to have?
2. At what level do we want that knowledge to
be?
14. #1: Types of knowledge (learning goals)
FACTS: What type of understanding do you want them to gain?
Terminology, information, details
CONCEPTS
Classifications, categories, principles, models, reasoning.
Analyze, explain, and predict the world around you
PROCEDURES:
Skills, techniques, methods, problem-solving.
Thinking like a scientist: Use alternative representations, compare
and contrast, strategize, justify, design an experiment, create a
graph.
METACOGNITIVE
Self-awareness about what helps you learn; studying & learning
strategies.
AFFECTIVE (attitudes & beliefs):
Appreciate, enjoy, value. Recognize that the behavior of the world
around you is not magical and mysterious, but rather can be
understood and predicted using certain fundamental principles.)
Handout
15. #2: Levels of knowledge
Bloom’sTaxonomy, 1956
What level of understanding do you want them to gain?
Higher-level
cognitive skills
Higher cognitive orders
(HOCS)
Lower cognitive orders
(LOCS)
Lower-level
cognitive skills
16. EXERCISE #2: Exam Dissection
Use 3-5 questions on 7 minutes
one of your exams
Work alone or in pairs
First, determine the Type of Cognitive Process Level (Bloom’s)
Knowledge Type of Knowledge
1
Remember
2
Understan
3
Apply
4
Analyze
5
Evaluate
6
Synthesize
the question
d
A. Factual
knowledge
Then, determine the B.
Bloom’s Level of that
Conceptual
knowledge
C. Procedural
question knowledge
(skills)
For each question, D. Meta-
cognitive
mark the appropriate
knowledge
E. Attitudes
box and beliefs
17. Intro Astronomy
Course-level learning goal Class-scale learning goal
Content: Explain the role of Analyze the phases of the
natural forces in the moon by using computer
universe simulations and constructing a
Skills: Interpret simulations model.
and data
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18. Human Genetics for non-majors
Course-level learning goal Specific learning goal
Content: Demonstrate how Predict the probability of
meiosis leads to diversity in generating sperm and egg cells
the next generation with specific chromosomal
Skills: Become better problem makeup. (Blooms level 3), and
solvers explain how these cells are
produced (Blooms level 2).
13
19. Check-list for creating class-scale learning goals:
Is goal expressed in terms of what the student
will achieve or be able to do?
Is the Bloom’s level of the goal aligned with your
actual expectations?
Is the goal well-defined? Is it clear how you would
measure achievement?
Do chosen verbs have a clear meaning?
Is terminology familiar/common? If not, is the
terminology a goal?
Is it relevant and useful to students? (e.g.
connected to their everyday life OR does it
represent a useful application of the ideas).
Handout
20. Intro Physics
Original L.G.
Understand how energy,
frequency and wavelength
are related.
New L.G. Advantages
Compare and contrast Higher level. Defines
electromagnetic waves understanding. Encourages
(e.g., gamma and radio) in critical thinking as well as
terms of energy, memorization.
wavelength, frequency,
and relevant applications.
Image: Michael Ströck (mstroeck)
21. Goals can be revised for clarity or to address higher
goal
Journalism Learning Goal
Understand the essential
features of a newspaper
article.
Revised Learning Goal Advantages
Analyze and contrast the Operationalized. Higher
structures of a newspaper level goal. Encourages
article, a news broadcast, comparison. Requires
and an online news site application of knowledge.
Higher level of Bloom’s: Write a mission statement for your career as a
journalist.
15 Learning Goal credit: Sandra Fish. Image by Tkgd2007 on Wikimedia
22. Work on your learning goals with your partner
15 minutes
Individually, using one exam question that you brought
with you, write a topic-level learning goal that this
question would assess. (Keep a copy of this first try).
Share your learning goal with your partner, and use
your white boards to work on revising each LG.
Compare the current wording of the LG to the
guidelines we have provided (identify the “level” of
this LG, and whether it is too broad or too narrow).
Discuss how the LG could be rewritten to better
state your true goal.
Then, for the topic you have been discussing, write a
LG that is one or more level(s) higher on Bloom’s.
Note: You can use the verbs and model questions on the “Bloom’s Taxonomy
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handout to help you.
23. Share your learning goals with another group
18
10 minutes
Do the learning goals make sense to someone who
didn’t write them?
Do they meet the checklist guidelines?
How might the learning goals be improved?
From the LGs you discuss, pick one that underwent
improvement to share with whole group
24. Share the process of creating
learning goals with your group
• What was the exam question you started with?
• What was your original LG?
• How did the goal change through discussion?
• What was difficult about this process and what
did you learn through your discussion?
• Questions?
19
25. Now you’ve got learning goals. How do you
integrate this with your course?
• When would you write your learning
goals?
• When do you refer to your written
learning goals?
• How does this help you decide what
to do in your class time?
• How does this help you decide what
to put on your homework?
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26. How do we align goals and assessment?
Outcomes should drive assessment & instruction
Where Are we
Where
you at? you there
goin’ to? yet?
Atkin, Black, & Coffey 2001; Otero & Nathan 2008
27. What assessments should I use?
To find the answer to that, you need to consider
•What are assessments
that align with my
learning goals and key
concepts?
•What kinds of
outcomes can I
measure?
Image: Gabriel Pollard
28. Why care about assessment?
Assessment is more than grades, it is feedback
for students and instructors and it drives
student learning
(National Institute for Science Education, 1999)
Ongoing assessment plays a key role –
possibly the most important role – in shaping
classroom standards and increased learning
gains”
– Black and Wiliam, 1998
29. When can we assess students?
Course-scale: Before or after a course.
Class-scale: Before, during, or at the end of a class
A bit of Jargon:
Formative vs.
Summative Assessment
30. What are some assessment methods?
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FORMATIVE, IN-CLASS SUMMATIVE EVALUATION
Concept Tests / Clickers
Minute Papers Quizzes
Just in Time Teaching Exams
Listening to student discussion in class Oral presentations
Weekly / Daily Surveys Poster symposia
White-boarding activities
In-class work / Tutorials SUMMATIVE FEEDBACK
Case studies
Conceptual surveys
Ranking / ordering tasks
Attitude surveys
Think-pair-share.
Student-designed reading assessments
OTHERS FORMATIVE, OUT OF CLASS
Homework
Discussion boards
31. Alignment– an example:
Broader Learning goals:
• Use graphs as part of thought processes
• Recognize equilibrium points & determine if stable
Formative Summative
Measurable Assessment Assessment
Outcomes (Instruction) (Exams)
Interpret graphs Tutorial with Which of these
of potential topographic points is
energy maps. Where stable? Why?
will dislodged
Predict behavior boulder roll?
Relate to U.
32. How do we align goals and assessment?
Instruction &
Form. Assess.
Formative Summative &
assessment Learning
goals formative
assessment
Where Are we
Where
you at? you there
goin’ to? yet?
Atkin, Black, & Coffey 2001; Otero & Nathan 2008
33. Assessments communicate your intent
If you test them on facts, then that is what
they will study
Does this process change how you think about your exams?
?
34.
35. Questions?
Please fill out action plan and evaluation
Note the “take-home” exercises in packet
Much more at:
per.colorado.edu
stem.colorado.edu
www.colorado.edu/sei
phet.colorado.edu
www.colorado.edu/istem
Editor's Notes
Why are you hereHow many HS
While the departments designed the proposals, the SEI project constrained the sorts of activities the funding could support. SEI allowed work focusing on course transformation, targeting 3 areas. First, identifying what students should learn? This involves establishing well-defined, faculty-consensus learning goals for courses … that is, identifying what students should be able to *do* at the end of a course. The process often involves successive meetings of faculty working groups and faculty interviews. The second area involves examining what students are actually learning using research and assessment methodologies, including student interviews, observations, and surveys. Information from these 2 areas are then used to inform identifying which instructional approaches improve student learning – specifically achievement of the key learning goals identified by faculty. Here faculty incorporate new proven pedagogical approaches such as interactive lectures, modified HW and group learning. A key component is measuring progress – that is measuring achievement of the learning goals, and using the information on student learning to inform future improvements! Faculty time is already squeezed and so the SEI funding provides the resources to hire the Science Teaching Fellows who partner with faculty on this effort.
Some of your objectives may be content-independent (ie, skills!)
Discussion – are exam questions addressing range of goals? Are learning goals that narrow? Or are assessments not reflecting the goals?
Summer = course scale.Weekly = topic scale. Lecture scale = selected from topic scale. Put on slide. Minimize content for that day.
Model each one of these. What are some ways to ask questions? One is to ask rhetorically.Class, what’s another way to ask a question? Target the whole class.John, what’s another way? Target someone else.Are there other ways to ask a question? Let’s think about it. Target class: verbally, clickers, other waysTarget someone in particular: randomly, in seating order, call on particular personWait and then…. Call on volunteers, call on someone who hasn’t volunteered, answer own question
During each section, ask people for examples of questions that they wrote that fall into this category. Give clicker booklet for responding.Point out the handout where each one is detailed more.
One of themes of this year’s workshop: implementation