Embedding Critical Thinking into Course Syllabi and Designing Performance Assessments

Transcription

1 Embedding Critical Thinking into Course Syllabi and Designing Performance Assessments 1. Describe the Student as Learner in Context of the Course and Create Course Outcomes Related to the Critical Thinking Competence. A. Identify the course (level, prerequisites, previous learning experiences, student preparation for next courses). How does this course fit with the rest of the program? B. Briefly describe the Critical Thinking competence and the developmental level of the competence that is applicable to this course. C. Create one critical thinking outcome for the course. 1

2 Learning Outcomes: A set of statements that describe what a student can do with what s/he knows as a result of a set of learning experiences. Questions to Critique Course Outcomes 1. Does the outcome describe complex role performances appropriate for the level of the course and students previous learning experiences? 2. Does it appropriately relate to program outcomes? 3. Does it integrate ability and discipline knowledge, concepts, skills, dispositions? 4. Is it verifiable/assessable? 5. Is it clear and understandable to learners, educators and other stakeholders? 6. Is it realistic and achievable within reasonable timeframes? 2

3 D. Examine the course outcome, using the Questions to Critique Course Outcomes on p.2. Refine the course outcomes as needed. E. Break open the outcome. What does it mean? 2. Plan the Course Including Student Practice. Briefly describe the teaching and learning experiences you will use in this course, paying special attention to how you will integrate critical thinking. 3. The Assessment you re about to design should give students an opportunity to demonstrate the Critical Thinking competence and the course outcome you created in #1D. Also consider other important ideas that are taught in this course but have not yet been articulated as course outcomes. You might want to include some of these other ideas in the assessment you re about to design. 3

4 4. Design the Performance Prompt and Mode A. Choose a Prompt (stimulus or situation) How will you assess for the outcome(s) identified? What do you want the students to do? For example, analyze the impacts of bottled water on the environment and make policy recommendations; in the process, use scientific and mathematical reasoning. B. Determine the Mode -- what do you want them to produce? For example, write a position paper; give an individual or group oral presentation; or produce an I-movie. C. Develop the instructions. 4

5 Examples of Modes of Performance Assessment WRITTEN: Essay, report, case study, in-basket, literary work, letter, field notes, journals ORAL: Individual presentation, group presentation, discussion, interview, debate VISUAL: Video, slide show, I-movie, photograph, painting, poster session, sculptures INTEGRATED: Recital, clinical assessment, exhibit, portfolio, business plan, research project PROCESS: Portfolio, journals, records of observed behavior Questions to Consider in Designing a Performance Prompt 1. Is the prompt clearly related to the course outcome(s)? 2. Does it bring the student close to a situation within which the student will be using the outcome(s) outside the classroom? 3. Does it fit the level of the student? Of the course? 4. Will it engage the student? 5. Will it give the student an opportunity to demonstrate sufficient indicators of the outcome(s)? 6. Does it include directions distinguished from criteria? 5

6 5. Develop Criteria to Judge Student Performance Based upon how you determine you will elicit the course outcome(s), and from your experience of past student performances, identify specific criteria you will use to evaluate student performance. Criteria Qualitative indicators of ability and knowledge as seen in performance. Criteria result from continually breaking open an outcome into components increasingly specific to a context. Criteria need to be specific enough for a student at a given level to understand and use, without being so specific that the performance is limited to following directions. Criteria must include qualitative dimensions of performance. 6

7 Characteristics of Less Effective Criteria o o Merely directions that are not essential components of the learning outcome. E.g., Select a framework to analyze the work; Must be 3-5 pages. Statements without qualitative elements. E.g., present an analysis that includes your hypothesis, a graph of progress, and a summary of results. Examples of Effective Criteria for Specific Assessment OUTOMES IN PSYCHOLOGY Demonstrates critical thinking skills in psychology OUTOMES IN ENGLISH Communicates an understanding of literary criticism, questions its assumptions, and uses its frameworks to analyze and evaluate literature CRITERIA FOR SPECIFIC ASSESSMENT Formulates acceptable hypothesis; Demonstrates accurate application of the principles of operant conditions for the purpose of increasing or decreasing target behaviors. CRITERIA FOR SPECIFIC ASSESSMENT Accurately identifies the organizing concepts and assumptions of 2 schools of literary criticism; Explains how 2 schools of criticism differ in assumptions about the nature of literature; Draws interpretative conclusions about the assigned novel that clearly illustrate the assumptions of a selected school of criticism. Questions to Consider When Critiquing Criteria 1. Are they more specific than the outcome? 2. Are they something you could observe? 3. Is each criterion an integration of ability and knowledge? 4. Do they capture what s important about the learning that you want students to demonstrate? 5. Are they appropriate to the mode and purpose of the assessment? 6. Are they appropriate to the level of the student? 7. Do they contain qualitative descriptors? 8. Could a student meet these criteria in a variety of ways? 9. Together, would they give students a picture of a good performance? 10. Together, do they give you a picture of the outcome(s)? Of the performance you expect on this assessment? 11. Could a student self-assess based on these criteria? 12. Could another assessor judge the performance using these criteria? 7

8 6. How do your planned learning experiences prepare students for the assessment and for developing their critical thinking ability? 7. Answer Some Preliminary Questions on Feedback A. Who will give feedback (instructor, peers, external assessors)? B. How will feedback be given (oral/written/face-to-face, individual/group)? 8

9 Feedback Feedback tells a student how well she is doing from a perspective outside herself. It raises questions that enable her to critique and further develop her ideas. Therefore, we consider feedback essential for each student s improving of her thinking and learning. Like a mirror held up to a student s performance, feedback provides her with matter for both reflection and growth. It can assist her to separate performance from judgment of self. It can reveal strengths and illuminate the basis of weaker aspects of her performance, as well as describe uniqueness. It can suggest where to aim in order to develop an ability. By reinforcing a student s understanding of what she knows and can do, it can motivate her to change and to replace vague hope with realistic goal setting (Alverno College Faculty, 1994, pp ). Purposes of Feedback Describe and judge performance in relation to criteria in order to help the students better understand and analyze their performance using criteria Document distinctive performance Diagnose and prescribe Motivate students Plan for future success feed forward to future performance Warn students Questions to Consider in Giving Feedback 1. Will the feedback incorporate explicit behaviors from the performance? (Is the student able to make links between what s/he did and what you are communicating about the performance?) How useful is the feedback over time? 2. Will the feedback explain your judgments about performance, using criteria and explicit evidence? 3. Will the feedback be timely? 4. Will the feedback be focused, clear, and well organized? Will it communicate what the student needs to do next (what, when, where)? 5. Will the feedback make suggestions that reinforce effective performance and that identify areas for development that could lead to a learning plan? 6. Will the feedback document distinctive performance? ( Distinctive may be relative, considering factors such as the student s developmental progress in the course.) 7. Will the feedback focus on the amount of information the student can use rather than all you have? 8. Will the feedback affirm, describe, suggest alternatives, and ask questions rather than scold, edit, or impose the instructor s style? 9. Will the feedback be legible and written in words the student can understand? 9

10 8. Explore Implications For Improvement And Program Evaluation After you have administered the assessment and received students work: A. What patterns emerge in your examination of student performances on the assessment? B. From your analysis, are there implications for improving the assessment? Your teaching? Your program? General Education? Reference Alverno College Faculty. (1994). Student Assessment-as-Learning at Alverno College. Milwaukee, WI: Alverno College Institute. 10