In summer 2020, I attended a Grading Alternatives webinar put on by the Teaching Innovation Center (TIC) . Josh Caulkins (previous Assistant Director) and Sarah Prosory (Instructional Designer) shared a number of intriguing ideas that, for better or for worse, I decided to try to implement in my spring “boutique” course Parasites and Their Relatives. The big one is specifications grading. This idea has been featured in this Inside Higher Ed article, this Robert Talbert, Ph.D . article, and more fully in the book Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time  by Linda B. Nilson. (No, I did not read the book.) The essential philosophy is to make grades more like badges, like indications of a completed contract, and less like value judgments. All assessments are considered either “complete” or “incomplete” according to a detailed rubric. The final letter grade is based on a predefined basket of completes, with the number and/or level of asse...

How do you know if your assessments are inclusive? How can you reconsider your assessments to make them more inclusive? Last week, we learned from K. Supriya, Ph.D. , Postdoctoral Researcher in the ASU School of Life Sciences , on ways we can assess our assessments for inclusiveness.  During the webinar we discussed the purpose of assessments in class, examined the various assessment practices we have experienced as students or teachers in various STEM courses with a critical lens, and then came up with an assessment plan for a course we will/might teach in the future.  Watch the discussion here . Purpose of Assessment Let's consider the differences between assessment and evaluation. The purpose of assessment is to increase quality, as seen in formative quizzes, building upon each other. The purpose of evaluation is to judge quality, which is seen more as summative or at the end of the unit or course.  Define Inclusive Assessment Two definitions that Dr. K. Supriya shared...

Given the challenges we are facing this semester in light of the pandemic, rethinking our exams is essential for the success of our students. Stress, anxiety, and navigating a new modality creates a perfect storm that may derail many of our students and their ability to do well in our courses. This is the time to rethink the design of our assessments to ensure our students are engaged and learning the skills and knowledge we want them to learn. Recently, Josh Caulkins and Sarah Prosory examined several options for adjustments to your exams, some of which may take a small amount of time to implement but may have a big impact overall. Unpack Multiple Choice Question Exams We began with a poll: "What ways do you currently evaluate student learning in your course(s)?" Multiple choice was the leader with 89% of participants using them within their courses. A discussion followed describing the benefits and drawbacks of multiple choice questions (MCQ).  Concerns and Challenges Hig...

As we arrive at the middle of the Fall semester, the Teaching Innovation Center team wants to share the upcoming events that have been planned for you. This semester we have partnered with the RISE Center to learn more about inclusiveness and how we can improve. We also recognize in this COVID era, the need to shift from what we have always done to making adjustments to our course design. This means rethinking assessments! Below is an overview of the upcoming events, and we hope to see you there!  Language Matters: Considering Racial Microaggressions in Science Thursday, October 8th 11:30am-12:30pm PST Zoom:  https://asu.zoom.us/j/97235381892    Facilitated by Colin Harrison ,Georgia Tech and Kimberly Tanner , San Francisco State University Join us for an interactive session where we will explore ways in which racial microaggressions manifest themselves in science. We will discuss what microaggressions are and how they affect underrepresented individuals in an acade...

What  makes a good question? How do you write effective answer distractors? Is feedback really used on exams? What tools can be used  to engage students with questions and answers? These questions and more were addressed in this week's Teach Talk Webinar, presented by Katrina Fogelson and Sarah Prosory .  What Makes a Good Question? We need better questions to go beyond simply assessing a student's understanding. As instructors, we should be checking a student's ability to apply the material in a meaningful way.  Starting with Bloom's Hopefully you’ve learned about objectives by now, but in brief: learning objectives help answer the question, "what do I want students to be able to do upon completion of this lesson/topic/module?" Learning objectives are one of the foundational pieces to designing and developing a learning experience. Everything in the course should tie back to them, especially assessments. So, why do we need to think about objectives when we a...

Despite the best efforts of the instructor or designer of a course, instructional efforts can often fall flat due to poor planning and implementation. Courses are often designed around learning materials rather than around what skills or knowledge students should have at the end of the course. This can potentially lead to disengagement from students, content bloat, burdened student cognitive loads, and ineffectual or sub-premium learning experiences. Backward Design, formalized and outlined by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe , aims to alleviate this issue through planning and consideration designed around student learning outcomes. In this TeachT@lk, Jeremy Hopper and Haily Tyler discuss the benefits of the Backward Design framework. Where to Begin? As the name would suggest, backward design starts at the end and works backward. In this case, the end is the learning objectives or learning goals. In other words, what the students should know or be able to do by the end of the course. ...

This week's TeachT@lk webinar focused on a common issue at ASU, our large classes. Often faculty have 100+ students, and are overwhelmed at the end of the semester with grading. Our objective with this webinar was to share some different ideas about assessment that might make it a bit easier. I was joined by Lynda Mae from Psychology and Jason Neenos from the University Technology Office. We started with some tips to use online exams, even for face-to-face classes, that build on Bloom's taxonomy, and some sample questions. We also shared ideas about protecting integrity by randomizing questions, limiting times, browser lockdown and passwords. One interesting tip for multiple choice exams is that research shows that 30 seconds per item prevents cheating and does not tend to lower  performance. Of course, instructors may need to modify that number depending on the type of question. We also discussed an often controversial topic of group exams. We focused on a few differe...

Chris Sheehan from the University Technology Office hosted our TeachT@lk Webinar this week with information for faculty on the benefits of using digital portfolios with classes. Chris started with a discussion of High Impact Practices (HIPs) for engaging students. The top 10 examples are considered essential to student success, like Undergrad Research Projects, Service Learning and Capstone projects. All of these practices can be combined in a digital portfolio, which makes digital portfolios the " Eleventh High Impact Practice " Benefits for students include: Showcase relevant projects and growth, and skills that aren't easily measured Used to apply for internships, scholarships, employment Reflections allow students to share their own voice and perspective Peer-to-peer collaboration and assessments Stays with student after graduation Benefits for the institution include: Increase student engagement and value for degree Long term archive of student work...

This week's TeachT@lk Webinar focused on our summer theme of "Feedback" . This time we talked about the different ways to deliver feedback. We started by discussing the ideal situation to give both effective and convenient feedback to students. Then we looked at each of these modes of delivery and discussed the benefits and challenges.    We gave some best practices for using video, and combining it with text. Jason Neenos from UTO demonstrated three technologies that could be used for sharing feedback in both recorded and live sessions. All are free for ASU Faculty: SnagIt Video Demo - goo Adobe Connect Info Page Google Hangouts Tutorial Video As always, there was lots of lively sharing of ideas and discussions, and we ended with a great case study showing how video made a difference to one writing student. Join us again on September 19 for "Get Active!" where we'll share some innovations from the International Forum on Active Learning Class...