CPAD Shares

CPAD Shares Issue #7: Backward Design

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Featured Resource: Backward Design

 

 

Regardless of your academic discipline, at some point you will likely be confronted with a challenging task: the need to design (or significantly revise) a course. We all want our courses to be the best they can be. One option is to “go it alone”— simply rely on your own experience and instinct to make the myriad of decisions required; another option is to use a recognized approach for guidance.

 

One excellent planning resource you should consider is the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework, which has solidified a reputation as a benchmark approach in the last 25 years. Resting on a strong foundation of theoretical research in cognitive psychology and the results of student achievement studies, UbD’s two key ideas are contained in the title: a focus on teaching and assessing for understanding and learning transfer, and the logic of designing curriculum “backwards” from those ends.

 

What is Understanding by Design? Author Jay McTighe explains.

Hawker Brownlow Education video

7 minutes

 

The first edition of Understanding by Design was published in 1998, co-authored by the late Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, and an expanded second edition was released in 2005. In this video, McTighe clearly and succinctly explains the essence of the approach in under four minutes. We particularly like the advice he proceeds to offer to first-time users of the framework: 1) think big; 2) start small; 3) go for an early win.

 

Backward Design

 

By Erin Stapleton-Corcoran, Instructional Designer with the Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence, University of Illinois Chicago, January 25, 2023.

 

If McTighe’s overview of UbD intrigued you, then this site is ideal for learning more. In scouring the web for excellent primers on UbD, this recently-created resource topped them all. The author briefly summarizes the UbD course design stages and components, augmented by a good use of visuals.

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

  1. Identify the Big Ideas
  2. Transform the Big Ideas into Essential Questions
  3. Craft learning objectives
  4. Prioritize content
  5. Determine knowledge and skill understandings

Stage 2: Determine Appropriate Assessments

  1. Apply the three-layer conceptual model
  2. Identify assessment evidence across the Six Facets of Understanding
  3. Identify the mix of formative and summative assessments

· Stage 3: Formulate a Learning Plan

  1. Plan the sequence of learning activities (using WHERETO)
  2. Articulate how you will teach for understanding

 

The final consideration is ensuring that Stages 1,2, and 3 are in alignment.

 

Resources from McTighe & Associates Consulting

 

Resource section of McTighe & Associates site

 

If you are interested in experimenting with the approach or would like to learn more, this is the site for you. Here you can:

  • Explore guiding examples
  • Download the UbD Template and other resource files
  • Review essential questions by subject area
  • Get help for assessment design
  • Watch informative videos
  • Read relevant articles

 

If you have questions or would like to learn more about the UbD framework, contact Bill Rose in the Office of Digital learning at bmr1@psu.edu.

 

 

Join the conversation on our website!

CPAD Shares Issue #6: Summative Assessment

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C-PAD Shares #6, February 2023

Featured Theme: Summative Assessment

If we think of formative assessments as “low stakes”, then we should think of summative assessments as “high stakes.” Summative assessments serve to evaluate a student’s acquired capabilities over time in relation to specific learning goals.

The three articles that follow offer practical advice for faculty looking to measure student capability and growth more effectively. Taken together, they cover essential considerations, convey some surprising findings on student preference, and identify factors that make some assessments superior to others.

Summative Assessment

Baylor University Academy for Teaching and Learning

Article reading time: 5 minutes

This brief teaching guide does a lovely job of quickly highlighting summative assessment design concerns, while also taking an enlightened perspective regarding the interrelationship of formative and summative assessment (see Shares #5 for a treatment of formative assessment).

While multiple choice and short answer question-based tests, essays, and research projects are common assessments, a much wider array is available. Depending on your students’ learning goals, less familiar approaches like instructor observations, portfolios, or peer/self-evaluation may be appropriate (see the second article below for revealing findings about popular and effective assessment options).

Read on to learn the three factors driving assessment choice, the critically important aspects of validity and reliability, the role of feedback, and suggested options for orchestrating formative and summative assessment to best effect.

 

Which Assessment Strategies Do Students Prefer?

Faculty Focus, October 27, 2017

By Dr. John Orlando, educational technology speaker and consultant

Article reading time: 5 minutes

The author summarizes a research article published in the Journal of Interactive Online Learning in 2015. The researchers experimented with different assessment strategies in two online courses in educational leadership, then surveyed students, having them rank each according to three factors: enjoyment, engagement with the material, and knowledge creation likely to transfer to real world practice.

Two key findings emerged: 1) the three factors correlated consistently, boding well for highly-rated types, and 2) traditional assessments rated very low in all respects. Quizzes came in dead last, largely because students see no transfer value beyond the material tested. Interestingly, the most popular strategy was written analysis to documentary videos.

Read on to learn why the 12 assessment types scored as they did, and near the end of the article note the principles that account for the most effective types.

 

 

Alternatives to Traditional Exams and Papers

Indiana University Bloomington, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning

Article reading time: 4 minutes

If you are considering non-traditional approaches to assessment, you may find this decision guide useful. The first part of the guide poses questions you should answer to clarify the specific knowledge, skills, or abilities you are looking to assess.

The second part of the guide lists alternatives to multiple-choice exams that can be used in many disciplines and contexts. Note that the organization is based on the kind of cognitive processes or skills required:

  • Those that assess student creativity
  • Those that require analysis or evaluation
  • Those that require similar work as a term paper, but in a much shorter document
  • Those that demonstrate deep understanding of course material
  • Those that require the integration of skills and knowledge

What assessment approaches do you use? C-PAD welcomes any comments you care to make regarding this resource or topic.

CPAD Shares Issue #5: Formative Assessment

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C-PAD Shares #5, January 2023 

Featured Theme: Formative Assessment 

 

 

Right about now, you are probably wondering “what on earth is formative assessment?” This bit of educational jargon refers to “a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course.”1 Formative assessment is contrasted with the more familiar summative assessment, which evaluates student achievement (exams, research papers, major assignments, etc.). The two types differ by purpose: formative assessment aims to inform in-process teaching and learning modifications to help students improve their learning. 

 

Daydreaming or Deep in Thought? Using Formative Assessment to Evaluate Student Participation 

 

By Carolyn Ives, curriculum planning and development coordinator for the Centre for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence at MacEwan University, Canada 

 

Reading length—4 minutes 

 

In this Faculty Focus article from 2014, Ives points to the dilemma many instructors face in trying to increase student participation in their classes: on the one hand, anything that serves to heighten student engagement seems desirable, but on the other hand, observable activity does not necessarily correlate with stronger engagement. Furthermore, some students may be genuinely engaged, but in a less overt way. 

 

How do you “observe” active engagement? How do you foster it? How do you measure it? While several strategies used in concert provide the best answer, Ives states that “the most useful method I have found to evaluate student participation is the inclusion of formative assessment techniques in my classes.”2 

 

Read on to learn what these techniques are, how they are graded, and what benefits they provide to both students and instructor.
 

Harnessing the Student Voice: Why Student-centered Teaching and Learning Starts with Formative Assessment 

 

Juli S. Charkes, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Mercy College 

 

Reading length—4 minutes 

 

Perhaps you can relate to the lament of an experienced faculty member who seemingly had tried everything to stimulate increased enthusiasm and engagement in her students: “If only I knew what they needed.” Mercy College’s Center for Teaching and Learning had a ready reply: ask the students directly about their learning experience by applying a formative assessment tool. 

 

The Center’s formative assessment initiative has succeeded in increasing faculty adoption of formative assessment techniques, which emphasize inclusion, enhance metacognition, and support faculty satisfaction. Asked to evaluate the impact of the initiative, 88% of participating faculty reported that they found it helpful or very helpful to have access to student formative assessment data. More than 80% indicated their intent to implement new teaching techniques based on formative assessment feedback. 

 

20 Formative Assessment Examples To Use In Your College Classroom 

 

Written by Top Hat staff for the Top Hat Teaching Tips blog 

 

Reminder: Penn State does license Top Hat, which integrates with Canvas or may be used separately. See our Top Hat site for more information. 

 

These assessment approaches are not Top Hat-specific, though Top Hat may be used for several of them (see the “tools you can use to run formative assessments” section). The twenty examples are organized under the following categories: 

  • Assessing course-related skills and knowledge 
  • Developing critical thinking and analysis skills 
  • Encouraging students to think creatively 
  • Enhancing problem-solving skills 
  • Assessing student performance and application abilities 
  • Understanding student self-awareness, attitudes and values 
  • Understanding student learning behaviors, strategies and skills 
  • Assessing student reactions to learning 

 

 

Next month, we will share the flip side of the assessment coin: summative assessment.  

 

 

  1. Formative Assessment (4/29/2014) The Glossary of Education Reform. Available at: https://www.edglossary.org/formative-assessment/ (Accessed: December 14, 2022).
     
  1. Daydreaming or Deep in Thought? Using Formative Assessment to Evaluate Student Participation (3/24/2014) Faculty Focus. Available at: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/daydreaming-deep-thought-using-formative-assessment-evaluate-student-participation/ (Accessed: December 14, 2022).