2.4.17 Assessing Learning Activities

by Jenny Loertscher (Chemistry, Seattle University) and
Vicky Minderhout (Chemistry, Seattle University)

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Faculty members can elevate their skills in instructional design and classroom facilitation by assessing learning activities. If they assess before implementation, faculty collect data to help anticipate and respond to student learning needs. If they assess the impact of learning activities after implementation, they gather data they can use to improve course design as well as future implementations of the activity. This module presents two flexible tools for soliciting feedback from faculty peers and/or students about activity design and impact. The tools serve as catalysts for meaningful dialogue about continuous improvement in teaching/learning related to a specific course.
 

Benefits of Assessing Activities

Assessment of instructor-designed learning activities is important in improving student learning and faculty teaching skills (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2004; Angelo & Cross, 1993). Once instructional activities are designed using principles such as those given in 2.4.13 Overview of Learning Activities and 2.4.14 Designing Process-Oriented Guided-Inquiry Activities, the collection of assessment data provides direction for revising the materials and improving the effectiveness of instruction. Assessment guides faculty as they refine the design of an activity to better address student learning needs, uncover issues in knowledge construction, promote more effective facilitation, and document the impact of an activity on student learning. The process of activity assessment encourages faculty to communicate with students about their learning and with collaborating faculty about activity design. Therefore, conducting activity assessment pro-motes constructive dialog, advances joint ownership of teaching and learning, and builds instructional design skills.

Activity Assessment Tools

The two tools provided in this module assess activity design and impact. The activity design assessment tool focuses on the structure and content of an activity and can be used either before or after implementation of the activity. The activity impact assessment tool examines the student learning gains resulting from an activity. These flexible tools are appropriate for use by a wide variety of people in diverse settings including faculty at the instructor’s home institution, faculty at another institution, learning and curriculum specialists, and students (4.1.3 Mindset for Assessment, 4.1.5 Moving Toward an Assessment Culture, and 4.1.11 Peer Coaching). If possible, teachers, learners, content experts, and/or teaching experts should assess an activity in order to contribute various perspectives.

Activity Design Assessment Tool

The activity design assessment tool is formatted to be used by either instructors or experienced students. Experienced students are those who have completed the course in which the assessed activity is typically used. Such students provide a learner perspective that is unencumbered by the personal involvement or inhibitions about providing honest feedback that may characterize students currently enrolled in the course. The questions in the activity design tool prompt assessors to consider the sequencing of questions/tasks and the appropriateness of featured content in light of stated learning outcomes.

Faculty can use the activity design tool at different times. Immediately after writing an activity, but before its first implementation in their classroom, faculty may ask for outside feedback to assess whether the newly designed activities include the conceptual and structural framework necessary to help students achieve the desired learning outcomes. Faculty may also ask for help after classroom implementation when experience anchors the feedback. Finally, the design tool can be used to collect feedback from colleagues who are implementing the same activity at other institutions. For those who are interested in developing new textbooks and workbooks, it is important to validate activities in multiple classrooms with multiple instructors.

After collecting feedback from assessors, faculty need to synthesize findings before making changes in the design of an activity. Tallying the scores for each question provides a quick overview of assessor opinions, allowing the instructor to readily identify aspects of the activity that are strong, those that need improvement, and those that elicited more complex and varied responses. Reading the assessor’s written comments permits the instructor to compare assessor responses to his or her own classroom observations. Any changes the instructor makes in the activity based on this data should be consistent with established learning outcomes and should reflect disciplinary integrity. Finally an instructor should plan how she or he will assess the effect of any changes on student learning. Assessments may include student answers to critical thinking questions, student conversations within groups, performance on homework, or performance on exams.

Activity Impact Assessment Tool

The activity impact assessment tool is designed to be used primarily by novice students, those encountering an activity for the first time. The questions in this tool are much more learner-centered than in the activity design tool and reflect the fact that novices may have neither the experience nor the distance needed to critically analyze the relationship between activity structure and its success in meeting learning outcomes. Although the questions in this tool are written from a student perspective, the form could also be completed by a course instructor or third party observers who record the student behavior that they see during the activity.

The impact tool should always be used after the completion of the activity, although the exact timing depends on whether an instructor wishes to assess a single class activity as a free-standing entity or as part of an instructional unit that also includes preparatory and follow-up assignments. Once data has been collected, faculty should follow a process similar to that described for the activity design assessment tool to analyze data and apply findings to improve instruction.

Triangulation of Findings

The assessment tools in this module provide a format for collecting data on activity design and impact, but they may be most useful when supplemented with additional information. For example, follow-up conversations with faculty or student assessors are often effective in collecting more detailed information and insights. If faculty assessors have used the activity in their own classes, a follow-up conversation provides them an opportunity to talk about the context in which they used the activity, including class size, class length, and learning objectives for the course. Some faculty may wish to use student performance data as part of the assessment process, and these data could be pooled across multiple classes.

Concluding Thoughts

Activity assessment should not be viewed as an isolated practice, but rather as an integral part of active, engaged teaching and learning. Regularly assessing activity design and impact helps instructors gain skill in self-assessment which they can then use to make improvements in other aspects of their professional lives. When one engages other faculty as assessors it promotes course-centered communication with peers, strengthens professional relationships, and builds community. Finally, involving students in the assessment process builds professional skills that they will need for future career success.

References

Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Dick, W. O., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2004). The systematic design of instruction. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.