{"id":8993,"date":"2020-04-30T20:09:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T20:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accinsweb8366.wpenginepowered.com\/tledupdates\/?p=8993"},"modified":"2022-12-09T22:58:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T22:58:26","slug":"assessment-during-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/2020\/04\/30\/assessment-during-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessment During a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ron Johns, Austin Community College Associate Dean of Assessment & Evaluation<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"AssessmentAs we have all made the dramatic and sudden transition to remote teaching, I know I speak for many when I say that there has been a rather steep learning curve.\u00a0 There is a huge difference between using BlackBoard as a supplement to your class and using it to teach your class.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But we still have to teach the same curriculum and we expect our students to learn it.\u00a0 But the assessments that we use to measure that learning and have honed over the years in our face-to-face classes do not always translate very well into an online format.\u00a0 So what we do?<\/p>\n

I wish I had an answer.\u00a0 There are a variety of options for online exams and assessments that can be found here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and many other places with a Google search. Instead, I\u2019m sharing some guiding principles that I have gathered from discussions with colleagues across the country and other sources as we develop whatever assessments we think will work in the current situation.\u00a0 In particular, Erick Montenegro and Natasha Jankowski at the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) have put together some very relevant information, including a great Google doc<\/a> on online instruction resources.\u00a0 Joe Feldman, an outspoken advocate for more equitable assessment, has also put together some guidelines that I will be happy to share with you if you\u2019re interested.\u00a0 So the items below are gathered from these various sources.<\/p>\n

1) This is teaching (and assessing) in a crisis.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Teaching and learning online is hard.\u00a0 There has long been a cultural undercurrent that online instruction is somehow easier than doing it in a classroom.\u00a0 I doubt very many people still think that.\u00a0 Nearly every college across the globe has shifted to a radically different instructional format in a couple of weeks.\u00a0 That this has been done in anything approaching a competent fashion, as it has, means ACC faculty and our colleagues around the world deserve high praise.\u00a0 Kudos!<\/p>\n

But it is still not where we want it to be, and there are any number of ways in which we feel we are falling short.\u00a0 We are.\u00a0 There was no other possible outcome under the circumstances.\u00a0 But things are definitely better than we feared they would be.\u00a0 So let\u2019s give ourselves some credit.\u00a0 Adequate is awesome under the circumstances.<\/p>\n

2) Don\u2019t assume the worst of your students just because you\u2019re not seeing them in person.<\/b><\/p>\n

When we conduct assessments online, it presents opportunities for cheating that we can guard against in a face-to-face class.\u00a0 Students can Google an answer while taking an exam, or text a friend for help.\u00a0 But students have been cheating in face-to-face classes since time immemorial as well.\u00a0 We should not assume that our students will suddenly become amoral and devoid of any ethical principles simply because the class format has changed.\u00a0 In other words, don\u2019t become obsessed with ensuring that no cheating will occur.\u00a0 Some likely will no matter what you do.\u00a0 But don\u2019t underestimate the value of the bond you have built with your students.\u00a0 Most people will rise to your expectations.\u00a0 Ask your students to be honorable, and it is likely that nearly all of them will.\u00a0 Joe Feldman suggests having students sign an integrity agreement.\u00a0 The higher emotional commitment made by signing one\u2019s name has an impact.\u00a0 And if a few cheaters do slip through without learning the material, they will struggle in the next class.<\/p>\n

3) Consider making summative assessments into formative assessments.<\/b><\/p>\n

If students cheat, it is often on high-stakes major exams.\u00a0 If you are concerned about cheating, then make it a lower-stakes formative assessment.\u00a0 The point of any assessment is to determine what students know or are able to do.\u00a0 Could an assignment rather than an exam gather the same information?\u00a0 How important is it that they know how to do something without having any resources at hand?\u00a0 Maybe it is very important, and that\u2019s fine.\u00a0 But if they know how to solve a problem, how critical is it if they had to investigate the solution instead of knowing it off the top of their head?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t researching an answer also a useful skill to learn?\u00a0 And giving them back an assignment or test to correct forces them to review the material and helps them to learn it.<\/p>\n

4) Best practices aren\u2019t <\/b>always<\/i><\/b> the best practices.<\/b><\/p>\n

The situation we are in is unprecedented in our lifetimes.\u00a0 What might be considered best practices for online assessment might not work very well under the current circumstances.\u00a0 For example, as Dr. Natasha Jankowski of NILOA has pointed out, a timed online exam might be a reasonable way to assess students.\u00a0 But what if their schedule is a complete mess, juggling altered work schedules, children at home, or their internet connection is being overloaded at that time?\u00a0 Having students submit a video seems an excellent way to evaluate their speaking skills, but what if their internet connection cannot handle the bandwidth?<\/p>\n

5) Everyone is stressed.\u00a0 A lot.\u00a0 A whole, whole lot.<\/b><\/p>\n

The challenges of this sudden transition in format, especially for those of us who have never taught a distance-learning section, are hard to overstate.\u00a0 But, as we know, it is also very hard on our students.\u00a0 In addition, many of them may have lost their jobs, and over 40% were food insecure before<\/i> this all hit.\u00a0 With all of our lives in turmoil, it bears repeating:\u00a0 Be Kind.\u00a0 Be kind to our students, be kind to our colleagues, and, not least of all, we need to be kind to ourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ron Johns, Austin Community College Associate Dean of Assessment & Evaluation As we have all made the dramatic and sudden transition to remote teaching, I know I speak for many when I say that there has been a rather steep learning curve.\u00a0 There is a huge difference between using BlackBoard as a supplement to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative-memo"],"acf":{"carousel_content":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/assessment-during-a-pandemic.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}