Assess and Engage
Assess Learners
Assessment Basics
Understanding the basics of assessment can help instructors design activities that accurately measure learning and support student success.
Assessment Principles
The following pages offer key resources and best practices for assessing post-secondary learners, covering assessment principles, feedback strategies, and grading efficiency.
Assessment Strategies
The following pages offer assessment strategies can help promote meaningful learning while keeping evaluation focused and manageable.
Alternative Assessment
The following alternative assessment strategies provide different ways to evaluate learning while promoting student agency, reflection, and meaningful engagement.
- Course Redesign for Alternative Assessment
- Learner Readiness + Professionalism Checklist (Need to create a PDF for this as well as Word Document)
- Ungrading
NIC AI Assessment Scale (Edit — make sure info is still relevant)
Engage Learners
Our purpose in teaching is to create a sense of responsibility for learning and agency in students that leads to students’ self-confidence and the ability for life-long learning in their chosen field and beyond. We do this through effective design and implementation of courses by actively engaging students in the thinking of our disciplines, whether online and at a distance, in a blended format, or in fully face-to-face courses.
Engage Learners in the Classroom: Active Learning
“Active learning” describes a broad category of practices that place students at the center of classroom activities. Students learn best when they are doing something that requires an investment and a commitment of participation, rather than listening to a lecture or watching a video. Being active often means interacting with other learners. Cooperative, Collaborative and Team-Based Learning are some examples of strategies used for Active Learning.
To create this kind of classroom environment requires some planning. For one, the instructor has to communicate consistently clear expectations that the classroom will not merely be used simply for the instructor’s lecture, but will be the place where students demonstrate their learning through their own actions. To be successful as a strategy, this needs to start on Day One, and continue throughout the course. Second, if students are to develop the confidence they need to be challenged in this way, they will need to come prepared. The instructor will therefore need to use strategies and techniques to ensure that students do the preparatory work necessary for their success. Third, the evaluation of student learning will need to be tied to students’ demonstrated skill in applying course content in new situations, rather than in mere memorization and accurate recall of information recorded from lecture and readings. Most students will pursue what counts toward their marks, and discount what does not.
Golden rules for creating an active learning classroom
- The in-class learning activities need structure but should not be canned steps. Students need to act for themselves in using their new knowledge. Asking students to make judgments and decisions is an effective way to exercise the freedom of self-determination, but within a context that you have structured to be relevant.
- The in-class activities can and should include a variety of formats: problem-solving, analyses and diagnoses based on situations or data sets, quizzes, and “let’s see what you can do” challenges. These learning activities force students to retrieve, apply, and/or extend the material learned outside of class.
- Consistent instructor expectations for student preparedness are essential to make class meetings productive and engaging for students. Students need to demonstrate their preparedness on a regular basis, in the form of online tasks due before class, reading quizzes (online or at the beginning of class), or other assessment activities.
- A significant portion of a student’s mark for the course needs to be tied to classroom activities related to applying and using course content.
Creating Dialogue in the Classroom
One of the most important goals – and greatest challenges – of educators is to create a learning environment in which the students participate actively in their education by becoming engaged with the course material. An effective way to promote active participation is through dialogue in the classroom. Unfortunately, many students, trained by years of passive education and cowed by the fear of making mistakes, are extremely reluctant to enter into dialogue in the classroom. So, how do you get students to begin to actively engage in substantive dialogue? We argue that the essential pre-requisite for classroom dialogue is an atmosphere of trust.
Question and Answer (Q and A)
Q and A sessions are undoubtedly the most common way in which we expect to create dialogue in the classroom. Instructors can invite students to ask questions at any time during the lecture or set aside a specific time for questions. The choice to allow students to interrupt during lectures, however, will help in building an active learning environment because students can engage with the instructor throughout the lecture. It is also important to remember that the instructor can ask questions of the students too.
Think / Pair / Share
Think / pair / share is a technique that allows students to interact with a peer to work out a problem or question that the instructor has assigned. Students are asked to work with a partner in order that the students can actively work through problems. Think / pair / share works in large classroom settings because students can simply turn to their neighbour to begin this exercise. However, large classes also have their drawbacks because it is often difficult to ensure that students are actually discussing the problem and not last night‘s party.
Small Group Discussions
Small group discussions also work to create interaction between peers. Again, this may be an opportunity to get students to work through a single problem or for the instructor to design different problems for each group. The instructor may have each group share their findings with the whole class at the end of the discussion.
Informal Debates
Informal debates may begin in a classroom quite unexpectedly. They should be encouraged and the instructor should take the time to discuss the debate, outlining the different positions including flaws in reasoning, incorrect assumptions or facts. Make sure the students understand that free flowing debate is not tangential to lecture material. Some students assume that the only ―voice that matters is that of the instructor. Take the time to point out how students may have used ideas / concepts from the course to argue a point.
Formal Debates
Formal debates are a good tool to get students engaged in both careful research and presentation techniques. The competitive nature of debate can often spark student interest. The instructor needs to set out the debate rules, to expect that research is done beforehand preferably demonstrated through an assignment given to the instructor before the debate. One technique for ensuring that students take the debate seriously is to ask that students dress appropriately on debate day.
Presentations
Individual and group presentations are good tools to teach the important skill of oral communication. For some students presentations are a joy; for others presentations are wrought with anxiety and fear. There are two vital parts of a presentation, first there must be clear, well researched content and second, they must be organized and clear. It is important to help students understand that presentations cannot be all ―bells and whistles‖ without substance. Instructors may want to ask the students to design the grading rubric for the presentations. Students are likely to put the emphasis on the content when they are asked ―what makes a good presentation‖. A presentation may have lots of bells of whistles but if the content is lost or unclear the audience will feel that they have not learned anything.
Oral examinations
Oral examinations can be a very effective way of determining whether or not the students can articulate ideas they have learned in the course. It becomes very clear that a student has done the course readings when you are having a one-on-one discussion with them about the course. When the exam is designed as an open ended interview session with a number of critical questions along the way, the instructor can often gauge what aspects of the course had the most impact on the student. Two notes of caution: first, it is necessary to have a grading rubric template that is completed at the end of each exam otherwise it is very difficult to remember individual student responses; second, it is necessary to mix up the questions so that students do not share the exam questions. This also means that the instructor has to be very clear about what the students should be getting out of the course (i.e. what is examinable) so that there is no basis for students to say that they got ―hard questions whereas others got ―easy ones.
Reliable Formats of Engagement
The Active Learning Classroom is driven by students doing their own thinking in situations you have designed, so you (the resident expert) can respond and offer feedback. For many faculty members, the hardest challenge is to design the kind of activity that:
1) is engaging and inherently interesting and
2) demonstrates the targeted thinking, so it becomes visible to the faculty member (and to the students, themselves).
One effective strategy for creating intrinsically interesting tasks is to require students to make autonomous choices and decisions within a restricted framework, rather than generate free responses to open-ended questions. This is the same technique used by game designers to make game scenarios so exciting and engaging. Restricted autonomous decisions emphasize the student’s clear commitment to a way of thinking, which implicates him/her more directly in the challenge. This in turn causes the feedback to be interesting, even if the student is working within a topic where he/she has no real interest. By making his own, clear choice, the student has now invested in the challenge, which makes the outcome relevant at a personal level. Now the student is motivated to learn whether his/her decision is sound, which makes the discussion about the decision particularly engaging.
Tasks that are open-format (make a list; brainstorm reasons; generate a solution; “discuss;” etc.) all have their place at times, but they can also lead to lazy thinking if you are trying to promote focused, analytical discussions in class. For one, the responses to an open-format question can be so far afield as to not be highly useful in a general debrief of student thinking. Second, open-format tasks tend to allow certain kinds of students to dominate the conversation, because they are less timid to generate and share their perspective, even if it is not particularly insightful. Also, it’s too easy for less confident, less assertive or less quick-thinking students to defer to the “best” student’s answer. Closed-format questions tend to level the playing field, as slower students are usually quicker to choose than to generate an answer.
Debriefing
The benefit of these restrictive format tasks is that an instructor’s follow-up question to students, “WHY?” is now clearly focused and deeply analytical. “Why did you score this paragraph a 7 and not a 3?” Why did you choose that rock, and not the others? Why did you put this object in that category, rather than this other category? “Why” when it follows a student’s own, autonomous decision implicates s the student directly, making the answer something that matters, because it is personal and immediate to his own thinking.
Inquiry-Based Learning Approaches
Inquiry Based Learning places the responsibility for learning on the students, and encourages them to arrive at an understanding of concepts by themselves
Some Inquiry-intensive practices include:
Design Thinking
Design Thinking supports and structures the creative process of generating ideas and bringing them into reality through concrete actions and products. Commonly used to frame student work in art, but adaptable to many other disciplines, Design Thinking guides students through five phases of thinking and activity: Discovery, Interpretation, Ideation, Experimentation, and Evolution.
Problem-Based Learning
Problem-Based Learning confronts students with messy, complex problems encountered in the real world as a stimulus for learning. Problems are raised with students before have been taught the relevant knowledge. By actively engaging with the problem first, learners develop skills around defining problems, identifying what information they need, and finding, evaluating and using information. Learners are able to connect their thought processes in class to solving problems in the real world.
Case or Scenario-Based Learning
Case or Scenario-Based Learning engages students in analysis of specific scenarios that resemble or are real-world examples. This method is learner-centered with intense interaction between participants as they build their knowledge and work together as a group to examine the case. The instructor’s role is that of a facilitator while the students collaboratively analyze and address problems and resolve questions that have no single right answer.
Meta-questions
Meta-questions are framing questions designed to structure student work during a whole term within an enveloping investigation. Activities are developed and resources are chosen for supporting students’ consideration of this Big Question. Daily discussions and various assignments repeatedly return to the framing inquiry, and at the end of the term students are asked to produce a comprehensive response to the Meta-question.
Inquiry can also be embedded in other learning frameworks, such as:
Project-based learning
Undergraduate Research
Threshold concepts
Public Sphere Pedagogy
Engaged Learning (e.g., civic engagement)
Field work
Progressive Inquiry
Group Work: Cooperative vs Collaborative
Cooperative and Collaborative Learning
These two terms are often used interchangeably, but it’s useful to maintain some distinction. Each approach leverages the social dimension of learning in a slightly different way.
Cooperative learning focuses on asking students to interact in highly structured ways to process ideas and information, or practice skills. “Think-Pair-Share” is a classic example of a cooperative learning technique in that it asks students to cooperate temporarily for a specific learning purpose. In cooperative learning the interaction with peers does not normally factor into the evaluation of the student’s individual performance. The limited scope of cooperative work in the classroom means that it can be incorporated fairly easily into just about any course format or content.
Some Common Examples of Cooperative Learning include:
- Think/Pair/Share
- Cooperative note-taking
- Structured controversies
- Debates
- Jigsaws
Collaborative Learning, on the other hand, asks students to work collectively to produce something for which group members share responsibility. For planning purposes, therefore, collaborative learning is more consequential for decisions made at the level of curriculum, course design, and evaluation of learning. Of particular importance, the collaborative approach needs to give students some flexibility and freedom of action, so that groups are able to accommodate the particular needs of group members as they learn to work as a unit.
Important to keep in mind are the logistical and time burdens put on students by collaborative projects that are designed to take place outside of class. Coordinating busy schedules and tracking down student peers takes enormous energy that is not directly relevant to the learning goals of a project. Ensure that students are given some time in class to organize themselves and to touch base at key moments in the course of preparing out-of-class projects.
Team-Based Learning
Team based learning (TBL) is a comprehensive instructional method, invented by organizational behavior professor Larry K. Michaelsen, which puts students into roles of greater autonomy and responsibility for acquiring and using information. Some critical components of TBL are:
- Teams that are permanent
- A process to ensure individual student readiness for group work
- Assignments that require students to work collectively on rigorous application of course content, and
- Peer evaluation. A central strategy of TBL is to shift the use of class time away from instructors transmitting concepts in class (which can be accomplished more efficiently, individually, outside of class), and towards students working in teams to apply course concepts. The team structure is an essential condition for requiring students to perform at higher cognitive levels.
Lots of people use groups. What’s so special about a “team”?
Groups are collections of individuals who might or might not cooperate. Teams are groups with a shared purpose and sense of collective responsibility. Groups evolve into teams when conditions are right. Members start out as individuals who may or may not function well together, due to hitchhiking members, dominant personalities, and poorly designed assignments. Well-designed tasks plus strategic course design teach group members to listen to one another, value each other’s contributions, learn from mistakes, rein in ineffective behavior, and eventually trust in the team’s ability to outperform any given individual.
What are the principles behind TBL?
TBL emerged out of research in organizational and cognitive psychology. Among the principles that drive the method are the following:
- Students learn best and are more motivated when feedback is frequent and immediate.
- Working in groups creates opportunities for frequent, immediate feedback and reflection among peers.
- Groups need time together to learn to function as a team, hence the use of permanently assigned groups.
- Effectively functioning groups need very little instructor oversight or management. TBL is therefore a more efficient use of an instructor’s time, and can be scaled to classes of any size.
Team-Based Learning from Center for Teaching and Learning on Vimeo.
Some of the key authors and researchers in TBL have been experimenting and implementing TBL in a digital environment. Here is a collection of the key sites to explore.
Jim Sibley
Retired Engineering Professor and Director of the Centre for Instructional Support in the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC who facilitated Team-Based Learning Workshop at NIC in late June, 2017, has wrote a and numerous articles on team-based learning and has been supporting faculty for decades about how to do TBL
- Website: https://learntbl.ca/
- What is TBL? https://learntbl.ca/what-is-tbl/
- TBL Online: Some Ideas from Jim https://learntbl.ca/tbl-online/ — with accordion sections of key information as you scroll down the page you can get a quick overview of how you might do this online
Michele Clark
University of Nevada Associate Professor in Psychosocial Nursing who evaluates the efficacy of team-based learning as a teaching strategy in improving the students’ application of new learning content in solving complex clinical problems
- Michele’s site “Team-Based Learning in an Online Environment” has practical steps and examples for how to do TBL in a both a synchronous and asynchronous environment https://sites.google.com/site/tbladvantageschallenges/welcome-video
Brian O’Dwyer
Former consulting, banking and airline CFO who went to teaching airline management and realized that lectures and classes needed an overhaul – so took the work of Duke Medical School and founded Cognalearn, a company that helps teachers replace lectures with Team-Based Learning and created the cloud software called InteDashboard – lots of other helpful components to this site to doing digital TBL
- Website with ideas and videos about implementing online team-based learning https://www.blog.intedashboard.com/implementing-team-based-learning-on
- Moving Team-Based Learning (TBL) online to a remote setting: Faculty Guide https://www.blog.intedashboard.com/tbl-in-online-modality
- Team-Based Learning in Online Modality — FAQs https://www.blog.intedashboard.com/implementing-team-based-learning-fa
MICHELE CLARK AND BRIAN O’DWYER and many others wrote a white paper which summarizes a lot of good ideas for implementing online TBL
“Off to On: Best Practices for Online Team-Based Learning” : http://www.teambasedlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Off-to-On_OnlineTBL_WhitePaper_ClarkEtal2018_V3.pdf
Flipped Learning
Helping Students Learn More Effectively By Using Class Time for Discussion and Problem-Solving
In the flipped classroom model, students engage with course content before class so instructors can foster more active learning during classroom time. (UBC — Flipped Classroom)
Overview of Flipped Learning
Flipped learning “flips” the traditional model of education that most faculty have delivered or experienced. In traditional education, classroom time is spent delivering basic introductory concepts, and then tasking students with assignments that require a deeper level of understanding. Since the assignments are to be completed outside of class, the experience can be frustrating and isolating.
Flipped learning reverses the tasks completed both in and out of classroom time. Outside of class students learn the basic introductory concepts of a topic. Classroom time is then spent in the exploration of the topic or concept by creating opportunities to discuss and work with problems that develop deeper understanding and connections.
Another way to consider this classroom delivery method is to spend time in class on the hard stuff, then send them out to work on relatively low-level concepts on their own. As a student, which area would you benefit from the instructors presence and time? The easy stuff, or the hard stuff? To be clear, flipped learning is a design rather than its own distinct instructional method. What matters most is how the class time itself is purposed.
Video: Introduction to Flipped Learning (Jon Bergmann) — 4:38 minutes
Video: What is Flipped Learning? (Blade) — 5:39 minutes
Benefits for Student Learning
Sometimes we can consider education as through the lens of efficiency and time well spent. If our course or class involves substantial “data”, perhaps it does not matter who delivers this content to them. Students can often learn many aspects of a basic introductory nature successfully from textbooks or videos. The prevalence and growth of YouTube should be ample evidence of this.
In addition, students are provided with the opportunities to stretch their understanding and dig deeper into challenging concepts when with their peers and the gentle guidance of their instructor. Academic research has demonstrated a strong correlation between active engagement (discussion, time spent on problems) to deeper understanding of subject matter. The challenging homework problems then become grounds for vibrant discussion and debate, assistance and coaching from peers naturally develop as students work through the tasks that originally would have been an exercise of solitude at home.
Consider how this could be applied to a class in your course.
Components of Flipped Learning
Video: Simplifying Flipped Learning (Jon Bergmann) — 5:47
Since flipped learning is not its own pedagogical instructional method, the components are centered more around its deployment:
1. Decide how you will use classroom time: Flipped learning is designed to use classroom time for active and engaging projects, problems, discussions and studies. Sometimes it can be helpful to consider what homework assignments have been used in the past, and how these could be re-purposed for in-class use. Remember, the entire course is not required to be flipped, perhaps only once every week may be facilitated in this manner. Examples include:
- Discussions
- Challenging problems
- Group activities
- Projects (continual or one-off)
- Field trips
- Guest speakers
- Case study
- Game creation
- Internet sourcing images
- Flash card creation, then sharing
- Multiple choice question creation, then sharing
- Role playing
- Debate
- Demonstration
2. Identify resources for classroom time: Flipped learning may need some of the above-mentioned activities created if they have not been used in the course before. If an instructor is used to delivering content via lecture, this will be a transition as lecture typically requires little in the form of student direction, handouts or instructions. Instructors may also want to consider the time each of the activities may take. Finally, consider how these classroom activities will relate and build on the out of class learning students will do. Just as homework needed to relate to what was learned in class, the in-class activities now need to relate to the out-of-class activities.
3. Identify resources for outside classroom time: Flipped learning typically requires most of the time spent here. This is because most of the introductory concepts have been the backbone of the lecture delivery. If adequate learning resources are not available, there may need to be some development. Not a video expert? Not a problem, CTLI can assist in navigating video capturing software and pointers for what works best. You DO NOT need to be a technology wizard to provide unique videos for your course. Consider the depth of content that is planned for students to tackle on their own. Remember, the purpose of flipped learning is to have students work on less-challenging topics outside of class, so temper your expectations.
Here are some ways students can engage with content at home, outside of the classroom:
- YouTube videos
- Textbook readings
- Instructor created video lecture
- Instructor created PowerPoint video
- Instructor created POV video
- Other website articles, blogs, etc.
4. Explain flipped learning to class: Flipped learning is different from the norm in most post-secondary institutions. Prior to establishing any flipped learning in your class, it is important to articulate the process and expectations for this different approach. An instructor can be met with a quick backlash if no explanation is provided before flipping a class. Remember, students are used to not doing homework if it can be accomplished in class. If they think the homework is unnecessary or “optional” there will be a classroom full of students who are unprepared to engage in deeper learning activities.
Encourage students that they will not be left to “learn the course on their own”, establish that flexibility will be available to clarify concepts from the previous night’s learning (mini-lectures, Q&A), affirm that this may not be every student’s first choice of class design. In the same breath, it may also benefit the class to hear that traditional lecture format is rarely preferred by most students in a class. Nothing is perfect; however, a flipped classroom design can help to provide variation in the course delivery modality.
Considerations
- Time is required to develop plans, resources, and activities. Time and effort is required to rethink and prepare both pre-class and in-class activities. However, most (if not all) resources developed can be reused for subsequent classes. Just like crafting the perfect slide show, discussion, problem or lecture, time is required. Faculty should realize that this time is an investment for future offerings of the course and will payoff.
- Evaluate classroom activities for group size. The activities that can be facilitated in a large class are fewer than those in a small class. There will need to be logistical considerations for the room, furniture, and number of students. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box, as this is the place to engage in active learning practices
- Student resistance. Being passive in a lecture is often far easier and less intimidating than being actively involved in a class. Although it is easier, research shows that active engagement typically results in better learning and a more positive classroom experience for students. Encourage students to be open-minded about this different approach.
- Unprepared students. The understanding is that resources will be available for students to engage with that are relevant and deep enough to allow them to participate in activities when in class. Likely there will be some students who choose not be come prepared to class. In these situations, it is important not to capitulate and run an entire lecture/presentation for those who have chosen not to do their pre-class learning. This practice leads to an erosion of support by students who came prepared and further lowers the motivation of those who were unprepared as “the instructor will simply cover it anyways in class”. Run activities as planned and let students who are unprepared flounder. Next class, they will likely come prepared.
Examples in Action
The following video is a great example of the flipped learning model in action for a University of Emory Biology class. Professor Alex Escobar utilizes the flipped classroom concept to encourage active engagement of his students in collaborative tasks. Notice the size of the class. Although large and using standard theatre style seating, he is able to get students actively engaged with content that they have viewed the night /week prior.
Although this instructor had a professional recording studio at his disposal, it is important to remember that there are now many types of video-capture systems that can be used. CTLI can assist in this process and help you create captivating, original, clear videos for your students to engage with outside of class. One of the benefits of delivering content through video is students can pause & rewind when something does not makes sense. A benefit for instructors is that your video will cover exactly what you wanted, no more “opps, I forgot to say that today…” moments.
Video: Biology Professor uses Flipped Classroom Method (Emory University) — 5:43 minutes
Video: Flipped Learning in Action with Peter Sankoff (University of Alberta) — 5:42 minutes
Getting Started
To start this type of teaching method consideration should be given to a moderate adoption model. Start by evaluating a single class that the flipped classroom may work well. Although some large institutions may have studio space to create video lectures, this is not a requirement. Often the development of slide deck videos with voiced narration is more beneficial for students when compared to a video of a person talking at the front of the class. Contact CTLI for recommendations and assistance in the creation of, storing uploading, and deployment of these resources. Now might be a good time to discuss what activities could be used in the classroom.
- Course Design: Planning a Flipped Class (University of Waterloo) — Webpage
- In-Class and Assessment for a Flipped Classroom (University of Waterloo) — Webpage
Video: Designing a Flipped Class Lesson (Jon Bergmann) — 2:47 minutes
Helpful Resources
7 Things You Should Know about Flipped Classrooms (Educause) — PDF
Flipping the Classroom (Vanderbilt University) — Webpage
Flipped Learning: No You Don’t Need to Use Video in Flipped Learning (and 5 Alternatives by Robert Talbert) — Post
Flipped Classrooms (Harvard University) — Webpage
Flipping the Classroom (Cornell University) — Webpage
Teaching Feedback
Teaching feedback gives instructors valuable insight into how students experience a course. It highlights what’s working well and identifies areas for improvement, helping faculty enhance learning outcomes and refine their teaching practices.
Course Feedback Surveys
Course feedback surveys gather anonymous student input to help instructors improve teaching and the overall learning experience.
NIC Policies and Procedures
North Island College has established policies and procedures to guide all institutional initiatives — including administration, student services, finance, and facilities. Instructors are encouraged to review the College’s educational policies, as these provide important guidance for effective and consistent instructional practices.