CEP 813: My Best Work

My best work in CEP 813 was the Minecraft screencasts from module 4. In this module I explored the use of minecraft for assessment in education something that I had not considered before this point except for a few proportion problems I have given to my students in the past. My prior knowledge of minecraft was a motivating force, which helped bolster my work. Though the use of Minecraft for assessment impressed me, the way I was being assessed and using that feedback also left an impression.

The first part of this module required me to look at any challenges I had in the module. I had been playing Minecraft for years at this point. Because of this, the initial screencast’s content was challenging to develop as I had no difficulties with the game to share. Even so I found this to be a great assessment AS learning as it was a formative experience for myself and other students, which required us to directly communicate any challenges or difficulties. The feedback rendered can then be very precise addressing these difficulties so that the primary purpose of the module could be conducted. Having this initial assignment completed as a screencast also served to demonstrate proficiency at screencasting. Allowing for the same type of feedback to be rendered.

The second part of this module was to create another screencast showcasing an assessment designed in Minecraft. This was an assessment FOR learning, which was a pretty straightforward formative assessment. Having developed several skills in minecrafting and screencasting I had to demonstrate that proficiency in an interesting way, by creating an assessment in minecraft. Creating an assessment was challenging, but allowed me to understand some of the benefits of learning/teaching in a game. Learners can be completely immersed in whole other worlds of my design. Allowing for unique communal experiences as I was also able to explore the worlds others created.

The use of games for assessment and learning can be quite powerful. A gamer is given constant and instant feedback throughout their experience in a game. Problem-solving is critical for advancement in most games. Advancement brings a sense of accomplishment especially if a task was challenging. These components were required in just creating the minecraft assessment. Hopefully, the same is true for my learners.

CEP 813: Theory of Practice Essay

I will use electronic portfolios to support student learning by developing self-regulation skills in a formative assessment capacity. Though, a completed portfolio with reflective self-assessments will be an excellent argument for mastery for each individual student. Black and William identify self-assessment in students as being “an essential component to formative assessment“ (1998, p. 143). A student needs to be trained to not only accept feedback, but to learn from it and improve. This dialogue can be an excellent way to assess and re-orient student’s thinking (Black & Wiliam, 1998, p. 143).

Feedback is essential for any assessment design and invaluable for electronic portfolios. Electronic portfolios identify with Nicol & Macfarlane’s “seven principles of good feedback practice” (2006, p. 205). Electronic portfolios are well situated to facilitate quality feedback to students to help support their understanding. Considering that the portfolio’s are student created, they must learn to self-regulate. This provides “them with opportunities to practice regulating aspects of their own learning and to reflect on that practice” (Nicol & Macfarlane‐Dick, 2006, p. 207). An idea also shared by Black & William.

Using electronic portfolios I can provided targeted feedback immediately. There is no delay in returning feedback in a digital medium. Traditionally students had to wait several days to receive their feedback. However, the quality of feedback given must be high. Any feedback that I render must be directly related to the “goals, standards, or criteria” relating to the assessment (Nicol & Macfarlane‐Dick, 2006, p. 208). In addition my advice should be corrective in nature. Allowing students to actually use it to improve.

An element of CEP 813 that I have found to be a good practice is the incorporation of peer feedback. This is especially useful for large classes where establishing a dialogue with students regarding their learning can be time consuming and challenging. Allowing students to engage with each other while providing feedback and then engaging with their teacher about that feedback can be an effective means of supporting student understanding (Nicol & Macfarlane‐Dick, 2006, p. 210).

Sheppard (2000) describes a dynamic assessment process in which assessment becomes interactive giving teachers “valuable insights about how understanding might be extended” (p. 10). Ultimately the feedback I receive should inform my own instructional practices. Electronic portfolios will allow me to adjust my instruction to meet the needs of my students. The primary method being to allow students to revise so that their work aligns with content standards and my own goals.“Good feedback practice is not only about providing accessible and usable information that helps students improve their learning, but it is also about providing good information to teachers” (Nicol & Macfarlane‐Dick, 2006, pp. 214).

I will use electronic portfolios in my own professional practice to allow students to self-regulate their learning and to provide timely and articulated feedback so that students can revise and achieve mastery of standards. This process will also give me the means to adjust my own instruction so that I can help support student understanding.

References

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. London: NferNelson.

Nicol, D. J., & Macfarlane‐Dick, D. (2006). Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 199-218. doi:10.1080/03075070600572090

Shepard, L. A. (2000). The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture. Educational Researcher, 29(7), 4-14. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1176145?ref=no-x-route:fb8ed923b974193abbf20fc7ab527e37

 

CEP 813: CMS Assessment V. 2.0

I used the Schoology CMS for this formative assessment on sampling populations and identifying survey bias. Schoology is really great for my needs. Though it is not necessary in this assessment, Schoology allows for the incorporation of math equations and symbols that are not very common in other CMS’. Other features like the ability to hide the quiz until I am ready to assign it and also being able to assign it to specific students means that I can target my assessments precisely. My school adopted Schoology this year and this will be my students first time in the CMS. There will be times this year where I must travel and will miss my statistics class. I can use this CMS to still deliver content while I am away and considering how connected we all are I will be able to render feedback quickly. This may not enhance student learning, but it will allow my students to continue their learning whether I or my students are absent.

In this version of my CMS Assessment, I used feedback from Natalie Adams to make some changes. I removed a 30 second comparison of various CMS’. I was also inspired by Natalie’s own use of captions to support her verbal argument. I have included some captions for the standards being tested in this assessment.

CEP 813: Sandbox for Professional Growth Essay

My digital portfolio on wordpress has been a sandbox for my thinking about assessment in digital contexts. This portfolio represents a record of how my thinking with regards to assessment has developed over the last few months. The nature of a digital medium allows for quick feedback and revision. An essential part of assessment for students to achieve understanding and mastery of content standards.

I began this portfolio by thinking thoughtfully about formative assessment. In the Synthesis Précis I was able to explore ideas and develop my own position as an educator on formative assessment. In the Assessment Genre I was able to play around with my more developed ideas of assessment in a professional context. This allowed me to play around with ideas of leadership and how I could evaluate and guide colleague’s in developing a clear purpose for our local assessments. My study of this issue allowed me to delve deeper into thinking about formative assessment practices. Specifically my own. This led logically towards designing better assessments that were guided by a thorough process of creation that culminated in an Assessment Design based on the Understanding by Design model.

Now that I had developed the basic understanding necessary for creating assessments I could focus on rendering and receiving feedback. Feedback has been a key feature in this digital portfolio. Opportunities have been ever present to revise work. This feedback has come from multiple sources, from both instructors and peers. An affordance of digital media is the ease of which one can go back and correct mistakes or bolster one’s work. There are two assignments in particular that showcase this philosophy; Infographic and CMS Assessment. In the case of the infographic I received peer feedback, which I allowed me to identify areas for improvement in my first draft and implement a revision for a much better product.

These types of assignments that allowed me to explore the ideas and then synthesize the information presented into something meaningful for myself are a powerful feature of digital portfolios. The portfolio not only shows the work I have done, but also my growth. I have received feedback on several assignments and have used that feedback to improve. Feedback is an important component of digital portfolios for helping student understanding. This digital portfolio that I have created stands as a record of everything I have learned in CEP 813: Digital Portfolios. It exists as an argument for mastery over the material in this course.

CEP 813 – CMS Assessment Screencast

I used the Schoology CMS for this formative assessment of sampling populations and identifying survey bias. Schoology is really great for my needs. Though it is not necessary in this assessment, Schoology allows for the incorporation of math equations and symbols that are not very common in other CMS’. Other features like the ability to hide the quiz until I am ready to assign it and also being able to assign it to specific students means that I can target my assessments precisely. My school adopted Schoology this year and this will be my students first time in the CMS. There will be times this year where I must travel and will miss my statistics class. I can use this CMS to still deliver content while I am away and considering how connected we all are I will be able to render feedback quickly. This may not enhance student learning, but it will allow my students to continue their learning whether I or my students are absent.

Please enjoy my thoughts on the assessment I created in this screencast.

CEP 813 – CMS Assessment

After carefully weighing the pros and cons of Schoology, Google Classroom, and Weebly as viable course management systems (CMS), I have found Schoology to be the superior choice for my needs as a math teacher. All three of these CMS have great features that are unique to them, making this choice more difficult.

Schoology is a CMS that was adopted this year by my school system. I have yet to use it as I have been using Weebly to relay information and assignments to students. Schoology is robust with many great features. One of the more unique is the ability to track student logins and duration of stay. This can give me insight into my students work habits and any bottlenecks they may encounter. There are a wide variety of assignments and media that I can add or create. One nice feature for math teachers is the ability to write math equations and symbols. Very useful for creating assignments and assessments. Another unique feature is that multiple teachers can administrate a class. The other CMS’ did not have this feature, which I think is quite useful for collaboration with my colleagues. One feature that I would like to see is the integration of html widgets so that I can have better media integration.

Google Classroom like other Google products may one day be amazing, but today that is not the case. Aesthetically it is very clean and easy to understand. However, the number of features that it has is quite limited. At this point the only thing that can really be created are assignments. There are no assessment tools available unless perhaps you try to integrate Google Forms in some capacity. Communication is more fluid within this CMS then with Schoology. The student’s ability to communicate with their instructor is well integrated. Google Classroom does benefit from the synergy of the other Google Apps like drive and docs. This makes creating and turning in assignments much easier as they can be linked into a dropbox quite easily.

Weebly is a great for creating websites. One cool feature is the ability to give students access to create their own websites off your domain. This is great for creating portfolios as a means of assessing student understanding. Students can also set up their own blog, which could be used as another type of portfolio piece. The customization of the page is much higher when compared to the other CMS’ above. One of the best features of Weebly is the ability to embed your own html code in what’s called a widget. This allows for some more freedom with design. However, beyond these strengths Weebly does not have many features that are essential for a fully online class. There are no assessment tools for instance, nor are there user accounts for logging in. Assignments must be created and submitted outside of Weebly.

Though I really like Weebly for ease of use and for some of its unique features. Schoology possesses the means I need for assessing student in math. Though I like the idea of using Weebly for students to create a portfolio to showcase their work (a feature that does not exist in Schoology). The ability to “speak” math in text form is critical. Schoology also has a broad range of features that make assessing students and returning feedback very easy. Students are better able to track their progress in Schoology than in the other two CMS’. For these reasons I have elected to use Schoology for my CMS.

Check out how I ranked each CMS here.

CEP 813 – Minecraft Assessment

 

CEP 813: Infographic

CEP813 – Infographic Draft

CEP813 – Assessment Design v. 1.0

In this assignment I use elements from Understanding by Design by Wiggins and McTighe to design a framework for a lesson on Linear Regression for my AP Statistics class. This is an iterative process that will build upon itself over the course of this semester.

Link to my Assessment Design version 1.0.