By: Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning
As I look out my office window on what is a beautiful day, I notice the leaves changing colour and formation after formation of Canada geese flying by, hustling off to fields of the Experimental Farm or the Ottawa River to rest and feed. It’s then I realize that we are very much into the fall term and students are now starting to write midterms, complete their first papers, and work on projects and assignments.
Many of Carleton’s first year students are now experiencing their first taste of university-type assessments and almost certainly their instructors will be amazed, impressed, puzzled, frustrated and potentially disappointed with these first samples of students’ answers, solutions and work. Conversely, students will feel a similar range of emotions: confusion, relief, happiness, satisfaction and disappointment when they receive their marks and feedback.
The sharing of these emotions is not uncommon for both students and instructors as both are riding on a learning curve. For instructors, they are feeling out their class: are their students engaged, motivated, or less prepared than they expected? For students, they are trying to ‘figure out’ their instructor, what are their expectations, their teaching style, and what is ‘important.’ For instructors, this learning curve is often less steep (particularly if they are experienced and have taught the course before), but for first year students, learning how to succeed in their studies is challenging.
How can instructors lessen the slope of students’ learning curve? I think it starts with communicating clear expectations to students. One way to accomplish this is to clearly articulate learning outcomes to students and ensure that course assessment strategies align with these outcomes. With an assessment strategy that is aligned with learning outcomes, an instructor should be able measure their students’ ability to demonstrate these outcomes.
A second strategy that instructors could apply is to be as transparent as possible in relation to the assessments and evaluation scheme. This might include providing sample questions and responses to problems, explaining the marking of the responses, providing a marking rubric, or giving examples of student submissions. It is always a good idea to explain to students why a paper or response is good or poor.
Teaching and Learning Services’ theme this month is Assessment and Evaluation, and in support of that theme, much of our programming and blogs will be orientated to supporting the development of sound assessment strategies. Ever wonder if your test or quiz questions are fair? Or whether they measure what you think they measure? Are there alternatives to papers or tests? Check out our programming or reach out to us.