Wednesday, March 31, 2021

A Strategy to Utilize a Formative Assessment Process During Virtual Chapter or Content-specific Quizzes

Proponents of Invitational Education theory KNOW effective connections matter in education.  A dozen or more individual rectangles on a screen does not perpetuate community.  In this regard, the first intentionally inviting opportunity is to remember that behind each virtual rectangle is a whole person who individually comprises a part of the patchwork quilt that is your potential learning community.

During the pandemic the need to effectively conduct breakout rooms, utilize discussion boards to stimulate a professional learning community, or virtually assess student learning has provided opportunity and angst.  During the best of circumstances, 60% of a course's learning objectives are "lost" within 8-weeks after completion.  What will be the percentage of learning loss during times of forced virtual instruction resulting from the pandemic? The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students is still very much being processed

 The educational community can increase retention of learning with a strategy that utilizes a formative assessment process during virtual chapter or content-specific quizzes.  So many teachers have been using multiple-choice quizzes through their learning management system (LMS).  A little fine-tuning of the quiz’s restrictions and submission perimeters can turn a summative quiz into a more inviting formative opportunity.

For upper elementary grades and above, chapter quizzes through a LMS can provide formative evaluation. Specifically, this can be done by the teacher providing two opportunities (attempts).  The higher result of the student’s two attempts is graded.

If the initial attempt earned between 40-95% then the LMS has been set to allow the student a second attempt.  The feedback from the initial attempt affirms and reinforces the student’s correct response to the question.  The student then must deduce or identify which initial responses were not affirmed, which means they were incorrect.  If below 40%, the student is obviously lost and needs more direct support before a pothole in learning becomes a crater. This is the communication loop essential to formative assessment.

Prior to the second attempt, the instructor's explicit guidelines intentionally invites the errant student to review what was unknown or unclear. Additional individual learning can then occur.  Thereafter, the second attempt elicits a better answer that ideally validly acknowledges the student’s learning.   

To cite:

Anderson, C.J. (March 31, 2021). A strategy to utilize a formative assessment process

during virtual chapter or content-specific quizzes. [Web log post] Retrieved from

 

 

References

Purkey, W. W., & Novak, J. M. (2016). Fundamentals of invitational education. (2nd Ed)
            International Alliance for Invitational Education. Retrieved from:
            http://invitationaleducation.net/product/category/books
 
Weymes, E. (2003). Relationships not leadership sustain successful organizations.
            Journal of Change Management, 3(4), 319-331. doi.org/10.1080/714023844

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