April 15, 2022
Is it the end of week 12 already? This week I want to encourage everyone to attend the final CNS MTI workshop of the 2022 spring semester this Tuesday where Debbie Garrity and Dan Sloan will lead a panel discussion on alternate learning assessment options (see below for details). I also encourage those that have not already to consider participation in the First Four Weeks workshop (more details below). Outtakes from a recent Chronicle of Higher Education “Talking About Teaching” panel discussion shared by Beckie Supiano in her newsletter yesterday focused on additional minor changes that can reduce student stress and increase equity.
Make-Ups Matter
During our most-recent Talking About Teaching virtual event, the panel discussed small changes professors could make in grading and assessment. Among them: Allow students to drop their lowest test score.
I got an interesting response from Rebecca Torstrick, senior assistant vice president for University Academic Affairs and director of Completion & Student Success for the Indiana University system. Torstrick, also a professor of anthropology at the South Bend campus, pointed out that this policy can have an unintended consequence, if professors aren’t careful in how they structure it.
Sometimes, she wrote, professors let students drop their lowest score — but don’t allow make-ups if students are absent during a test.
That introduces a number of problems — especially if students miss the first test, and especially if they’re first-year students, as Torstrick elaborated in an interview. Students who miss a test obviously lose their chance to drop an actual low score. But they also miss the learning opportunity that the test presents.
And that learning entails more than recalling and applying the content, she said. It’s also about how assessment is going to work. “When you take your first exam, you begin to learn what kinds of questions they’re going to ask you, how strictly do they stick to what they tell you they’re going to do, are you seeing material you’ve never seen before, are you being asked to apply the material instead of just simply parrot it back?”
A better policy? Let students drop a low score, but also provide make-ups. Yes, this is more work for professors. Torstrick recommends starting from the assumption that you won’t have perfect attendance on exam day and creating two versions as a built-in contingency.
I would add, just hold off on releasing the key until everyone has taken the exam. I find myself herding cats to get everyone to complete the exams. I find it easier to allow students to take exams late than to try to sort out what to do after the fact at the end of the semester. I would also add that I do drop the lowest exam score in my courses. However, I think it more equitable to do that for all my students. I also don’t tell my students or even my TAs as this leads to students skipping the final and not really learning the concepts covered in the final weeks of the semester. Please don’t tell my students. If they hear about it and ask me, I will deny it.
Cheers, Paul
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Lunch at 11:30 a.m., Presentation will begin at 12:00 p.m.
Lory Student Center Room 386
Master Teaching Initiative
LUNCHEON AND LECTURE
Assessment Strategies Post-COVID: Opportunities and Challenges
presented by Debbie Garrity & Dan Sloan, Department of Biology
Panel: Tanya Dewey, Biology
Meena Balgopal, Biology
Kimberly Jeckel, Biomedical Sciences
Jennifer Todd, TILT Instructional Designer
With the closing if the university testing center and onset of Gradescope this summer, we have a window of opportunity to reflect on how we administer formative assessments in our courses. Due to the logistics of large classes, many of us have traditionally used scantron-type exams and limited our assessments to a few times per semester. However, Covid gave us practice at trying new things. This workshop will highlight examples from Biology/LIFE instructors who elected to deliver exams entirely online through Canvas. Importantly, they combined this option with course design changes that built in multiple, shorter exams with higher-level synthesis or evaluation questions that could still be graded efficiently. Can we do all this and prevent cheating? We’ll share ideas. The workshop will start with two short presentations by Debbie and Dan, followed by panel discussion with an instructional designer and faculty who have used this approach. Bring your questions and share your experiences!
Virtual participation is also welcomed, with no RSVP required:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/92637868892?pwd=OXJ3SWZNaGNLTGNrT05nSEs5ZlBVdz09
Meeting ID: 926 3786 8892
Passcode: CNSMTI1870
Questions? Please contact the College of Natural Sciences at CNS_info@mail.colostate.edu or 970-491-1300
The May 2022 First Four Weeks workshop is a 5-hour commitment over two days:
- Thursday, May 12th, 2022 from 1:00pm-4:30pm
- Friday, May 13th, 2022 from 9:00am – 12:30pm
The First Four Weeks workshops are designed to help faculty give students that strong start academically and confidence that will carry them through the semester and beyond. These sessions offer faculty strategies and tools to think differently about content delivery, building a sense of community in the classroom, improving students’ academic confidence, and improving instruction. As of today, there has been 205 participants from all eight CSU colleges.
The goal of the FFW initiative is to design intentional university learning environments to accelerate students’ adjustment to the university through clear articulation of learning expectations, and the skills and behaviors appropriate to those expectations. Your participation will ensure the (a) early establishment of an “academic mindset” among individual students and shared collectively on campus; (b) widespread use of pedagogical practices that promote learning and success; and (c) increased student learning engagement, retention, and graduation.
We know this is a busy time in the semester for you and that you are managing an abnormal year due to the pandemic. We do hope that you are able to join us. Please RSVP by April 29, 2022 by emailing the coordinating Student Success Manager Coronda Ziegler, at coronda.ziegler@colostate.edu.
Paul Laybourn (he/him/his)
Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Director, W2R S-STEM Program
Director, NoCo B2B Program
Director, REU Site in Molecular Biosciences
paul.laybourn@colostate.edu
970-491-5100
