ONLINE ADJUNCT FACULTY TIP #32 - Is There A Place for Formative Assessment in Online Graduate Instruction?

Whew! Nearly 90 degrees today. I'm unable to tolerate heat like I could when I was younger - but still love to be outdoors when it's blazing... As I was sawing down dead tree limbs, the neighbor kid was polishing his yellow SUV (NOSTALGIA ALERT --- reminded me of the hours I would spend to detail my 1984 Duster - while listening to custom-made mix cassettes - which I recorded directly from the radio). How times have changed... Back to my neighbor - his stereo was pumping out a song that at first was annoying, but soon I found to be catchy. I memorized the lyrics, went in the house - to my cool basement office, searched the music section on Amazon, and downloaded Maino's "All the Above" -- cool. Who says Mr. P. isn't hip?

I've been reflecting much on my teaching style - and expectations. Nearly all of my graduate instruction is built upon summative assessment. That is, tests and other criterion-driven items that are measures of learning. All of this summative evaluation stuff leaves a bad taste in my mouth - I want my classes to be increasingly divergent. I don't want students to necessary be programmed to think what I think. Still, the struggle with moving away from summative assessment is the challenge (and need) of assigning points and a letter grade to students' work. (I'm still fleshing-out a plan for assigning credit to non-summative assessments)

Nonetheless, I want to include, or at least balance, my courses with a healthy dose of formative assessment. Assessments become formative when the information is used to adapt teaching and learning to meet student needs. To accomplish this push toward formative assessment, I will:

• Introduce reflection and self-evaluation components to at least two assignments
• Add a "My Weekly Reflection" optional discussion thread and encourage students to candidly reflect on what they learned during the week, how they will apply it, what they found useful, what they found to be irrelevant, and what they [still] don't understand - and why. If the student produces this post, it will automatically be credited the same as a discussion thread response - and the instructor will respond in an anecdotal manner - not to judge, but to also reflect.
• Invite students to discuss their thinking about a question or topic in pairs or small groups, then ask a representative to share the thinking with the larger group
• Include poll questions - allowing students to vote

The biggest benefit of formative assessment is the ability to adjust the instruction to the student. The [summative] "take and bake" approach to online graduate instruction is quick, moderately effective and reliable. However, a formative approach will empower the student to be a reflective thinker - and if they can't find the cheese per your map, they'll find another way to that cheddar prize.