![]() When I think about designing for student-centered assessment, I think about offering multiple means of demonstrating understanding of the material. I think about providing students with alternative options than traditional means in order to accurately measure learned content in ways that remove test anxiety and are set-up for all students to “put their best foot forward”. Student weakness in one area, such as test-taking should not affect student grading on a completely unrelated student assessment. For example if a student has a hard time understanding multiple choice questions due to wording or format, that student may be disadvantaged during a multiple choice test even though the material being assessed is completely unrelated to the assessment format. Additionally, many students have problems with test anxiety that might affect performance, which is unrelated to the material that needs to be assessed. ![]() In an online lesson project, I designed an assessment that incorporated student-centered assessment design features by incorporating student choice in the format their project would be submitted. The assessment is designed to gauge student understanding on general principles of stories: having a beginning, middle, and end, as well as to gauge student learning related to the differences between fiction and non-fiction. The assessment was for students to create a story whether fiction or non-fiction and present it in whatever format the student was interested in. Students were given explicit instructions on the elements required: a beginning, middle, end, character(s), and setting. Students were told that they were to determine whether the story was fiction or non-fiction, and what elements of the story led them to that decision. In this way, students were given explicit direction on the required elements of the project assessment, while also being given the student choice to determine how they would present their story. Students were given the freedom for creative expression in their storytelling as well as their means of delivery of the storytelling. Students were also given explicit instructions on required elements, so that students would know what was expected in their projects. ![]() Another element that I believe is important to student-centered assessment is the design of environments in which students are prompted to think through material learned and think through their learning process. In my online lesson project, part of the student requirements is for the student to demonstrate the reasoning behind why they classify a book as fiction or non-fiction. This gives students and opportunity to think through their mental processes and have a deeper understanding of why they think the way they do about a specific book. After the assessment students, are then asked to think about their favorite book and to categorize that as fiction or non-fiction and share that with others. The main concern of student-centered assessment is the growth of the student. Assessment can be used to encourage student learning and not be seen as a valuation of the student or the student’s intelligence, but rather an indicator of areas that the student can look for more growth opportunities in. Student-centered assessment is about rethinking what assessment’s purpose is for, and recognizing assessment should be constructed in such a way that it is a benefit to the learner and the learning environment as a whole.
2 Comments
Lauren Haraburda
11/21/2022 05:10:46 am
Katrina, I think did a great job on blog post #4. I really like the images of your own work and how it split up the text. Great job and you make some great points for designing meaningful assessment.
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Dilnoza
12/14/2022 08:52:45 am
Great job, Katrina! Your examples look great, and yes, providing students with the opportunity to think through their learning process and reflect on their choices and learning, is one of the elements of student-centered assessment.
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AuthorHello, I am Katrina Stancombe, a senior at Indiana University finishing up an Elementary Education Degree with an additional license in Blended and Online Learning. Archives
December 2022
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