Taken from http://alexsb.org/
Evidence and
an Approach to Identifying Learning, While it is Happening
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.
School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Post 279
When
confronted with the fact regarding who should ensure the learning is taking
place, instructors must be certain that learning is a two-way street. By means
of this metaphor, what needs to be understood is that teachers and learners are
both responsible for students’ learning. It is a heavy load that cannot just
rely on the instructor’s shoulders; it is a load that needs to be shared by
both actors in the classroom.
As
a teaching professional mostly working with Project-Based Learning (PBL), as
part of the content courses I get to teach at Universidad Latina, the main
source of information regarding students’ learning are projects, which have become the standard for student achievement.
That is, the preparation of a project requires instructional design behind it
to guarantee that learning objectives and outcomes are met, and the creation of
a rubric to formatively and summatively assess course participants must be
developed to guide students to strengthen areas that instructors identify. By
means of these projects, teachers can see learning in terms of a process and an
end product.
As
stated before, my grading strategies are now connected to identify areas that
must be maximized. The first step is to explain what the project is all about.
After that, rubrics are explained so learners can see what they are going to be
graded on and what their projects must include to meet the grading criteria.
Later on, as the project progresses, they are provided with feedback to prompt
some actions towards the improvement of the project. Finally, based on the end
product, a grade is provided to each student. As it can be seen, formative and
summative assessment are used to guarantee student learning. Now it is clear to
my readers that my hybrid and blended instruction is geared towards the use of
PBL. As stated by Laureate Education (2010), “Projects, if well designed, can
be very realistic and assess a wide variety of knowledge and skills. The
instructor should thoughtfully determine specifically what learning outcomes
are desired; create a project or task that will address those outcomes; develop
the conditions, instructions, and expectations for the project; and ensure it
is doable given the time and space constraints of the class.” But this process
must include the use of a rubric to really assess student learning.
As
Professor Polanco from the Universidad del Valle in Mexico puts it, the
challenge to be able to observe student learning in action is to design and
develop instruments (rubrics, portfolios, etc.) that can allow us to provide
students with ongoing assessment.
Reference
Laureate
Education. (2010). Gathering Evidence of Student Learning. Retrieved on 2015,
March 15 from the Faculty Development webpage by Laureate Education
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
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