Evidence and an Approach to Identifying Learning, While it is Happening

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