Svinicki, M. & McKeachie, W.J. (2014). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers (14th ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Part 2 Svinicki and McKeachie’s book is an inviting read. The tips and strategies are helpful and practical for anyone teaching adult learners. These are ideas which can be immediately implemented in order to enhance learning. Part two, chapters 4-10, cover the topics: reading as active learning, facilitating discussion, how to make lectures more effective, assessing, testing and evaluating, good designs for written feedback for students, and assigning grades and what those grades mean. These all speak to the theme of basic skills for facilitating student learning. I found the sections on grades eye opening. Although I would have previously agreed with many of their assertions, such as “Learning is more important than grading” (pg. 83), “align goals with assessments (pg. 73), and that traditional tests are not the only method of evaluation (pg. 74), other ideas are new to me or have only recently taken hold. These include that “tests should facilitate learning for you as well as your students”, and “use nongraded tests and assessments that provide feedback to the students and you.” (pg. 73). I had not considered all the possible uses of grading and evaluating. I always thought of tests as formative or summative methods of evaluating student progress in order to inform instruction and measure mastery. The idea that the test can also assist in the actual learning process is novel, but makes perfect sense. Students will study what they know will be on the test, prioritizing this over other material which may now be considered non-essential. This is in alignment with the statement “what is measured is often what ends up being valued.” (pg. 73). I was also particularly interested in the section on embedded assessment using technology. I have often seen this implemented, and even taught it in seminar last semester (with the help of a CT and an intern), but have yet to try it myself with my adult learners. I feel like using technology is greatly beneficial to the interest and motivation of the student, but is often fraught with difficulty in its implementation. I know I need to take the risk (and have a backup plan), but more forward. I could do QR scanner codes for assessment, Nearpod, SurveyMonkey, Doodle, or other evaluations tied to HHEDs. I am going to make this one of my goals for the year, to increase use of beneficial technology into my classes, particularly for the use of assessment. According to Svinicki and McKeachie, this type of embedded assessment can “gather information about individual as well as class performance, this information can be used to diagnose student problems, provide feedback, and make adjustments, but also be graded and figured into an overall grade.” (pg. 82) I felt a personal connection to the section on student aggression and frustration related to testing. I was very surprised at the anger I felt from my students last semester when I started giving short quizzes on the material they were assigned to read for homework, in my instructional planning class. This was in response to student arriving unprepared for class. I hoped that giving a 2 question quiz on the readings would increase homework completion rates. On days when I would give these short quizzes, some students would sulk, refuse to participate, and even complain vehemently. It affected my rapport with them, something I was working hard to build. As the authors suggest, I did try to explain the purpose of the quiz, the how and why. This was not effective. Although I was able to establish a positive relationship with some of the students, I feel like I never reached others, and I think that may have been part of the reason why. To amend this, in my current class, if I am giving a quick quiz to see if students did the assigned readings, I use it as a non-graded formative evaluation tool. I may be losing the effectiveness edge in that students know there is no point value attached and thus may be apathetic about the quiz and the reading, however, if I single the purpose down to finding out if students are prepared for class and adjusting my lesson accordingly if needed, I can avoid the angst my students may have felt. It’s more important for me to develop and maintain a connection to my students than to assign points to a test. As Svinicki and McKeachie point out, there are other ways to assess students. And after all, we want students to “focus on learning rather than on grades” (pg. 134).
1 Comment
9/18/2015 06:24:54 pm
Did you ever talk to them about their unpreparedness?
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