MY EVALUATION PHILOSOPHY
My evaluation approach
My evaluation approach is
learning-centered. My evaluation strategies promote learning rather than
performance. Learning entails primarily intellectual and personal changes that students
undergo as they develop new understandings and reasoning abilities. To me, grading
becomes not a means to rank but a way to communicate with students about their
learning process.
I emphasize formative feedback over summative and I
help my students develop metacognition skills so that
they can constantly reflect about their own learning process.
Formative
evaluation
I conceive evaluation mainly as
formative and I provide feedback all throughout the course. I firmly believe
that students learn by doing and even failing. So, I create a learning
environment, where students encounter safe yet challenging conditions in which they
can try, fail, receive feedback, and try again without facing a summative
evaluation.
Metacognition
My
ultimate goal is to help my students develop strong metacognition
skills so that they can think about their
own learning process and use the standards of the discipline to recognize
shortcomings and correct their reasoning as they go. Metacognition
is the ability to be aware of one’s own learning processes. It means being able
to recognize whether one is learning and how to improve one’s learning.
I
always ask my students to think about metacognition
as their "inner coach," their awareness and knowledge of how they
learn and how they will control their learning process. For this purpose, I
provide my students with both general strategies and discipline-specific tools
to be able to control and monitor their own progress.
Summative evaluation
Students have different learning styles, they are
generally in different positions of –Perry’s model of- cognitive development,
and they usually have different perceptions of knowledge. Thus, I design different
evaluation tools and I combine various assessment types in all my courses. For
example, I resort to class-room tests, papers, projects, class participation,
oral presentations, portfolios, and take-home final exams.
My course syllabi extensively inform my students about
the evaluation tools, the evaluation criteria I will use, my expectations for
each evaluation component, the grade weight, and dates. I also go over these
expectations several times in class. I have also included a section about
frequently asked questions about my evaluation policy on my website.
For each test, I do one or two review classes, where
students bring questions and comments. We go over the questions on the test
bank, and I discuss any topic which may need further explanation. I also give
my students a question to work either individually or in small groups similar
to the ones that may be on the test. They work with the syllabus and I write
the evaluation criteria on the board. Then, students read out their answers and
other students comment on those answers based on the evaluation criteria. I
also give my feedback on those answers.
Additionally, I give my students some answers which I wrote
for them to grade according to the evaluation criteria as if they were me. This
gives students ample opportunities to practice for the test and to know exactly
what is expected of them.
I do a similar activity for their term papers. We go over the
expectations and evaluation criteria. They practice writing individually and in
small groups and they both give and receive feedback to and from their peers. I
also provide them with papers I wrote for them to review and grade.
Constructive
alignment
When
I design my courses, I always start from the end. First, I plan where I want my
students to be at the end of the course. I think of the kind of intellectual
and personal development that I want my students to enjoy in this class, and
what I want them to be able to do when they finish the course.
Then,
I carefully design the class activities which will help them reach those goals.
Finally, I design evaluation tools –both formative and summative- which will
permit me and my students to assess whether they have reached the course
objectives and learning outcomes. For this purpose, I decide on the evidence I
will need to collect about the nature and progress of their development. In
other words, I align the course objectives and outcomes, the learning
activities, and the assessment.
Co-evaluation practices
I
strongly believe that students should have an active role in their evaluation
process. As far as compatible with Departmental, Faculty, and University
polices and standards, I try to adopt co-evaluation practices, where I share
–at least part of- the responsibility of evaluation with students. I try to
promote many opportunities during the term to allow students to negotiate some
aspects of their evaluation. For example, after every test I devote the whole
or part of the class where I return the tests for students to read my comments
and feedback, and to discuss them with me.
I
also always work with test banks created by the students. Every four or five
classes, I ask my students to contribute questions to the test bank. They work
in small groups and they discuss what they think were the most important topics
and issues dealt with in the prior four or five classes. Then, they propose
questions for the test bank. If the questions have a general consensus they are
part of the test bank. Finally, for the tests I choose questions from the test
bank. The purpose is threefold. First, it helps students reflect critically on
the topics we have discussed. Second, it gives them more control on the
evaluation instruments. Third, it democratizes the already asymmetric
professor-student relationship, which is so pervasive in the North American
college classroom. The result is that test bank questions are generally
challenging, rigorous, and intellectually stimulating. Many students perform
with excellence in the exams as they have taken ownership of an important part
of their evaluation process.
Challenging evaluation tools
All
my evaluation tools have in common the fact that they are challenging and
demanding. I truly believe that I have to challenge my students in order to
promote deep learning. So, I design evaluation strategies and instruments that
challenge students and which take them out of their comfort zones, by proposing
activities that require high level critical thinking, critical academic
reading, and writing skills. My evaluation strategies also require hard work
and extensive in-class and outside class preparation. Students not accustomed
to this extensive preparation may show resistance and discomfort. I encourage
my students to discuss their feelings about the evaluation and at the same time
I urge them to be accountable for the individual contributions to their
learning process and development.
Timely
feedback
I always return papers and tests in the class immediately
following the deadline for the submission of the paper or the day when the
students wrote the test. While this is a challenge to me given the number of
students I have in all my courses, I find that providing immediate feedback
helps my students understand their learning process better.