If you have taken a course design course at the university level, you have most likely been introduced to the concept of Backwards Design: https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/course-design/index.html. The backward design process asks instructors to structure student learning around assessments that are intentionally designed to provide evidence that students have achieved the course goals. This concept comes from the classic book Understanding by Design, written by Grant Wiggins (1950–2015) and Jay McTighe.
This year McTighe, in partnership with Steve Ferrara, has released Assessing Student Learning by Design: Principles and Practices for Teachers and School Leaders. (Updated from the 1998 version titled, Assessing Student Learning in the Classroom, to addresses assessment of academic standards as well as transdisciplinary outcomes, such as 21st-century skills). Aimed at the K-12 and undergraduate classroom, their book intends to answer the question, “How can we help teachers use classroom assessments to gather appropriate evidence for all valued learning goals, and to use those assessments not just to measure learning but to promote it?”
Readers will learn how to practically answer this question using the Assessment Planning Framework. The Framework examines four different types of learning goals (knowledges, skills, processes, and understandings). The book provides straightforward explorations of different methods of classroom assessment and grading and is useful if you want to rethink some of your current assignments to ensure they align with the stated goals of the course.
Leave a Reply