Learning Module & Assessment Plan - Education 4151

Assessment Plan and Learning Module

EDUC 4151

Joanne Reid

Vancouver Community College

December 22, 2016

English 081 – Advanced Adult Basic Education Upgrading and University Preparation

Learner Characteristics: The learners in English 081, similar to students in most other classes, are diverse in many ways: 

A student entering into any class comes with a ‘black box’ of sorts that holds ‘an array of invisibles’ that, among other things, includes the educational backgrounds, values, feelings, and beliefs of student and former teachers, family, and life experiences[1].  This is also true in the online classroom; however, the one similarity in the online English 081 course is that this will be the first online learning class for most of the students enrolled, yet there will be a wide range of diversity in terms of using and accessing technology; some students will have limited word processing skills.

1.  Students likely enroll in English 081 to satisfy necessary pre-requisites or required standards of written English to access specific training with the trades or vocational areas, or to gain acceptance into the Adult Dogwood or university programs/courses.  The class enrollment size is 12-20 students.
2.  More than 35% of the students will have done poorly in high school English courses, thus being ineligible to access University courses or other training/trades/vocational programs throughout the province.
3.  Many students will openly express a dislike of reading and writing.
4.  Approximately 25% of learners in the online class are International students or new immigrants who have come from different countries.  (Although 2^nd language learners are discouraged from taking an online English course, some still choose to do so.)  Often these students have stronger academic skills, but writing English is especially challenging; consequently, written feedback in addition to a a rubric tends to be more helpful feedback for learning. Furthermore, International students tend to have different views regarding the role and/or power of the instructor.  They are apt to be hesitant to ask an instructor for help outside of class or to express a different opinion than what they believe the instructor wants to hear.
5.  Students will represent different socio-economic groups, although typically those who are not International students, tend to come from a lower socio-economic background; more than 50% of the students will require financial assistance and/or other funding sources; at least 40% of the students are working either part-time or full-time; hence the reasons for taking English 081 online.
6. Students will have different attitudes towards learning and/or ability to complete assignments based on a variety of factors:  age, personal and/or family values, previous school experiences and expectations, maturity, natural acuity, learning preferences, personality, available time for study, working, unemployed, or underemployed
7. Learners can be as young as 19 years old and may view some of their classmates as old enough to be their parents, although a certain anonymity in the online classes makes this less evident.   
8. Some students will be motivated to develop their skills because they have a clear goal to increase their reason for doing well in the course.
9. Many learners in the class have lower literacy and self-efficacy skills.
10.  Some learners have a tendency to feel victimized whenever challenges come their way; they have not yet learned how to manage their time nor have they learned to take responsibility for choices they make that cause them to lag behind in the course.  The online environment is not especially suited to these learners, either.   

Assignment Objective:  Critical and Creative Thinking

1. Students will be able to use active reading strategies to read and accurately identify subject/topic, main idea, supporting ideas, and sequence of an article.
2. Students will be able to use the steps of the summary writing process (read, pause, reflect, outline, draft, revise, edit) to write a summary
3. Students will be able to use appropriate MLA formatting conventions for final submission of summary.

Lesson instructions to learners and assessment practices

Finding the Main Idea - Writing a Summary

In the previous learning module, we learned how to read critically and actively.  We also learned how to find the main idea in a piece of writing—whether the writing is an article, letter to an editor, paragraph, or essay—and to identify the supports.  In this module, our focus is on summary writing.

A.  Introduction to Summary Writing

1. Summarizing is an important skill that each one of us likely uses daily: we talk about our day, we summarize a movie, and summarize in myriad other ways. 
2. Access the Padlet-Summary and add two ways in which people might use summary skills either at home, at work, or in classes; add your contributions before ________ /2  points

 

Work through the Summarizing unit

             *Complete LearningCurve for Summary

           *Complete the Post-Test for Summarizing

                            *= post-test for grade   /10 marks

3.       Click on the picture to watch this short video (3.04 minutes)  

(If you cannot access it, copy and paste this URL into your address bar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGWO1ldEhtQ

4.            *After watching the video, write down the steps for writing a summary.  How many were you able to remember?  Review the video again to see what steps/guidelines you missed.

** Lifting the Fog ~ Go to the ‘Fog’ Discussion Area in Blackboard~ Finding Main Ideas

Answer at least one of the questions related to writing a summary – if all questions are already answered, add an example or provide feedback.  If you have a question that no one has already asked, post your question. 
(Possible   /3 marks for adding a question that requires an extended response beyond ‘yes’ or ‘no’  or answering/adding information or offering thoughtful feedback to a classmate’s question – see rubric in discussion area)

B-1  Summary Writing – Access and Read the Article

A summary can be tricky to write at first because it’s tempting to include too much or too little information. Following these steps will help you with your summary.  Writing a good summary demonstrates that you clearly understand a text and that you can communicate your knowledge of the article to your readers

1            Article to Summarize: “An Immigrant’s Split Personality” by Sun-Kyung Yi
                  Access in Blackboard Reading Info/Articles Content Area

2            Preview - title, introduction and the conclusion

3.          Based on what you have previewed, what do you expect the topic and controlling idea will be?
4.          Skim the article to get a feel for the author’s tone, style, and the controlling idea.

5           Actively reread the article. 

                   

Review ~ What will you do to read actively? 
Can you list the 5 main active reading strategies?

6.       Pause to determine Sun-Kyung Yi’s purpose in writing this article

7.       What is the main idea? (topic + controlling idea) 

B-2  Preparation for Summary Writing

Before working on your summary, complete the following:

1. In point form, contrast the characteristics/behaviors Yi describes she has that are specific to the Korean and the Canadian halves of her personality. 
2. In point form, list what behaviors her Korean family and friends expect from Yi. 
3. In point form, list what assumptions her Canadian friends
4. expect because of her Korean background
5. Identify the main points and the memorable statement in paragraph 10 of the article.
6. Writing - draft and edit a summary – See B-3 below. 

(Note:  Use the following step-by-step instructions.  KEEP a copy of all of your working documents for this assignment —rough notes, marked article, first draft, etc.—for reference after you receive your marked summary.  Do NOT re-write your rough work; doing so is a waste of time because pre-writing and first drafts are intended to be messy; they provide evidence of critical thinking.)

  

B-3  Summary Writing ~ Summary Guidelines

1.  Build an outline – Use a simple “sandwich” paragraph outline template.

a.       State the main point first.  Use your own words – try not to paraphrase; instead, put away the text and ask yourself what the author said.  Using your own words will help you avoid plagiarism. 

b.      List the main key points; make sure that what you include in the outline are key points and not minor details.

c.       Unless the examples in the article are essential, do not include them in your summary. If you include them, remember to explain their importance or connect them to the key idea.

d.      State the author’s conclusion or recommendations.

2.       Because your summary will be no longer than one paragraph, you will not require a thesis statement.  Instead, write a clear topic sentence.  This is the key to any well-written summary. (Review the main points from your outline to create a topic statement that clearly communicates what the entire text was trying to achieve.) State the main point in the topic statement. (If you find that you are not able to do this based on your outline, review the article to ensure your outline lists the key points) See examples below.    

1. Use the topic statement as the introductory sentence of your summary. 
2. Write a clear sentence for each key point; if the article is a shorter one, combine the main points in one clear sentence.  These sentences make up the body of the summary.
3. Ensure your sentences are organized in logical order similar to the original article.
4. Include appropriate transitions (then, however, also, moreover) to help with the overall structure and flow of the summary. (Ensure your summary does not read like a Table of Contents
5. Write using present tense throughout. (Yi writes, Yi explains, Yi concludes….when Yi goes…)
6. Ensure you have included the writer’s name, where the article is from if available, date of the article title of the work – typically in the topic statement.
7. After using the writer’s full name in the topic sentence, use only her surname (Yi) or ‘the writer’ or ‘the author’ throughout the remainder of the summary.
8. Be concise: a summary should not be equal in length to the original text; the summary should not be more than 20% of the entire article.
9. Unless absolutely necessary, Do NOT include any long quotes; those used should easily flow within a sentence and must be cited; 
10. If you use the author’s words, cite them.
11. Paraphrase carefully; if you take more than 4 significant words in a row from the article, be sure to use quotation marks and add a citation to indicate which paragraph it comes from;
12. Format your summary according to MLA formatting conventions (Since the only source for this article is the Globe and Mail, you do not have to create a Works Cited page.)
13. Edit:  Check for Accuracy. Reread your summary to be sure you have accurately represented the author’s ideas and key points.
14. Edit:  Check Citations:  Check that you have correctly cited anything directly quoted from the text.
15. Edit:  Check that there is No personal opinions or commentary.
16. Revise your summary for style, grammar, and punctuation. Be concise. Eliminate needless words and repetitions.
17. Ask someone else to read your summary for clarity; revise accordingly.
18. Before submitting your summary, print out a copy and let it ‘sit’ for a day or so…(OK, maybe you don’t have a day before it’s due, but try to let it ‘sit’ for some time before you hand it in.)Walk away from your summary and your computer; think about something else.When you return to your summary, re-read it out loud or ask someone else to read it to you  
                              i.   Listen carefully for flow 
                            ii.   Check for any awkward wording                       iii.   Check punctuation
19. Consider what grade you can expect for your work by comparing your summary to the checklist   Blackboard - Writing Support - Summary - Checklist    and rubric posted in the assignment drop box. Blackboard- DropBox-Summary-Rubric
20. If you are unsure of any of the terms or items listed in the rubric, you may wish to review the summarizing video before making final revisions. 
    

(If you cannot access it, copy and paste this URL into your address bar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwEl-MiZH0E 

Submit your summary through the drop box before midnight on …

Rational for types of assessment chosen

When students enter English 081, they are expected to be able to write a paragraph and to have a solid foundation using grammar and punctuation correctly.  However, experience has shown that many of the students are weak in these skills.  Hence, basic grammar, paragraph (main idea, topic sentence, supports, and conclusion) writing and active reading will have been reviewed during the first weeks of the course.  Students will have submitted a basic paragraph for feedback (formative assessment) with an opportunity to make changes accordingly prior to the summary writing assignment. 

Assessment Type(s) for Learning and of Learning

* Formative Assessment ~ Complete the Solo LearningCurve:  Practice Finding Main Ideas

LearningCurve is a formative assessment that “provides feedback to guide the learning process” (Sewell, Frith, & Colvin, 2010, p.300). The LearningCurve activity gives students an opportunity to practice finding the main ideas and learning about summary until they have reached a specific skill level. Because of the different skills levels in English 081, LearningCurve is an efficient way for learners to determine how much time they need to spend reviewing concepts.  When students answer questions in LearningCurve correctly, each questions becomes progressively difficult until the main concepts covered in the unit have been answered correctly at least 2 times without error.  Hence, those learners who know the material do not have to spend additional time with review; whereas, those students needing extra practice can do that at their own pace.  And, these students are given immediate feedback to help them better understand the concepts.

Following is a detailed description of LearningCurve.

“LearningCurve is an adaptive self-study program for students that quickly adapts to what students know and helps them practice what they don’t yet understand.

Game-like quizzes motivate students to engage with their course material without the pressure of grades or classroom settings, and reporting tools help teachers get a sense of what their class needs to focus on, attuned to the individual needs of each student.

How LearningCurve works?

Students receive instant feedback after each question in LearningCurve. Not only does this assist with retention; it also corrects them immediately on any misconceptions or mistakes.

Students who have a firm grasp of the material get plenty of practice but proceed through the activity relatively quickly. Students who are unprepared or who need more help will receive as much practice as they need to master a concept.

At any time during a LearningCurve activity students can click on links to online instruction for more explanation and examples.

Instructors can see how many questions each student answered before reaching the target score, how many students have completed each activity, and how individual students are performing, as well as composite results for the class as a whole.

Questions explained

When students select a LearningCurve activity, they are presented with a series of questions. As soon as students click on an answer choice, they receive feedback for that choice. Students continue answering questions throughout the activity and are able to build up their score by answering correctly.

Questions in each activity are divided into levels. If a student gets a question correct without hints, the next question for that topic will come from the next most difficult level. In this way, LearningCurve is adaptive and is able to adjust its level of difficulty based on a student’s performance.

Students are able to work through each activity at their own pace; they can take a break at any point and return to the activity at a later time.

Helpful tips

LearningCurve offers many helpful tips to assist students during an activity:

Hints

The “Get a Hint” option either provides students with quick tips to help them answer a question or removes incorrect choices one at a time, letting students know each time why a removed answer is incorrect.

Feedback

If a student answers a question incorrectly, LearningCurve gives feedback about that answer. The feedback explains why that choice was incorrect, but doesn’t tell students the correct answer. Students then have the opportunity to try to answer again.

  

Show Me

If the question is too difficult, students are able to click on “Show Me” to see the answer. However, no points are awarded and the student continues to be given questions from that same topic and difficulty level.

Cross-Reference

 

Each LearningCurve question has a topic-specific link that guides students to the course reference material, so that they can use that material to assist them in answering the question correctly. Referencing this additional material doesn’t cost students any points.

 How Scoring Works?

Students complete a LearningCurve activity by answering questions correctly and scoring the necessary number of points to reach the designated Target Score.

Harder questions are worth more points than easier questions, and students earn fewer points on a given question if they access hints or make more incorrect guesses before answering the question correctly.

LearningCurve does not penalize students for answering a question incorrectly. The number of questions in the activity is not predetermined, so the number of total points a student can earn does not decrease if he or she gets a question wrong. If a student guesses incorrectly, asks for hints, or requests the correct answer, then the student will be required to answer more questions in order to reach the Target Score.

 Additional review

To help students organize content review, LearningCurve offers students a “Personalized Study Plan.” Students can access this study plan during or after the activity by clicking on the progress bar that appears below each question. The study plan breaks down their performance on each topic and presents them with suggestions for further practice.”

Source:  Macmillan Media for Instructors [web] Retrieved from http://cmg.screenstepslive.com/s/MacmillanMedia/m/LearningCurveIM/l/125152-introduction-to-learningcurve

* Summative Assessment ~ Complete the Post-Test for Summary

This is a 10 item auto-scored quiz that assesses what students have learned by working through the instructional material and adaptive practice in the unit. This assessment is worth 10 points and is counted within the quiz weighting for the course grade.  Research suggests that learners are more motivated to access learning supports when they are ‘rewarded’.  However, even more important is that I have access to how well each student did on the quiz within the instructor console, which will help me determine how well learners understand the concept of summary writing.  When marking students’ summaries, I can also refer back to the assessment to compare the summary to test results.

* Formative Assessment ~ Lifting the Fog ~ Go to the ‘Fog’ Discussion Area

Sewell et al. (2010) suggest using the technique of ‘muddiest point’ to assess knowledge.  They add that “reflections discussions are techniques to obtain feedback useful for refining the instruction process” (p. 300).  While Lifting the Fog is not a reflection discussion forum per se, requiring students to post a question, answer a question, or add to a post again provides review or students and again alerts me to areas that require more specific guidelines.  This forum again provides opportunity for students to review. With a small class, a forum like this works because there are enough different types of questions learners can ask about the topic. 

* Formative Assessment ~ Summary Writing Checklist

Fluckiger (2010) claims that “the process of using the single point checklist embodies formative assessment and enables effective student self-assessment” (p.18).  She claims that students need to be taught how to compare their work to specific learning targets.  Fluckiger (2010) believes that the single point rubric or checklist provides a clear set of criteria for quality work that promotes higher student engagement.  For students at the lower levels of English writing, I have found that clear instructions, while they may seem sufficient, are not enough to ensure students complete assignments correctly.  Having a yes, no, ? checklist for students to complete before submitting an assignment is one more way for them to assess their work before submitting it for a mark. 

* Summative Assessment ~ Summary Rubric

“When instructors wish to analyze learning achievement demonstrated in papers, grading rubrics can be used to communicate criteria to learners and facilitate the instructor in providing fair and timely feedback to the learner” (Angelo & Cross, Huba & Freed as cited in Sewell et al., 2010, p. 302). Because summary writing in an essential writing skill that is required for additional writing throughout the term and in future courses, students must master this skill to do well in the course.  Hence, a rubric will be used because it “clearly specifies the expectations for the activity [summary] and the effort[2] [skills] required by the student to achieve a desired score” (Conrad & Donaldson, 2011, p.29).  Moreover, not only does a rubric give students a checklist to ensure they have followed the assignment instructions, it also tends to reduce the time required to provide timely feedback to learners. 

Although I have often used a multiple-scaled rubric, I found that a student’s work does not necessarily fit ‘neatly’ into one of the prescribed ‘boxes’.  Hence, I have moved to using a single point rubric on which I use different colours to indicate different standards achieved. (See Summary Rubric.)  In addition to using the single-point rubric, individual comments will be included on the rubric and editing symbols will be placed throughout each student’s written assignment to provide additional feedback specific to that student’s writing, which I believe is more meaningful for the students in my course. Fluckiger (2010) agrees that ‘descriptive feedback is more helpful than a number, a grade, a score, a ranking, or a single descriptive label” (p.20).  She adds that various theorist support using single point rubrics to enhance student learning including “Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and theories described in the category of self-regulated learning” (p. 21).  However, Fluckiger (2010) also encourages instructors to involve students in the development of a single-point rubric because her research shows that doing so further increases student motivation for writers.  This is something I have not done, nor have I tried this.  However, after reading her research, I will likely require students to develop their own writing checklist based on their own reflections and feedback. 

* Formative Assessment ~ Self-Reflection of Summary Writing and Feedback

While summative assessment is important in monitoring learner progress, Smith (2015) claims that formative assessment is “the most optimal form of assessment for understanding what the students understand about how to learn”[3] (Use of Formative Assessment, para 1). The notion of reflective journals is based on developing awareness.  Griffin (as cited in Thompson & Erdil-Moody, 2015) delineates reflection as “a conscious effort on the part of an individual to carefully consider the beliefs, theories and personal experiences that affect his or her action” (p. 35).  In their research, they assert that “teachers learn from actual practice, personal experiences, and observation, as opposed to the traditional lecture format…as a result, recent literature on teacher education has emphasized the integration of reflective practice into content course syllabi (p.2).  Based on this and other research related to reflection of learning, reflecting on their writing will help students develop important meta-cognition skills.

Therefore, when marked summaries are returned to students, they will be required to complete a reflection assignment.

References 

Fluckiger, Jarene, "Single Point Rubric: A Tool for Responsible Student Self-Assessment" (2010). Teacher Education Faculty Publications. Paper 5.
http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/tedfacpub/5

Pyc, M., Rawson, K., & Aschenbrenner, A. (2014). Metacognitive monitoring during criterion learning: When and why are judgments accurate?. Memory & Cognition, 42(6), 886-897. doi:10.3758/s13421-014-0403-4

Rivers, B. A., Richardson, J. E., & Price, L. (2014). Promoting Reflection in Asynchronous Virtual Learning Spaces: Tertiary Distance Tutors' Conceptions. International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning,15(3), 215-231. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=9a47d997-0850-4153-8093-c0298b5731ab%40sessionmgr112&hid=114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=EJ1033099&db=eric

Sewell, J., Frith, K., Colvin, M. (2010) Online assessment strategies: A primer.  MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. 6:1.  P 297-305.

Smith, T. (2015). Metacognition. Research Starters: Education (Online Edition)

Thompson, A. S., & Erdil-­Moody, Z. (2015). The Role of Turkish Lessons and Reflective Practice in Teaching SLA as Content. Tesl-Ej, 18(4).

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[1]Adapted from Rivers, B. A., Richardson, J. E., & Price, L. (2014). Promoting Reflection in Asynchronous Virtual Learning Spaces: Tertiary Distance Tutors' Conceptions. p.9.

[2] I oppose the word ‘effort’ in a rubric because effort is not necessarily measureable against skill development.  Some students put in an inordinate amount of effort, yet the submitted assignment may still lack the requisite skills to pass.

[3] Formative assessment is ongoing and cyclical. It offers information about what learners know or do not know and how they decide what they need to know. Information of this type can be used to improve instruction as well as advance student learning.  Formative assessment is important in improving learners' metacognition because this form of feedback engages learners in thinking about their learning and progress (Smith, 2015)