Is everything assessment?
Do we have to assess everything?
When every other word out of your mouth is assessment, you approach everything with a outcome-based/data-driven mindset.
I paused today.
My department has been doing peer observations, where we invite our colleagues into our classroom to observe us teach. It's a three part document: Part 1 - Before the class, the observee fills out info about the class, what they want feedback on, how they think the class will go. Part 2 - observer fills out notes during the class. Part 3 - After the class, the observee fills out a reflection. The two peers meet after the class and discuss parts 2 and 3. We used to do it regularly, then got too busy, too comfortable, and forgot about it. This past year we've gone through some new hires, and I took over as instruction coordinator, so I thought we should try to do it again.
My new colleague had a great question - now what? What do we do with these forms, these talks? Should we code them?
And my mind at first was all, yes! Yes, assess everything! (Picture me twirling around in a Disney-esque filter.)
Then we talked again, after we had both finished observing and reflecting and sharing with each other. What do we do with these qualitative comments? How can we code them to be useful?
I had to stop and think for a second. I had two comments: First, the purpose of these peer observations is not to assess each other formally, in the most formal, test-like sense of assessment. It's meant as a way to guide feedback, to improve our teaching in a peer mentoring environment. They are for personal use, and can be a handy thing to refer to in our P&T dossiers. I worry that coding these reflections makes it something cold and sterile. That's not the purpose.
Second, it's not good data - we're popping in on different classes, and we're teaching different topics. It's hard to draw any conclusions, other than teaching style, and teaching style - well, that's a reflection of you, as an instructor. You can modify it, but I certainly wouldn't want to standardize it. So I recommended if we want to assess it, we should have a purpose. For example, maybe we identify a specific learning outcome, and we observe how everyone teaches it, with the purpose of creating lesson plans and guides around that learning outcome.
My takeaway: I love that my colleague asked "now what?" - we should always be thinking about closing that assessment loop. But sometimes that assessment loop is not an organizational assessment loop. In this case, it's a personal one, to assess our own growth.
When every other word out of your mouth is assessment, you approach everything with a outcome-based/data-driven mindset.
I paused today.
My department has been doing peer observations, where we invite our colleagues into our classroom to observe us teach. It's a three part document: Part 1 - Before the class, the observee fills out info about the class, what they want feedback on, how they think the class will go. Part 2 - observer fills out notes during the class. Part 3 - After the class, the observee fills out a reflection. The two peers meet after the class and discuss parts 2 and 3. We used to do it regularly, then got too busy, too comfortable, and forgot about it. This past year we've gone through some new hires, and I took over as instruction coordinator, so I thought we should try to do it again.
My new colleague had a great question - now what? What do we do with these forms, these talks? Should we code them?
And my mind at first was all, yes! Yes, assess everything! (Picture me twirling around in a Disney-esque filter.)
Then we talked again, after we had both finished observing and reflecting and sharing with each other. What do we do with these qualitative comments? How can we code them to be useful?
I had to stop and think for a second. I had two comments: First, the purpose of these peer observations is not to assess each other formally, in the most formal, test-like sense of assessment. It's meant as a way to guide feedback, to improve our teaching in a peer mentoring environment. They are for personal use, and can be a handy thing to refer to in our P&T dossiers. I worry that coding these reflections makes it something cold and sterile. That's not the purpose.
Second, it's not good data - we're popping in on different classes, and we're teaching different topics. It's hard to draw any conclusions, other than teaching style, and teaching style - well, that's a reflection of you, as an instructor. You can modify it, but I certainly wouldn't want to standardize it. So I recommended if we want to assess it, we should have a purpose. For example, maybe we identify a specific learning outcome, and we observe how everyone teaches it, with the purpose of creating lesson plans and guides around that learning outcome.
My takeaway: I love that my colleague asked "now what?" - we should always be thinking about closing that assessment loop. But sometimes that assessment loop is not an organizational assessment loop. In this case, it's a personal one, to assess our own growth.
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