Aligning Assessment with Outcomes

Not all learning is the same. Throughout our lives we learn a lot of things in a lot of different ways: we commit facts to memory, improve physical skills, develop more nuanced understanding of things, grow in wisdom, get more proficient at procedures, and change our attitudes, just to name a few. If we were to assess our growth or performance in these things, we'd need different tools depending on the type of learning. Luckily there are so many tools available and I've included a resource that lists a whole bunch of them: Common Assessment Tools and Instruments

Unfortunately, some things are very hard to measure within the context of a course, and so we often find ourselves measuring the things that easily can - recall of content and procedures, skills that can be isolated, observed and measured, attendance, and assignment completion...etc. If we are honest with ourselves, we also tend to assess skills that already existed before the student enrolled in our courses (e.g. ability to read and write, give presentations, study, and memorize). 

Think about the types of things that might be captured in a set of outcomes that you need to assess:

• Recall of acquired content, under defined conditions (i.e. evaluating the skills of acquisition, retention, and recall)
• Indicators and evidences of understanding.
• Discipline-related products and performances that students have created (writing papers, presentations, projects)
• Psychomotor and technical skills (either the speed, accuracy, consistency, complexity)
• Decision-making and problem solving
• Case study analysis 
• Reflection on experience (synthesis and transformation)
• Relational or "soft" skills, such as teamwork and communication
• Learner behaviour (work completion, attendance, "effort", participation, contribution, professionalism).
• Transformation (growth and improvement)

Not all of these are easy to assess! 

STOP & THINK: Consider a course that you teach. Assessment adds credibility to that course because it guarantees something. It sends a message that says, "Passing this course provides some assurance and evidence that you can..." How would you finish this sentence? What are the 2-3 key things you want your students to walk away with at the end? Use the list above as a guide. Does your assessment provide valid and reliable evidence of those things?