Before the Class

Your SLOs are not only the basis for the course itself, but they are also statements of the expectations for learning. Assessments that are properly aligned with those expectations are fair and can help students improve their learning skills in the discipline. Additionally, connecting those assessments to competencies in the area of study helps to build skills central to the discipline that, in many cases, can be applicable to other fields. Ginsberg and Wlodkowski assert that creating assessments with real-world applications or in areas that students will use in their future careers increases students’ self-confidence, builds and provides learners with information about their competence in the area, and enhances their motivation to excel in the course (2009). These types of assessments are known as authentic tasks or assessments. Wiggins (1998) highlights the following characteristics of authentic tasks:

• They are realistic: Imitates real-world standards and levels of performance/knowledge. Students working on an engineering project might be assessed according to a real company’s standards, for instance.
• They require judgment and innovation: Encourages students to apply what they have learned in unique and creative ways, not just by following a set procedure. Students in a public health course may be asked to develop an engaging seminar on the importance of healthy eating for elementary school students.
• They ask learners to “do” the subject: Requires students to use disciplinary strategies to complete an assignment or project. For instance, students in a nursing course might develop a comprehensive care plan for an imaginary patient with various health problems.
• They replicate or simulate the contexts that learners find in their workplace, community or personal life. For instance, students in a Language and World Business course might be asked to apply their knowledge of Latin American cultures in the development of a business plan for a travel agency.
• They assess the learners’ ability to use an integration of knowledge and skill to negotiate a complex task effectively. Instead of having students write an essay about a social issue in architectural design, an instructor may have students create their own design to address a community concern.
• They allow appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources and get feedback on and refine performances and products. Learning takes place when individuals are allowed to practice, make mistakes and improve their work. This is why it is important to not grade certain learning activities.

 A study conducted by Carnevale, et. al (2015) on the labor trends of college students revealed the following:

• Approximately 40 percent of undergraduate and 76 percent of graduate students work at least 30 hours per week.
• Twenty-five percent of learners that work are full-time students that carry full-time work schedules.
• One-third of working students are 30 years or older. Their primary goal for attending college is to enhance their future employment options.
• Nineteen percent of all working learners also have children.
• First generation students and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds that work face more academic challenges than those learners from non-disadvantaged backgrounds.

It is now considered normal for college students to work while taking classes. Therefore, instructors should consider whenever possible the workload in their courses when designing their classes. Providing more practice opportunities during class time, offering more flexibility in assignment due dates and incorporating instruction on study skills and time management are all strategies to help working, busy students.

Threshold concepts are challenging to students, and therefore, may require more instructional time. Identify the “bottlenecks” in your course before it begins, and plan additional time for helping students navigate those difficulties. This might involve breaking down large projects or assignments into smaller “ungraded” chunks so that students have opportunities to practice and work through failure before the final project/assignment is due. Other strategies for addressing threshold concepts include:

• Listen to your students: Don’t make assumptions about where students are having trouble. Ask them questions to help them articulate their difficulties and try to understand their gaps from the perspective of a novice learner (Land et. al, 2005). You can even create a mechanism via Canvas within which students can anonymously post their questions before class begins.
• Think about how you might engage your students beforehand: Effective learning opportunities are often those in which instructors represent information in different ways (e.g., graphically, through hands on experiences, etc.), connect course materials to students’ lives, and provide them with chances to explain concepts in their own words. Land et. al. (2005) take this a step further by encouraging instructors to design a “framework of engagement” for their courses in which they can learn to think and practice like a practitioner of the discipline. In other words, a philosophy instructor might – instead of teaching students to think and write about philosophy – develop assessments that teach learners how to approach new concepts and ideas as a philosopher would. This would involve creating activities both during class and outside of class in which students practice such skills as argumentation and close reading.
• Extend “grace” in your assessments and grading: Consider giving students partial credit on test questions assessing a threshold concept when they are able to explain a portion of it properly. Allow students opportunities to redo assignments assessing threshold concepts so that they can learn from their mistakes. Luebben (2010) suggests giving students multiple opportunities to take assessments with the purpose of improving their scores. Her article can be found on Faculty Focus..

Today’s students are diverse learners with various learning preferences. They come from different educational backgrounds and have distinct strengths. Instructors can both harness their students’ strengths and build upon their areas of difficulty by providing learners will different ways of demonstrating their learning. For instance, students needing to show competence in analyzing a historical event from various perspectives might be asked to do so in an essay, a video, a historical reenactment or artwork. This strategy could even be implemented on an exam in which students get to choose which questions they answer. Harvey Mudd mathematics professor Francis Su recommends incorporating fun exam questions so that students can earn some easy points by sharing a concept that they learned in class. Some examples he provides include: “write a poem about a concept in this course,” or “imagine you are writing a column for the newspaper ‘great ideas in math’.  What would you put in it?” His talk “The Lesson of Grace in Teaching” contains other tips and ideas for helping diverse learners. While flexibility might not be practical for every learning outcome in your course, it could be a consideration for some disciplinary concepts.

In order for students to be successful in your course, they must be able to access your course materials. If you would like additional information on accessibility, please check out the following resources:

• UDL on Canvas (Self-paced course): This course contains a set of online modules to orient faculty and staff to Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an educational framework that helps instructors to make their courses accessible for all students. In this course, participants will enrich their understanding of concepts related to accessibility and universal design. They will strengthen their professional skill in course design in such ways as to increase the quality of student learning. Further, participants will take steps toward mastery of the features of Canvas.
• UDL on Campus (Resource Website): This resource provides tools for successful implementation of Universal Design for Learning principles.
• accessibility.utk.edu (UTK Accessibility site): This website provides tips on how to create accessible resources (e.g., documents and videos). It also explains university policies surrounding accessibility.

• Make an appointment with Dr. Eric Moore: An expert on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Dr. Moore provides resources via workshops and one-on-one consultations on how to implement UDL principles in course design. You can contact him at emoore50@utk.edu for more information.

• Talk to Student Disability Services: For more information about faculty resources and accommodations available to students with disabilities, please contact David Ndiaye, Director of Student Disability Services, at david@utk.edu.

Assessing for participation fairly can be challenging because it often takes time to decide as an instructor what good participation looks like. For some disciplines, participation from students means being involved in class discussions or responding to instructors’ questions. In others, learner participation might involve students commenting on each others’ posts on a discussion board or giving feedback on a project. Irrespective of the discipline, it is important to decide what the standards are for the participation grade BEFORE the class begins. The following are some considerations and tips for assessing participation:

• Link the standards for good participation to the learning outcomes. SLOs are the basis for your course, so your assessment of participation must align with the course learning targets. Start with thinking about what types of participation best help students meet those SLOs (University of Melbourne, 2014).
• Develop mechanisms to provide feedback to students about their participation. Many students equate attendance with participation. Therefore, it is not only important to be clear about how participation will be graded, but also to provide students with feedback about how they can improve their participation throughout the semester. Some instructors have students do self-assessments (see Knight, 2008), while others may use rubrics to assess student participation. We have included some links to rubrics below to get you started:
  • Carnegie Mellon University’s Eberly Center of Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation provides a rubric for assessing participation in an Art History class. This rubric is fairly general and can be adapted for any class. It can be found here.
  • Claudia Stanny from the University of West Florida has developed this rubric for class participation (2010).
  • Union University offers this rubric for participation in which the standards are categorized by letter grade.
  • Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law offers this sample participation rubric on their website.
  • The University of Kansas’ Center for Teaching Excellence provides a self-assessment rubric for participation.
• Be explicit about your standards for participation and model it for your students frequently. Putting it in the syllabus is not enough. A study conducted by Calhoon and Becker (2008) revealed that while students typically keep and look at their syllabi, they tend to forget the basic information on it (e.g., number of exams, office hours, purpose of projects, etc.). Share your standards for participation on the first day and remind students throughout the semester to make sure that they remember the expectations. Modeling the standards so that they are clear is also helpful.
• Provide multiple ways for students to participate. Not every student is the same. Some prefer to share their thoughts orally, while others might be hesitant to share ideas out loud in class. To increase participation and nurture an inclusive environment, it is important to present students with multiple avenues to contribute ideas. For instance, using online tools such as Kahoot! and Linoit allows students who may not be as vocal in class opportunities to get involved in review sessions or discussions. Using low tech strategies such as different color signs as a way to respond to questions, “think, pair, share” activities that allow students to talk in small groups before discussing ideas in a large group, and assigning students specific roles during group activities (these roles should be explained ahead of time), are also ways to engage students. Washington University’s Teaching Center has strategies for fostering good participation in class with some examples Washington University’s Teaching Center website.