Standard 3.3 - Assessing/Evaluating
"Candidates make professionally sound decisions in selecting appropriate processes and resources to provide optimal conditions for learning based on principles, theories, and effective practices." (AECT, 2012)
Description of Artifacts
The two artifacts chosen to demonstrate my proficiency in Standard 3.3 were created for Dr. Misook Heo’s spring 2018 course: Design of the Learner Experience. The objective of this project was to create “an application or service that facilitates behavior change in individuals” (Heo, 2018). So, my partner and I created a prototype of an app called Collaborain after observing that some students in the math classroom could become disengaged due to the “can’t do” mindset. Therefore, the goal of the app was to provide these students with multiple ways of reviewing the material and a safe space to ask their classmates for help. In order to create this app, we followed the cycle of UX design. Two steps of this cycle were to first create and execute an evaluation plan to test the prototype we had initially built, and then use the results from the assessments to improve our prototype.
Reflection and Rationale of Artifacts
Standard 3.3 states “candidates use multiple assessment strategies to collect data for informing decisions to improve instructional practice, learner outcomes, and the learning environment” (AECT,2012). I chose these two artifacts because I believe it demonstrates my ability to first plan effective assessment strategies and then use the results from these assessments to improve the learner outcomes when using the app and the learning environment as a whole. The first artifact; the Evaluation Plan for Collaborain, states the project goals, the evaluation goals to assess the project goals, and how each of these evaluation goals will be measured. Furthermore, the plan outlines how the assessments will be administered. The second artifact: the Project Analysis and Report, outlines the major findings of the assessments and the areas of the prototype that needed improvements based on the findings.
Even though this project focused mostly on practicing the steps of the user experience design process, it helped me realize that many of my assessments used in my current position as a high school science teacher, were based mostly on content knowledge rather than having an equal share of both procedural knowledge and content knowledge. While I believe that this project allowed me to become proficient in Standard 3, an area of continued development for me is the preparation of assessments that measure the learning objectives and goals of the learning environments I create in the future. Therefore, I am currently taking the GFDE 500: Foundations of Assessment with Dr. Helga Stokes to develop my knowledge and skills in creating proper educational assessments.
Artifact 12A - Evaluation Plan for Collaborain
Artifact 12B - Project Analysis and Report for Collaborain