Designing Assessments for an Intercultural Class

[Coming soon]

Assessment is a crucial part of teaching and learning. Not only does it inform the professors of how well students have acquired the knowledge, it can also indicate whether the instructional strategies, pace and intensity should be adjusted in order to help all students learn better.  In this video, we are going to talk about the three common types of assessments and how to design assessments for students in diverse classrooms using Universal Design for Learning principles.

The three common types of assessments used in differentiated and responsive classrooms include: diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments.

Diagnostic assessments are intended to find out what students know before instruction takes place.  You could use this type of assessment at the beginning of the semester to get an overall estimation of students’ knowledge about the course, or at the beginning of each lesson to check on acquisition of the previous lesson (Assessment types, n.d.). Examples of diagnostic assessments include:

1. Short surveys using tools such as Padlet to assess students’ assumptions about or prior experience with concepts to be taught during the lesson.
2. Short quizzes in Brightspace to assess students’ understanding of concepts to be taught during the lesson.
3. One-minute speech: within small group settings of 3-4, students take turns to draw a predetermined topic relevant to lesson to be taught and speak on what they know for one minute.

Formative assessments, also known as “assessment for learning”, are ongoing assessments to check students’ knowledge acquisition throughout the semester and in turn help you make instructional adjustments, if necessary.  Such assessments are recommended to be “high reward, low risk” to encourage students’ participation. Examples of formative assessments include:

1. Entrance Ticket Questions.: at the beginning of the class, ask students to write down questions they had about a previous lesson for you to answer before current class finishes.
2. Exit Ticket Reflections: ask students to reflect on what they learned during the lesson by using guiding questions such as, “What was the most important thing you have learned?”, or “What surprised you about today’s lesson?”

Summative assessments, also known as “assessment of learning”, are intended to check students’ overall knowledge at a particular point in the semester (at the end of a chapter or a semester). Examples of summative assessments include:

1. End-of-chapter quizzes or tests;
2. Presentations;
3. Portfolios;
4. Mid-term and Final exams.

According to Carroll (2008), students are likely to experience some or all of the following prior to adapting to new academic systems:

1. Students’ test experiences were limited to high-speed, high-stakes tests;
2. Students’ knowledge of and familiarity with the content of the syllabus were crucial in passing the tests;
3. Students are used to grading systems from their own cultures.

Consider the following when designing assessments:

1. Align assessments to Course Learning Requirements (CLRs).
   • What are the CLRs of my course? Correspond the verbs to Bloom’s Levels of Educational Objectives;
   • Based on the levels, determine the appropriate assessment options using the “Bloom’s Taxonomy Question & Task Design Wheel”;
2. Include frequent formative assessments.
   • Such formative assessments should be “high reward and low risk” to encourage students’ participation;
   • Offer timely and effective feedback so that students can start improving as soon as possible;
   • Reflect on if instructional strategies should be modified based on the results of such assessments (CAST Professional Learning, n.d.);
   • Find a list of formative assessment examples here.

Using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to design assessments for students in diverse classrooms:

1. Include clear rubrics and instructions to clarify the expectation.
   • Find the tutorial for creating rubrics here.
   • Align rubric criteria to appropriate CLRs, Embedded Knowledge and Skills (EKSs) and if applicable, Essential Employability Skills (EESs) of your course
   • Use plain language when writing instructions for the assessments.  Use short sentences, bullet/numbered lists, avoid idioms and jargon, and determine the appropriate acronyms/abbreviations based on your knowledge of your students. It is also helpful to clarify vocabulary and remove other language barriers by using multimedia (such as close-captioned videos, graphics, and checklists, etc.) to present instructions.
   • Use different means of representation when introducing your assessments (for example, charts, graphs, images, videos, demonstrations, or objects to manipulate), where applicable.
   • Distinguish the “compulsory” and “guiding” parts of the instructions explicitly.
   • Allow different means for students to show what they know, or how they engage in the assessment process. For example, for a persuasive essay, allow students to choose the content of their writing.
   • Model your expectation for the assessments, if applicable. For example, providing an exemplary version of the essay and indicate the factors contributing to the high grade.
   • Upload rubrics and instructions to Brightspace before the first day of class so that students can begin planning their year.
   • Go over the rubrics and instructions with students on the first day of class and when assigning assessments, and allow time for questions.
2. Include international/intercultural components to your assessments, where applicable (for example, assignments designed to ask for students’ self-evaluation on international perspective development, or make comparisons between two cultures, etc.) (Centre for Teaching Excellence, n.d.).

Assessment Types: Diagnostic, Formative and Summative (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/09_s2_01_intro_section.ml

Carroll, J. (2008). Assessment Issues for International Students and for International Students. Retrieved from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/carroll.pdf

CAST Professional Learning (n.d.). Retrieved from http://castprofessionallearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/cast-10-assessment 2015-10-20.pdf

Centre for Teaching Excellence (n.d.). Retrieved from https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/managing-students/diversity-and-internationalization/strategies-course-internationalization

Dimitrov, N., Dawson, D. L., Olsen, K. C., & Meadows, K. N. (2014). Developing Canadian Journal of Higher Education, (3), 86-103. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1049386&site=ed-live&scope=site