Course Design and Planning
In this section of my portfolio, I present several examples of student learning assessment. Currently I have example assignments that I intend to use in classes. In the future, I will include examples of student work that highlight achievement of the goals of the assessment. I want to emphasize that I believe that every assessment should be a learning opportunity - this is a fundamental part of my teaching philosophy. For the documents included here, I include an explanation of the learning the assessment should achieve.Astronomy 101 Final Project: Defend Your Telescope
Astronomy 101 Final Project
Rather than a final exam, I have decided to ask students to complete a final project in which they argue for funding a large astronomical facility. I hope through the use of the project to create student investment in placing information from the semester into a larger framework as they have to make a persuasive argument based on science. They are allowed a choice of facility to make a case for and are asked to focus on three key science areas in which that facility will contribute - this allows them to focus on the areas of astronomy that they find most interesting and exciting.
In addition to motivating students to become invested in astronomy, I am also hoping to create an authentic assessment with this project. While it is unlikely that students in my Astronomy 101 class will ever directly use astronomy knowledge in their future lives, they will likely have to argue for funding a project in their future careers. In addition, I want to have a poster session during the scheduled final exam time where members of my department rate posters and presentations using the rubric. This is also part of arguing for funding and develops presentation skills. In addition, I think it is valuable to provide students the opportunity to see the work of their classmates. Having the students complete this project in groups is also part of the authentic assessment - working in teams to accomplish a project is a future career skill. As with all group work in my course, part of the students' grades will come from an assessment of their contribution to the group from fellow group members.