Thursday, May 16, 2013
In response to Brenda Boyer's May 15th post...Research: A Thinking Process Expressed in Writing
Here's my reply...
Right on, Brenda!
It's almost like a "tunnel vision" and please don't think I am being judgemental. It is easy to get caught up in some of the necessities of the research process that what we know, practice, and expect regarding "thinking" and "decision-making" in the research process is not given enough weight.
From a learning design perspective, I have been working with teachers to develop projects that assess process increments, because the truth is, expecially for more in-depth assignments that require studens find, use, engineer information ins ome way, it is virtually impossible to get from the start (task) to the end (product) without truly accomplishing strategic, mini-milestones along the way. There is a marked difference in overall success rates as any issue is adddressed closer to the point of need.
Another professional belief is that these strategic project points dhould carry either a balanced grade componene. Too often I have seen students consider integral pieces of the process that are either not "assessed" or given a "light" assessment as being unimportant. It is easy to understand how comparatively something worth 5 points is not "important" as compared to often the mega-point end grade.
What I suggest is to shift some of the "end" grade into the process. Give process pieces more "weight".
Agreed, the end product is the culminating demonstration and requires due assessment respect. but, without successful process pieces along the way...
In a dynamic instructional experience, trial and revision will happen along the way...each project brings a unique set of variables along with it...but in my humble opinion, shifting emphasis through design can provide us with greater opportunity to build in conversations that require some of the "thinking" and "decision-making" to shift from assumed expectation to meaningful practice.
Brenda's blog: Designing TL: An Exploration of Instructional Design for Information Fluency can be found at http://brendaboyerlearningdesign.com/.
And Brenda's reply...(also saved as a comment)
Here's my reply...
Right on, Brenda!
It's almost like a "tunnel vision" and please don't think I am being judgemental. It is easy to get caught up in some of the necessities of the research process that what we know, practice, and expect regarding "thinking" and "decision-making" in the research process is not given enough weight.
From a learning design perspective, I have been working with teachers to develop projects that assess process increments, because the truth is, expecially for more in-depth assignments that require studens find, use, engineer information ins ome way, it is virtually impossible to get from the start (task) to the end (product) without truly accomplishing strategic, mini-milestones along the way. There is a marked difference in overall success rates as any issue is adddressed closer to the point of need.
Another professional belief is that these strategic project points dhould carry either a balanced grade componene. Too often I have seen students consider integral pieces of the process that are either not "assessed" or given a "light" assessment as being unimportant. It is easy to understand how comparatively something worth 5 points is not "important" as compared to often the mega-point end grade.
What I suggest is to shift some of the "end" grade into the process. Give process pieces more "weight".
Agreed, the end product is the culminating demonstration and requires due assessment respect. but, without successful process pieces along the way...
In a dynamic instructional experience, trial and revision will happen along the way...each project brings a unique set of variables along with it...but in my humble opinion, shifting emphasis through design can provide us with greater opportunity to build in conversations that require some of the "thinking" and "decision-making" to shift from assumed expectation to meaningful practice.
Brenda's blog: Designing TL: An Exploration of Instructional Design for Information Fluency can be found at http://brendaboyerlearningdesign.com/.
And Brenda's reply...(also saved as a comment)
Thanks for your excellent response addressing the formative assessments I mentioned in my last paragraph: Adding formative assessments for critical stages/milestones distributes the emphasis across product and process, helping learners see that the challenging thinking work of inquiry matters. This has made a huge difference this year in our research papers. Many students expressed gratitude to be given credit for all of the hard work along the way instead of just the final product score, and this has helped to develop better research mindsets among them. As far as the weighting, this year our process (made up of numerous components such as reflection journals, source evaluations, text-markups, demonstration of advanced search skills, etc.) was worth approx. 500 points; the paper itself was worth about 400.
Thanks again!
Brenda
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