I normally enjoy the text, but I thought the readings for this week were very repetitive. In each chapter of McKeachie’s text and the supplemental “What the Best Teachers Do”, the tip that assessing students is not just for grading purposes was given numerous times in different ways. It is an important realization that teachers need to be aware of, but I think teachers will come to this knowledge on their own. This week I wrote my first test for my COMM 110 students, so the majority of information in these readings was pretty helpful. I found myself writing down quite a few smaller tips and then marking a few as most important. While writing my test questions I was not thinking in terms of how can I write difficult questions to give me a visible spread of grades, but rather so my students will be able to display what they have learned from lecture, discussion, activities, and writing and delivering two speeches. The test has a format that needs to be consistent across all COMM 110 sections, so it consists of multiple choice and true and false questions. These are some of the most common types of assessment for students, so I thought McKeachie’s alternative teaching methods was new and very interesting.

Alternative Assessment Models

• Group testing, online testing, graphic concept representation, and portfolios were a few methods McKeachie suggested. I liked the group testing and online testing suggestions best. Group testing is having students that have already been working in groups take a test, and then get together in groups to go over answers and discuss where they were coming from in their answers. Online testing is simply having students take their exams using a computer instead of on paper. Each method has their drawbacks, but I think both are a good alternative to normal assessment.
• I think group testing would be beneficial to the field of communication because it involves plenty of discourse. A lot of information can be justified to fit different concepts, so short answer and essay questions could bring great discussion forward. Also, students commonly work in groups in communication so this would extend that experience one more step. Online testing would also work in communication. I think online testing is difficult for many reasons, but having a secure testing center on campus like McKeachie suggested would clear up any concerns. If students take online tests at home, they can use textbooks, friends, or web sites. They can even print out the test questions and pass them along to friends that have not taken the exam yet. This not only compromises the integrity of the exam, but also makes more work for the teacher because their test bank has been compromised also. If all students were taking the exam in one room, nobody would be able to have textbooks, no talking, and the computers would probably have some sort of program on them that makes the exam the only available window open. Online testing would also be beneficial for essay based questions. Students can type a lot quicker than writing, and the test will be legible for teachers to grade.
• I don’t think I will incorporate group testing into my teaching of COMM 110, but if I had my own course in the future I think this is something I would like to do. I think I personally learn better when I teach others what I know, so I think this style of testing will increase retention of the knowledge after testing. Online testing for COMM 110 may be difficult also because the test needs to be standard for all 60+ sections. Students could easily take the exam with other friend or use their text because NDSU does not have a secure testing center.

Another method McKeachie mentioned that lends itself nicely to group work is using peer assessment.
Peer and self assessment:

• Students can assess other students’ work before final copies are turned in. This is a way to get feedback to correct errors in their work. Students don’t often take the time to proofread their work before turning it in, so giving this opportunity in class can make noticeable differences in the quality of work.
• This can be implemented in the field of communication by having students review papers, essays, review questions, presentations, etc. This can be done in hard copy or even online. Blackboard and many other programs other universities have come with a discussion board feature or way for students to post their work and reply to each other with feedback. Technology lends itself nicely in the way that students could also e-mail each other copies and give feedback through comments or track changes on Microsoft Word.
• This is definitely something I am going to incorporate into my teaching. In fact, I am going to do something similar this week in my COMM 110 class. I am first going to create rubrics or specific criteria for what I am looking for in assignments. I will go through with students what each of the items mean. Students will then deliver their speech and give a formal outline version to group members. Those reading and listening will look for and listen for each element. If it is there, they will grade it. If the element is not there, they can give feedback to the student to fix before delivering the speech for a grade. I also like this because it will make the students more aware of what I will be looking for when grading. I also do this after students give their speeches. I have them evaluate themselves. I have them write what they think they did well, what they can work on for next time, and if they feel comfortable a grade they would give themselves. The students are also required to evaluate two of their peers. They have to provide similar information to what they critique themselves on.

The next important tip from McKeache is in regard to teaching students how to take a test.
Test taking:

• Many students may not be familiar with multiple formats of test taking. Most have taken multiple choice and true and false tests, but some have not. Essay tests are something new to college students, and every teacher writes questions differently. In chapter 9, McKeachie suggests to take about 15 minutes to teach students to take a test in the format you are giving.
• I think this is a good idea in all fields. As a student, I liked when teachers gave as much information as they could about tests to ease any concerns or anxiety I had. Now as a teacher, I sometimes feel like I am spoon feeding the students or giving them a crutch through the class, but I always give myself a reality check and remember what I liked as a student.
• To incorporate this into my teaching, I will give the following tips during review day:
  -go through the entire test and answer the questions you do know. Going through the
  test might give you an idea of other concepts and you can apply the knowledge from
  the questions to other more difficult questions.
  -eliminate some of the choices. If you can eliminate on or two choices, you can have a
  50/50 chance of getting the question correct!
  - When completed, go through the test again to make sure you answered all of the
  questions. I do not think I will give any advice in regards to changing answers when
  you go through the test again. I always like to say go with your gut instinct, but
  McKeache talked about no positive research saying that changing answers makes
  scores go down. I will however ease students worry and anxiety about the test by
  telling them to relax, breathe, and to not over analyze the questions. I did not write the
  questions to be tricky, have a certain number of answers be A, B, C or that they are in
  any particular order.

Late work:

• The last tip I will address is about late work in the supplemental reading, “What the Best Teachers Do”. We also talked a little bit about this in class last week, but I decided to concretely figure out my stance on late work. The article suggested that late work is OK. I do not agree with this. The text argued in favor of students needing to still learn from the work and simply taking a letter grade off does not do this.
• In the field of communication, many people are working against deadlines. I think that having a no late work policy is important in these classes. I think it instills these values in students. However, I was always a student that was aware of deadlines and did not have to worry about consequences of late work. However, I am divided on this issue. I am understanding in special circumstances. I am human also and had to ask for an extension on a paper. The paper turned out much better than it would have been if I turned it in on the day I had chosen for my due date. Class work is a lot different than assignments given in a professional setting. As an intern at MeritCare, I had deadlines all the time. If I did not have something proofed, it could not be sent to the graphic designer to get started. Most projects had an absolute finish deadline, so it would not be fair of me to be late and still expect the graphic designer to rush and finish before the deadline.
• In my classroom, I will implement a concrete late work policy at the beginning. This semester, I just kind of used the canned policy that was already on the syllabus. However, I want my students to know that I do not want work coming in late unless they were given previous permission or have a special circumstance. I think that teachers would go absolutely crazy if they had random assignments being turned in at different times. I want everything at once. I can keep the assignments organized, and get my grading done all at once. Students are notorious for just handing in papers with no explanation of what it is or when it was actually due. As a teacher, I do not have time to try to figure out what assignment it was or when it was due. I understand that students still need to learn, so I will also state that all assignments must be completed. I also think point deductions are better than a complete zero. I think it is only fair that students that completed the work on time be given an advantage to students that were not as organized or dedicated as they were.
  

Some helpful links I found this week regarding the readings:
Alternative Assessment Methods
This site gives some more information about alternative assessment methods.

Blackboard's Peer and Self Assessment Directions
Blackboard has a peer and self assessment function built right in. I might try this for my COMM 110 class. The students have a group speech coming up so they can give each other feedback over Blackboard this time. If I do not use this now, I will have the link handy for when I want to in the future.