Data Collection Instruments
Data collection is a term used to describe a process of preparing and collecting data. The main purpose of collecting data is to answer questions whose answers are not immediately obvious. Collecting this information is an important part of the process of continual developing and improving quality instruction in the classroom. To collect relative data for any evaluation, instruments are utilized to gather pertinent information. During this formative evaluation on fundamental keyboard instruction, five original instruments were developed to collect relevant data.
Instruments Used for SME Phase
A subject matter expert (SME) is a person who is an expert in a particular area or topic. The SME selected is currently serving as the Career and Development Coordinator at Elkin City Schools. This administrator previously taught business courses, particularly high school computer proficiency courses for more than 22 years. She has been instrumental, within this school system, in developing a full spectrum of courses beginning with computer fundamentals to a level of mastery. Her input, backed by her extensive knowledge and expertise, will greatly benefit in the identification of any gaps or misconceptions that may currently exist within this designed instructional unit.
In order to identify these gaps and misconceptions, an interview, with a predefined questionnaire, will be conducted with the SME (Appendix A). The SME will be given the proposed instructional unit. Following ample time to review this unit, the evaluator will meet with the SME to discuss the findings. Of particular interest, feedback will be solicited on the relevant time spent on the instruction, accuracy and value of the cont...
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...to have partially mastered the material presented. A score of less than 60% will be considered as not mastered. This post-assessment will be delivered and graded online. This will add to the validity of the results as data and reports are generated without regard to the student identity. Students will receive immediate feedback on the results of the assessment upon submission.
Once the instructional unit including post-assessment has been completed, students will be surveyed in order to determine the overall student perception of the unit. The survey (Appendix E) will use a Likert scale to determine students’ reactions and attitudes towards the instructional unit. This survey will be administered and tabulated online. Students will be given full anonymity in their responses. Therefore, students will be encouraged to offer feedback to the evaluator.
In this assignment I will be analysing the purpose of assessment whilst demonstrating my understanding of the different assessment methods used. I will also be giving a brief explanation of my understanding of VACSR describing my understanding of what each element means and its importance when used in assessment. Furthermore I will be describing two assessment methods that I have used whilst teaching evaluating each method using VACSR identifying strengths and areas of improvement. Finally I will justify the reasons for using the two assessment methods chosen.
Four sites were sampled from the Priest River Experimental Forest in Idaho. Sample plot locations were specifically chosen to compare different areas. At each site, each group used a GPS to navigate to a specific destination for further observational studies. The elevation in meters was then recorded from the GPS. The range of the observational study was made within a circular plot with a radius of 18 meters and approximately 0.1 hectares. Two meter tapes were set perpendicular to one another so that the diameter of the circular plot extended to 36 meters. Within these plots, all trees that are over 10 cm in diameter are identified and measured. Calipers and DBH tapes were used to measure these diameters. A BAF 10 prism
Quizzes are also a valuable tool to use after a lesson, to help measure where the students are in the material covered. These quizzes are corrected but the grades are not recorded, they are used only so the students can know how well they did. After quizzes are given,...
In order for true learning to occur, the instructional unit must be designed to meet the needs of the learners represented within the group. During a learner analysis, a curricular designer examines the learners as a group. Since comprehensive curricular units designed to teach the foundational skills of keyboarding are not readily available, a full learner analysis will give the curricular designer a blueprint for creating such an instructional unit. This learner analysis will identify key areas that are instrumental to be included within the instructional unit; thus, increasing the likelihood of student success by meeting the individual needs of each student, as well as the group in entirety.
The steps in a lesson that a teacher would need to assess students’ skills or knowledge is during independent practice. “The term independent practice refers to work students do in class on their own to practice or express newly learned skills or knowledge,” (Slavin 171). The teacher will hand out a worksheet that will help assess a student’s skill or knowledge on a certain material. At each of the steps, the purpose of the assessment is to see progress through each of the steps. Eventually, hoping that the student should be able to fully understand the material that is taught to them and being able to take an assessment.
It is not difficult to define what an observation is, but when it is apply to a classroom setting many different opinions about the appropriate styles, instruments, quality, quantity, etc. In the field of education, it is mention about observations referring to a technique of observing a phenomenon, fact or event, take information and record it for later analysis is a fundamental element of all process classroom research; because it relies on an investigator to obtain the largest possible amount of data (Glickman, et al., 2014). In terms of the structure of the observation, it is important to decide a prior whether it will be a structured work and, therefore, if appropriate using technology base instruments, or be held freely (Cushion, et al., 2012). Districts are adopting a more technology base to obtain the data to assist the teachers with their feedback. Other districts are using the paper format, where the observer carries it and inputs all the information obtained into a computer to formulate data. In Texas, it is a Professional Development and Appraisal System (PDAS) that it is used to evaluate teachers, walkthroughs. Base on this system are eight domains that are evaluated in the formal observation, but in a walkthrough are evaluated four of them. The following Instrument was created as easy tool for the observer to use and it incorporates the expectations that the Education Agency requires for administrators to use while they are doing walkthroughs in Texas (TEA, 2005).
Assessments are an important part of teaching. Assessments are a good way for teachers to monitor students’ learning and understanding. Knowing students’ level of understanding can help teachers improve students’ learning and guide their instructions. In the future, I plan to continue assessing students in multiple ways such as, asking questions, illustrations and writing to adjust my instruction. I also plan to encourage students to assess their own work so they are involved in their own learning as well as look for ways to “employ technology to support assessment
Student Assessment Procedures: Students will be assessed by completing the worksheet correctly. Also, there will be a vocabulary quiz at the end of Chapter 1.
Data Collection and Analysis Questionnaire The research was carried out on both quantitative and qualitative approaches. It began with a quantitative approach—questionnaire. Bryman and Bell (2003) asserted that mail or postal questionnaires are the most popular forms of questionnaires. Another form—self-completion questionnaire—was also common because of the overlap with postal questionnaire to some extent.
The formative assessment for the learning objectives includes a class discussion, writing a five body paragraph essay and a group discussion. The class discussion assesses a student’s comprehension and their speaking skills. The speaking skills include listening, and pronunciation. Next, the students will be asked to write a five body paragraph essay. Writing an essay allows the teacher to see if the student understands the main points and the character’s development in the story that they had read. Lastly, group discussion allows the students to enhance their social skills. The social skills include if students are able to form a communication with their peers. Also, having a group discussion will allow students to share ideas about the task
EVALUATE: How will you know what students know and can do in the portion? What will you look/listen for?
How will you know whether your students have made progress toward the objective? How and when will you assess mastery?
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a
Classroom assessments can do more than measure learning. How educators access and communicate the results send a clear message to students about what is worth learning, how we expect them to perform as well as how it should be learned. Linking instruction and assessment is critical to effective learning. Educators should provide students with various options for learning that include: different ways to learning (style and time), di...