Assassin’s Creed, Fried Chicken, and Fractions

You are a prisoner in the dungeon of an evil genius.

Do you have the intelligence, the strength, and the perseverance to escape?

The challenge has been issued, will you meet the call?

Yes… Yes, I will

A Gamified Assessment

For our next assessment we have been asked to create an assessment using Twine.

I am excited about this for a few reasons.

First, I love the idea of gamified assessment. In fact, just last night I was having a conversation with my school-aged kids, and they told me school would be much better if “our tests and homework was more like Assassin’s Creed”. It has been my experience, that the same kids who appear to have little grit when it comes to learning a math concept can also be the ones who will stay up all night trying to get slay a boss in their favorite game. It all reminded me of this video with Paul Gee.

Second, I am very interested in working with Twine. The interface for the teacher seems very logical, and I like that you can use HTML to customize it. While Twine will demand a fairly linear narrative and it appears that the questions always break-down to some sort of objective choice, I still think that I can find some interesting ways to lead a student through a learning/assessment experience.

My semiotic domain

For my assessment, I am focusing on middle-school math. Specifically, I am focusing on the skill of dividing fractions. One reason I find this an interesting study is because of the interaction between the internal and external grammar of the topic. On a conceptual level, dividing by fractions can be a bit opaque. While it is easy to teach students to conceive of dividing with whole numbers by drawing circles and counting up tally marks (one for you, one for me, when you divide by two) what does it mean to divide something by less than one? Why is the quotient bigger than the dividend?

Often, students are taught workarounds. For example, the ever popular KCF (sometimes also taught as KFC-like the yummy chicken place). This method has become so popular there are even songs dedicated to it like the one below:

While it is an effective algorithm, there is something that has always bothered me about KCF (KFC), and that is that kids apply it without really understanding why. It seems to me to reinforce the idea that math (especially math after 3rd grade) is a collection of secret handshakes and complex procedures that don’t relate to reality. So while KCF satisfies the internal grammar of mathematics (it gives you the right answers) it doesn’t help kids actually learn how to do mathematics (external grammar). Likewise, it reinforces a common attitude amongst the peer group that views math as esoteric and unrelatable.

The Escape Room

My plan is to make an escape room:

The Grand Divisor has locked you in his study.

In order to escape, you must decipher his devious puzzles and enter the 8-digit code that unlocks the room.

You will explore the room and are given questions along the way, the answers to these questions make up the numbers of the code.

When you successfully enter the 8-digit code, you will escape.

Assessment As Learning

The Grand Divisor did not realize that your super-intelligent rat,

Denny, is with you. If you get stuck or make a mistake, he will use his magical-mathematical telepathy to teach you what you need to know.

While Denny has incredible mathematical skill, he will not give you answers.

Your problems are yours alone; only you can solve them.

This feature of the game will allow me to cycle students through mini-lessons if there is an idea that they do not understand. If a student misses a question, Twine can be used to branch them into an instructional track before looping them back to the problem to allow them to try it again.

While Denny will teach KCF to help students solve a problem, some of the questions and mini-lessons will focus on the underlying principles of fractions and dividing them, so that students will have a deeper understanding of why we KCF.

Check It with the List

This assessment aligns well with my assessment design checklist, but there are a couple of areas that I am concerned with. The assessment is fairly cut-and-dry in terms of the content. The answers always end up being the selection of one “right” answer. While this is ok, I would prefer something that is a little more flexible. I read that variables can be used in Twine, but I need to explore more how they could be used to create a more personalized experience. Also, I do not know what sort of accessibility features Twine has so this could create some problems.

I am really looking forward to building this assessment and getting to know Twine!

Resources

DMLResearchHub. (2011, August 4). Games and Education Scholar James Paul Gee on Video Games, Learning, and Literacy. [Youtube video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNfPdaKYOPI&t=2s

Mobile Learning Center. (2015, November 25). Watch Me Flip Dividing Fractions Song.[Youtube video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tv7WunDsLg

Power to the People: Google Classroom

This week, I experimented with creating an assessment (actually, assessments) in Google Classroom. As discussed last week, I was interested in exploring how Google’s free Learning Management System (LMS) compared to some of the more costly LMSs like Blackboard. I was particularly interested in how Google Classroom could be used to create assessments and how easily teachers could get rich data on their students’ performance on an assessment.

Ease of Creation

Google Classroom content can be linked directly from your Google Drive. So if a teacher is using google docs for anything in their are teaching, they can upload the content right to their classroom. This can really streamline the preparation process for teachers. Additionally, since the files are linked through the Google Drive, they are updated immediately, meaning that any changes the teacher makes to documents on their side will automatically update on the student side.

Rich Data

Assessments can be created with a variety of question types (multiple choice, short answer, essay, etc.). Different point values can be assigned to different questions and results can be released to the student immediately or held by the instructor. The teacher is provided with very rich data on the quiz, including which questions students missed and. where applicable, which answer the students gave.

Unexpected Awesome Features

One feature that I found interesting was the section feature. This allows you to create different sections in the assessment. Each section is presented in its own window. You can then direct the student through the test based on their answers. So for example, in the assessment on 3-digit subtraction, if a student is unable to select the correct vertical arrangement of a problem presented horizontally, there is little benefit in having them try to solve the problem and the assessment can move on to the next big concept. This allows teachers to create some-what adaptive assessments that can stretch their higher-performing students without stressing their lower-performing students.

Another interesting feature was the feedback. While I was disappointed to see that the teacher cannot provide unique feedback for each distractor, Google Classroom provides the opportunity for teachers to embed images, documents, and YouTube videos into the failure feedback. This is a very powerful tool that will allow for individualized instruction, as I demonstrate in the screencast below.

One of the things that I like about using Google Tools in the classroom is that there are a number of accessibility features in Google Applications and service providers and students tend to be aware of them. For example, Chromebooks have a quality, easy-to-use text to speech feature. Additionally, a plug-in like Texthelp Read&Write is compatible with documents created in Google.

The Assessment(s)

I created two types of assessment for the exploration. Both of them involving 3-digit subtraction. To start, I thought through the different skills needed to successfully perform 3-digit subtraction.

1. Understanding place value
2. Ability to separate 3 digit numbers into hundreds, tens, and ones/units
3. Ability to correctly arrange numbers into vertical columns when presented horizontally
4. Ability to subtract 2 – digit numbers without regrouping
5. Ability to subtract 2 – digit numbers with regrouping
6. Ability to subtract 3 – digit numbers without regrouping
7. Ability to subtract 3 – digit numbers with regrouping
8. Ability to deal with 0 in subtraction with regrouping situations

In creating the distractors, I purposely included common errors that will give the teacher information on students’ understanding and gaps in understanding. These include:

• Assigning unit value to all of the digits in a 3-digit number (356 = 3 + 5 + 6)
• Assigning highest value to all of the digits in a 3-digit number (356 = 300 + 500 + 600)
• Not maintaining columns when subtracting
• Subtracting the bottom number when it is larger than the top number
• Regrouping without taking one from the neighboring column
• Not regrouping when encountering a 0

The two assessments are as follows:

Subtraction Pre-Screen

This is an assessment for learning that can be given before the unit is taught. It presents questions that address the key concepts and misconceptions in the unit. It is presented in an adaptive way, so that students who have little pre-knowledge will be able to quickly move through the assessment without being demoralized. The assessment ends with a question that allows students to discuss a time when they use subtraction in their daily lives. The teacher can use students responses to this quick quiz to evaluate where students are and decide how to tailor their instruction for the upcoming unit. It also gives students a sense of the skills needed to successfully subtract 3-digit numbers and encourages them to make personal connections with the material that will be covered in the unit.

Place Value Quiz

This is an assessment as learning. In this short assessment on place value, I tried to develop a module that could be used in a hybrid or flipped-classroom scenario. The assessment begins with a video reviewing place value. Students check that they have watched the video and then are given a variety of questions dealing with issues specific to identifying place value. Upon submission, the quiz is immediately graded. Students are able to see what they got right and wrong, additionally, the teacher can link additional material or videos to specific questions so that students can target the concept that they missed. In the case of this example, I made a quick video called “dealing with zero” that appears in the feedback section if the student misses the question with a 0.

Let’s Check It with the List

In a previous post, I presented a formative assessment checklist. I went ahead and evaluated this mini unit of 3-digit subtraction against the criteria of that list. Here is what I found:

Does this assessment explicitly address the most relevant skills and big ideas in the topic of the assessment and the discipline being taught in the course?

Yes, I purposely included questions which would test the key threshold points in understanding the concepts: place value, vertical arrangement, regrouping, etc. and included distractors that consisted of the most commonly made errors.

Does this assessment provide the teacher with actionable information about the student’s background and expectations for the topic?

Yes. The pre-screening gives the teacher a great deal of information on where the students currently are on the topic, and both assessments give the teacher rich data on where students are, what they are getting, and what needs work. They also give the instructor some interesting avenues into exploring math in students’ everyday lives.

Does this assessment prime the student for learning within the discipline and promote student autonomy and accountability?

This is one area that can be improved. I could see where these assessments are part of a large learning path that students embark on. By mastering a topic they progress farther along the path.

Does this assessment provide the student with clear feedback that is informative and actionable?

I think this is certainly true of the second assessment. I really like having the feedback presented to the student and being able to link relevant documents and videos to the feedback.

Does this assessment address the primary skills being assessed and take into account the various learning styles, abilities, and disabilities of the students being assessed?

Yes, given the many accessibility tools that Google provides, this should serve students needing accommodations. The one thing I could see improving in this area is getting more into students individual, creative sides. This is why I think it would be great to pair this type of module with in-class problem-solving activities.

Power to the People

I was very pleased with the flexibility and ease-of-use with Google Classroom. It is not the most attractive user experience and currently there are few options available to customize the theme colors, etc. But the tools that teachers have in Google Classroom are quite powerful and they sync well with other Google tools like Google Documents and YouTube. While large institutions are able to pay for robust LMSs like Blackboard, Canvas, and D2L, Google Classroom appears to provide teachers at more modest institutions a very powerful LMS that is free and relatively easy to use.

For a quick run-down of the assessment I created and my thoughts on Google Classroom, check out the video below.

My (Long) Life with Blackboard

As we begin to examine Learning Management Systems (LMSs), I decided to start with the one I know best, Blackboard. I first met Blackboard as an undergrad at the University of New Orleans. It was the first LMS I had ever worked with, just for reference this was pre-smart phones and at the time I had a Hotmail account. Technology being what is was at the time Blackboard was clunky, buggy, and did not have a rich user experience (UX). My first round of graduate school, I went to the New England Conservatory of Music, and they really didn’t implement any sort of LMS. So imagine my surprise when I got my first adjunct teaching job and the university I was working at was using Blackboard–pretty much the same clunky, buggy, dull UX, Blackboard of my younger days.

Why was this still such a popular LMS when there are so many great, specialized online tools available now? Because using a variety of tools may mean that “learners are likely to be overwhelmed by the many types of interface that they have to handle, and the learning experience will likely be frustrating (Woo, 2013, p.37 )”.  Blackboard puts a number of tools for students and instructors all in one place. What are some of these things Blackboard can do: integrate email, support a wide variety of content types (assignments, assessments, discussions, wikis etc.), sync with DropBox for easy assignment turn-in, provide a teacher grade book that can sync with assignments and assessments and can group and weight assignments according to the instructors needs, to name a few.

Here are the things that I have observed about Blackboard as I have used it:

• • The variety of content types are useful
  • While the tools are good, there were still better tools available
  • It requires an on-site administrator to assist instructors
  • The UX is not getting any better

The variety of content types are useful

After working with Blackboard for a few semesters, I found that the different tools in Blackboard were quite useful after some experiments and reiterations. Multiple choice assessments worked fine, but I did find it frustrating the sheer amount of time it took to create them. There is also the issue of academic integrity. If you intend to have a “closed-book” test, you will need to include the provision for a lockdown browser and a webcam to monitor the test. Some students find this intrusive. This being the case, I found that in in-person and hybrid class situations, where summative multiple choice tests were appropriate, scantrons were simply more efficient. Where multiple choice tests were very useful in Blackboard were assessment-as-learning situations. Automated quizzes in Blackboard can be given with multiple attempts allowed. The instructor can also set a cap on the number of attempts that the student can take. In this way, the instructor can give an assessment that tests or pushes student knowledge in a certain area that includes immediate feedback on what they got wrong. Then the student retries the exam. If they reach the maximum number of attempts, the quiz can be reopened after a meeting or correspondence with the instructor.

Surveys can be very useful tools in Blackboard. They can help an instructor gauge student understanding or preconceptions on a concept. Results of the survey are presented in an easy to interpret way. I found this very helpful to use in formative assessment. For example, if I wanted to know how well students understood our musical terms, I could put up a survey and see that 80% of the class correctly identified an example of polyphony, while 50% were still unsure of the difference between timbre and texture. I could also get candid feedback on their preconceived notions of particular types of music and cultures. Additionally, I could ask students to write a short essay where they discuss an example from class and then highlight the students’ responses. Best of all, all of this done with anonymity.

The discussion portion of Blackboard can be useful for discussions, but there were a few things that made it difficult. In addition to the perfunctory feeling that comes from these types of discussions, it was not easy to assign credit for participation, and the system of threads and subthreads left a lot of students lost and confused.

Tools are good, there are still better tools available

While there were useful tools in Blackboard, I did often find myself using outside tools. For example, shared Google Docs were just too useful to pass up. Having students be able to collaborate in a document in real time with the option to add comments as they work, was just too useful to ignore. Also, after a few attempts to have students do writing assignments in Blackboard, I abandon the concept in favor of using WordPress. Having an aggregated WordPress blog for the class allowed us to see each other’s work. I could use tags to create mini collections of different content that students could peruse to learn more about what they were interested in or stuck on. Finally, WordPress allowed for media including images, video, and audio.

It requires an on-site administrator to assist instructors

From an instructor’s perspective, Blackboard can be a bit of a headache. The myriad of menus and tabs in Blackboard can be a bit confusing. I remember at the beginning of each semester knowing that a colleague of mine would come knocking on my office door asking how to open their class. It was certainly not intuitive, which seems strange for something as important as making your class available to your students.

Also, while Blackboard has a number of useful features, including some very important accessibility features, they are not easy to find, and the help menu isn’t much help. This isn’t a huge problem since most large institutions have someone who serves as a Blackboard administrator, but I do think that ease of use of a system will influence how thoughtfully and effectively instructors will use it.

The UX isn’t getting any better

Having worked with Blackboard as both an instructor and student over the course of more than a decade, I can say, the UX is not great, and it doesn’t seem to be getting better very rapidly.

Next week, I am interested in exploring how Google Classroom compares to Blackboard. While it seems to have less customizable features, it may be that being able to include the whole suite of Google tools will make Google Classroom a viable alternative that has the advantage of being free.

Resources

Woo, H. (2013). The Design of Online Learning Environments from the Perspective of Interaction. Educational Technology,53(6), 34-38. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/stable/44430215

Assessment Checklist 3.0

Here is the latest version of my assessment design checklist.

A few things to note:

• I have added more personal stories from my teaching to see how these things apply in the “real world”
• I have added more information on feedback
• I have added the fifth question on accessibility

The big things that I have learned in the process of doing this project:

• Assessment, particularly formative assessment is part of the learning process
• Assessment can be used to help students grow, not just to measure them
• A responsive, inclusive assessment doesn’t just happen, it takes a lot of thought and reiteration
• If we want to see our students as constructing understanding, we need to include them in the dialog as they go through assessments

Here is a link to my Assessment Checklist 3.0, feel free to comment and let me know what you think.