Multiple assessment mechanisms

In this chapter:

Intent
Problem
Solution
Applicability
How to Implement
See Also
Source
Community Discussion

Intent

Provide multiple mechanisms by which students can demonstrate proficiency on core course concepts, recognizing that students may struggle to express their ideas in certain formats like tests.

Problem

Traditional assessments typically provide one opportunity in one format for students to demonstrate proficiency or mastery of a concept or skill. For instance, a concept might only be assessed on a single exam question, or a skill may be assessed in a single project. Structuring assessments in this way ignores the fact that students learn at different rates, come to the college classroom with different needs and backgrounds, and may struggle to express their ideas in certain assessment formats (like tests). Students may in fact have mastered a concept or skill, but may be better able to communicate this mastery in a different format.

Solution

Design multiple assessment mechanisms for each core course concept or skill. Students can demonstrate proficiency in the core competencies in multiple ways throughout the course.

Examples given in the source document include:

Code reviews, for each programming or algorithm design assignment, where students meet 1-1 with the professor or other course staff to present their code / algorithm and answer questions about it.
Oral interviews, where students meet 1-1 with the professor to answer questions about core concepts.
Online quizzes, auto-graded and randomized.
Written reports and oral reports, where students apply course concepts to novel and/or real-world problems.

Applicability

By choosing assessment types judiciously, this play can be scaled up or down for different class sizes, and can fit different class styles throughout the CS curriculum.

Some of the example assessments given in the source paper are time-intensive: many are done in person and 1-1. Those types of assessments work best in small-to-medium sized courses with adequate staffing.

How to Implement

Consider the time available for course assessments and reassessments. How much time is available in office hours? Can assessments in multiple formats occur during class time? Does the instructor and/or teaching assistant staff need to schedule specific assessment times?
Consider the scale of assessments that the course can support, given the number of students in the course, the structure of the course, and the workload of the instructor and course staff. For instance, individual interviews might be harder to pull off in a class of 500 students.
Give students choice, where possible, on how to demonstrate knowledge or skills. For instance, students can explain code in person in office hours, submit a video code walkthrough, or draw a diagram showing relationships between different pieces of the code.

Source

Source: Fine, Benjamin T. 2024. Competency and Equity Driven Grading System for Computer Science Curriculum. In Proceedings of the 2024 Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1 (ITiCSE 2024), July 8–10, 2024, Milan, Italy. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 7 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3649217.3653564

Described by: Amy Csizmar Dalal (adalal@carleton.edu)

Community Discussion

Community members are free to comment on, ask questions about, share experiences, or otherwise contribute to knowledge about this play by posting comments below. See Chapter 33. Join Our Discussions for details.

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