Comments for MSE in PD

Comment on Assessment-Related Course by Pam

Pam — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:42:17 +0000

This may be implicit in Tony’s list of topics, but it seems to me that we need to address directly “how to understand the WKCE,” “how NCLB affects assessment for WI teachers” and “how to assess in your classroom for student mastery of the WI student academic standards.” Most of our usual assessment topics could be illustrated with issues that have daily impact on teachers.

Comment on Assessment-Related Course by Katy

Katy — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:30:19 +0000

One of the things we talked about is whether we wanted to utilize or retool existing courses or create new courses. The group’s consensus was to broaden what we are already doing and (at the very least) retool existing courses to make them more appealing to constituent requests.

“ASSESSMENT” came in as one of the highest ranked areas by our constituent surveys. But, it is very broad. The areas requested include: current and legal issues surrounding assessment, Best practices approaches to teaching, NCLB requirements and impact, strategies for understanding assessment projects and results, and curriculum issues surrounding assessment in the classroom (this comes from alumni and employer survey data on our grad programs). While the existing course might work, it would probably need some re-tooling to include more topics. And, we would want to have a “sexier” title to entice people!

Comment on Technology Course Discussion by Eleen Schroeder

Eleen Schroeder — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:40:49 +0000

We have been in the midst of looking at some of our courses and have one that we plan to revise to meet some of the needs of current teachers. I would consider some of the topics we are including in a technology course that would be geared to teachers from any area:

- Changing students, changing information environment –> changing schools?
- The participatory culture of the web (e.g., Web 2.0 including educational uses of tools such as blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, collective resource sites such as Flickr, online gaming
- Online communities (MySpace, Facebook, Whoville, Second Life)
- Communicating digitally
- Folksonomies
- Social knowledge construction through these tools
- Personal information management
- The place of these tools in the schools of today and tomorrow (and some of the obstacles to their use)

Comment on Assessment-Related Course by tony truog

tony truog — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:39:57 +0000

Content:
Audience? Typical graduate student does not have a background in assessment. Therefore, the content would not be too dissimilar from that of the Measurement and Eval. course presently taught.
Topics:
1. validity/reliability
2, NCLB and the standards movment
3. Anatomy of assesment items
a. objective/performance
b. observations/interviews/oral quesions
c. peer/self assessments

4. Evaluation
a. grading issues
1) referencing
2) interpreting data
3) data array
b. personal grading plan(s)
c. accommodation issues
d. error in measurement
e.

5. Standardized testing
a. array
b. use
c. abuse
d. interpretation
e. sharing

I am sure there are other topics, but the ones suggested above are sufficiently broad to cover most topics germane to the graduate student who needs knowledge, skills and dispositions regarding assessment, both formal and informal.

Tony

Comment on EDUINDP 789 Planning For Change II: Capstone Proposal Seminar by John Zbikowski

John Zbikowski — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:13:35 +0000

What is our plan for students completing the M.S.-C&I program after this change is implemented? Their programs, which remain in effect, require three units of this course. Will these students also enroll in the second of two Capstone Advising courses? Or should they be advised to enroll in a regular Individual Studies course for one credit? Also, given the number of students still in the M.S.-C&I pipeline, should there be five prerequisites? That might result in many, many overrides. Plus, having even five prerequisites doesn’t convey that we really want this course to be the last course in students’ programs. Instead of having multiple prerequisites, would it be better to say “Departmental Consent Required” instead, and give each student permission to enroll on a case-by-case basis as is currently done? This necessitates a careful visual review of each person’s transcript prior to enrollment. Or, given that the proposal approval is now a part of one course, should that course be the sole prerequisite for the capstone course?

Comment on Program Outcomes by Eileen Schroeder

Eileen Schroeder — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:46:39 +0000

It would be useful for each department who is participating in the new degree to look at these proposed program outcomes to offer suggestions for changes, additions or deletions as well as to how they might fit into some of the course outside of the four core courses.

Are they broad enough that they could be used in any emphasis in the MSE?

Should students provide some type of evidence that they have achieved all of these at the end of the program, perhaps as part of the capstone project? I personally don’t see adding another layer of assessment on top of the coursework itself.

Would it be an adequate measure to have a matrix of where the outcomes are addressed across all courses?