Designing and Assessing Student Writing

1
Designing and Assessing Student Writing

• presented by
• Judith M. Davis, Director
• Writing Technology Laboratory
• Hampton University
• 18 November 2002

2
Why write?

• Are students writing to learn? Or are students
  writing to demonstrate knowledge?
• What are the goals and objectives of the course?
  How will the writing assignment fit those goals
  and objectives?
• How much writing, what types of writing, and what
  specific assignments will help the student to
  achieve those objectives?

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What are the goals and objectives?

• Hampton University
• School
• Department
• Course
• Assignment

4
What are the purposes for writing?

• Writing to learn
• Writing to demonstrate knowledge
• Writing to produce polished products

5
What types of writing?

• abstracts
• case studies
• essays
• research papers
• term papers
• lab reports
• articles
• reading responses

• journals
• literature reviews
• scripts
• arguments
• analyses
• instructions
• process descriptions
• essay tests

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How do writers write?

• Fluency
• ? Form
• ? Correctness

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What are levels of cognitive demand?

• What is the students level of content mastery?
• Through what cognitive levels must the students
  pass in order to complete the assignment?
• How can assignments be broken down and sequenced
  to lead students through successive levels of
  cognition?

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Blooms Taxonomy(lower order thinking skills)

• Knowledge level
• Define, describe, distinguish, identify,
  indicate, list, recall, show, state, tell
• Comprehension level
• Compare, conclude, contrast, demonstrate,
  differentiate, estimate, explain, illustrate
• Application level
• Apply, construct, develop, plan, solve, test

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Bloom Taxonomy(higher order thinking skills)

• Analysis level
• Analyze, classify, discriminate, distinguish,
  explain, recognize, support
• Synthesis level
• Create, derive, develop, formulate, propose,
  suggest, synthesize
• Evaluation level
• Choose, decide, defend, evaluate, judge, select

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How can I get the writing I want?

• Define goals and objectives.
• Break large projects into smaller writing
  assignments.
• Sequence assignments to correspond to students
  increasing mastery.
• Remember that all writing does not have to be
  graded. Plan some assignments that allow
  students to write to learn.

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How can I get the writing I want?

• Schedule dates for preliminary assignments
  leading up to a large project.
• Consider how the project(s) will be evaluated
  (both as individual assignments and in the
  broader context of the course grade).
• Put your assignments in writing and include
  evaluation criteria on the assignment sheet.

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How can I use feedback to help students to grow
as writers?

• Distinguish between formative and summative
  feedback.
• Formative
• use for journals, informal writing, ungraded
  assignments, and drafts
• focus on content, organization, and development
• Summative
• use for final drafts and major projects
• focus on content, as well as style and mechanics
• Always point out the best part of the writing.

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How can I get the writing I want?

• To address difficulty in the writing, first
  determine the students stage of development in
  relation to the project
• fluency?form?correctness
• Address global concerns like organization and
  development before local problems like style and
  mechanics.
• Realize that all errors are not created equally.

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How can I get the writing I want?

• Use a three-tiered system for comments
• identify the problem
• explain the problem
• offer several options for revision
• Be sure that summative comments (and the grade)
  fit the evaluation criteria spelled out in the
  assignment sheet.
• Use a rubric that makes the evaluation clear.

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Tools for effective feedback

• Assignment sheet
• Preliminary writing and planning sheets
• Peer review sheets
• Self-evaluation instruments
• Formative comments on preliminary drafts
• Clear, summative comments on final drafts
• Grading rubrics

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Checklist for essay exam questions

• What knowledge is the questions designed to test?
• What is the relationship between the test
  question and other writing assignments in the
  course?
• How will responding to the question enhance the
  students learning?

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Checklist for essay exam questions

• Is the question phrased clearly? Does it use
  verbs to indicate desired method of development?
• Is the students knowledge level in the course
  consistent with the cognitive level implied by
  the question?
• Do students have adequate time to answer the
  question?
• Are evaluation criteria clearly specified?

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Sample Assignment Sequence

• Readings or content material
• Assignment sheet
• Preliminary writing assignments
• exploratory writing
• library research project
• Preliminary draft/peer review/formative feedback
• Revision plan/exercises/conference
• Self-evaluation?rubric
• Final draft/summative feedback?rubric

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English 218--Instructions

• Readings on collaborative writing, audience
  analysis, graphic design, and instruction writing
• Audience and task analyses
• Assignment sheet review
• Daily memos
• Rough draft?user testing?guided peer review and
  formative instructor feedback
• Final draft?self evaluation/summative instructor
  feedback (both with rubrics)