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When developing curriculum, it is helpful to begin with backwards design by determining the formative and summative assessments that will be used to evaluate whether students have met the course learning objectives. This will help align the assessments with the course design, pedagogy strategies, and address any learning barriers so that all students can succeed and master the course content. It also allows me to incorporate my teaching philosophy of reflection and student-centered teaching to evaluate my own effectiveness as an instructor and make adjustments moving forward.
Learn more about the different assessments used in my courses below.
Select the video above (5:11) to learn more about the project-based assessments including an example.
Project-Based Assessments
Project-Based Assessments
Why the change? Prior to the pandemic, my summative assessments were primarily exams with mastery of content demonstrated using multiple choice, short answer, and matching questions with varying Bloom's taxonomy levels. However, during the pandemic, I adjusted my assessments to reduce the reliance on summative exams for content mastery due to the challenges of online assessments and to better incorporate universal design for learning strategies. UDL principles give more choices in how students demonstrate mastery of course learning objectives and can remove barriers to learning, particularly for under-represented students.
Assessment and Curriculum Alignment: During the pandemic, I seized the opportunity to reevaluate my assessment formats to test mastery of course learning objectives. Instead of traditional exams assessing content, I included to more project-based assessments. These project-based assessments consist of case studies that apply the knowledge of anatomy and physiology to real-world applications, requiring not only fundamental knowledge of the content, but also critical thinking skills. Students complete case studies as part of discussion forums with a prompt either as a group or individually. (In addition, there are also some weekly timed quizzes with some traditional multiple choice and short answer questions to assess content knowledge, so some traditional summative assessments still occur.) Together the quizzes and project-based assessments allow students to have multiple means to demonstrate their knowledge and practice critical thinking skills as it applies how they will use A&P in their future healthcare jobs.
Let's examine an example of this by connecting the previous discussion of the curriculum development of pandemic labs of the urinary system with the lecture content of the urinary system using these alternative pandemic lab assessments. (The video above shows how the assessments are scaffolded and integrate with the curriculum to provide a more comprehensive analysis of student mastery of content and higher order thinking skills.) In the module, students learn about the anatomy & physiology of the urinary system. Formative assessments of content knowledge are Connect assignments for students to learn the content followed by summative assessment quiz to determine content knowledge. In addition students can also demonstrate mastery of content with project-based assessments of case studies examining the urinalysis they practiced in the lab activities. The urinalysis activities reinforce the content of formation of urine (both anatomy and physiology of the urinary system) learned in the module and apply this content to medical conditions and tests they would encounter in treating patients in their careers.
At the end of the quarter, students complete a project-based analysis of a case study based on the system in which they earned their lowest quiz score. This allows students to demonstrate their knowledge in a different manner and connect what they have learned throughout the quarter to the other systems of the body. In the final projects, students are given a disease or disorder specific to that system in which they must create their own case study and compare the anatomy and physiology learned throughout the quarter. In essence it is similar to a capstone project at the completion of the A&P series for BIOL& 242.
Select the button below to view a sample student final project in BIOL& 242.
Image of two student responses in a formative assessment from the Nearpod histology lesson. The left image is correct, while the right image has some minor adjustments needed.
Interactive Real-Time Formative Assessments
Interactive Real-Time Formative Assessments
Why the change? Histology is traditionally a foundation concept that can be challenging for students to learn, but is important in pathophysiology classes in future healthcare degrees. Having a strong foundation in normal histology in A&P prepares students for examining disease states in pathophysiology. When I taught this lab as a grounded class prior to the pandemic, my pedagogy and formative assessments worked well to help students learn this concept. However, during the pandemic I needed to determine how best to reach students in both synchronous (online and grounded) and asynchronous modalities. Using instant feedback in formative assessments for both asynchronous and synchronous lessons will allow me to provide individualized feedback and address any misconceptions early in the learning process while still providing flexibility to students. This assessment strategy can be used throughout other content and parts of the course as well as histology.
Assessment and Curriculum Alignment: Histology is taught as part of the lab in BIOL& 241 the first week of the quarter. Instruction of histology curriculum when on campus or synchronously includes an interactive lecture teaching students the histology structures, functions, and locations in the body of these normal tissues. Prior to the pandemic, my pedagogy strategies included instructor led lecture followed by student practice in the lab where I was giving individual feedback to students as they worked on the lab activities in small groups. This individualized attention was the key to helping students learn histology; however, it was challenging with the time constraints, amount of content, and class size to give enough individualized attention to all students, especially when students would miss lab. The pandemic presented an opportunity to create online histology content for students to review and find better strategies and formative assessments to improve that much needed individualized attention.
The current pedagogy changes include giving students a pre-lab exercise in which they review the histology content in Canvas prior to lab. In the hyflex model, I have introduced an interactive Nearpod histology lesson that can also be self-paced for students, which allows me to see formative assessments to give immediate feedback to all students whether attending in class or asynchronously. For students attending class, they complete the same Nearpod lessons as we discuss the content allowing me to immediately correct misconceptions with the class and reflect where adjustments need to be made for future quarters. (See image above for one example of student responses in a formative assessment "draw it" where students draw a circle around the epithelial tissue and place an "L" in the lumen.) A summative assessment then tests students' ability to analyze any new normal histology tissue given to them.
Select the button below to review the Nearpod histology lesson.
Select the collapsible content below to review the effectiveness of these assessments.
Analysis of the Assessments
Analysis of the Assessments
I examined the histology practicum grades in the fall 2020 (pandemic with a few students seeking additional grounded in lab support (no lecture on campus) with most students participating via synchronous instruction with recorded lecture for asynchronous students to view), fall 2021 (with either on campus lab or asynchronous instruction for those missing lab- no recorded lab lessons for students to view-this is similar to pre-pandemic instruction), and spring 2022 (with hyflex attendance options and Nearpod self-paced formative lessons with recorded lectures for asynchronous viewing). This data shows the students learning from an instruction model on campus works well with students consistently scoring higher than peers on the histology practical; however in the hyflex model and pandemic model when students are given access to supporting lecture content, the scores are much higher than without this lecture content. This allows students who miss class an opportunity to get equitable instruction on their own flexible schedules and be almost as successful as students who attend lab in person. This also demonstrates the pedagogical strategies and formative assessments I am using to teach histology are helping students learn this foundational material.
There are also unsolicited emails from former students who attended my A&P classes in person prior to the pandemic sharing how helpful their knowledge of histology prepared them for their transfer careers in medicine. This is a common theme I hear from former students about their instruction in A&P, particularly in regards to histology.
Please read these comments and view the data analysis below.
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