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Moderator: Mao-Lun Weng, Westfield State University

Successful First Steps toward Standards-Based Grading in Linear Algebra

Erin Kiley, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Standards-based grading ('SBG', sometimes referred to as 'mastery-based grading') is gaining popularity as a practice in which faculty measure student proficiency not at the assignment level, but at the learning outcome level. By rewarding students for progressing along the continuum from 'emerging' to 'development' to 'mastery' of each learning outcome, SBG has the potential to help faculty narrow the focus of assessments and practices by shifting from a summative model to a formative one, and to help students shift their strategies for earning the course grades they want ('partial credit' is no longer a part of the equation!).

In this presentation, I will introduce SBG to those unfamiliar with the practice, and will describe the way I implemented a partial-SBG scheme in a Linear Algebra course in Spring 2021. I will present data on student learning gains, and will summarize the (hot-off-the-press!) results of an end-of-semester student survey.

Leave 'em wanting more

Lorraine Pierce, Associate Professor, George Mason University

The success story for this presentation is: Never underestimate the power of a well-designed quiz. Graduate students, pre-service teachers in training, learned to enjoy and look forward to each quiz. An unexpected outcome of using these quizzes was that these students wanted more of them.

Several quizzes were designed and administered online throughout the Spring 2021 semester. Students were given a one-hour time limit to complete each quiz and allowed to take it multiple times. Each quiz consisted of ten multiple-choice items.

Quizzes were designed primarily to measure understanding and retention of abstract concepts and principles (e.g., validity and reliability) that form the foundation for an assessment course for teachers. Previous experience with teachers in this course has shown that even at the end of the semester, many are still confused about the main principles they need to apply to developing final projects for a course grade.

A secondary objective was to provide multiple opportunities for growth through self-assessment. Teacher candidates could return to each quiz unlimited times throughout the semester in an attempt to check their comprehension of course readings and presentations and to improve their scores.

Results indicate that teachers took quizzes multiple times, increased their scores, gained understanding of complex principles, and became more skilled in their ability to apply these concepts to their own performance-based assessment designs.

Using Google Assignments for instant, intrusive feedback

Christopher Picone, Professor, Fitchburg State University

With the recent shift to more remote teaching, my department colleagues introduced me to Google Assignments. I adapted this tool as a means for more engaged learning and for instant feedback during class, whether remote or face-to-face. Google Assignments integrates with Blackboard (or similar LMS), to create a separate Google Doc for each student. Then while students are working on their Assignment, the instructor can view their writing online and intervene instantly where needed. I find this “instantly intrusive feedback” more effective than paper assignments. Another advantage is that videos can be embedded into the Assignment (as with any Google Doc), so students can work at their own pace and use tutorials as needed. In my presentation I will show how to set up a Google Assignment, and how I used it with exercises in which students calculated their carbon footprints or developed skills in data analysis and science writing.