IDE Week 2, Part 2: Achieving our Goals

Taking some time to review the alignment of my work so far, I've realized that I am right on track for integrating the situational factors, learning goals and outcomes, assessment, and activities for my course. For example, in my initial post I stated:

"My main goal is to teach transferable, life-long information literacy skills and concepts. The university doesn't have much to say about info lit; however our profession and society are clear advocates of these types of skills. "

The situation I describe in my earlier blog post -- having students analyze a variety of factors to help them make a decision about where to live post-graduation -- directly contributes to my desire to teach students transferable, life-long information literacy skills. 

I think a potential conflict or disconnect here maybe students who already live on their own, or who are older. Also, students from varied economic backgrounds may or may not respond well to this activity, and this could create conflict among the students. 

When I assess my students, I want them to be able to see how I was grading their work, so laying out specific criteria and standards is important to me. I want to do this by creating a rubric for each assignment and for the overall course itself. This will allow me to create a dialog with students, should they have questions about any feedback they were giving. It will also prepare students for the final assessment -- they know what has been expected of them, and they can perform to the rubric. 

I think by asking the students to do hands on activities, I can more fully address the learning goals I've laid out for them, and I will be able to assess them formatively. Using low-stakes assessment in real time, gives me feedback and allows me to adjust my teaching in order to better address their needs. Also, I understand the learning goals are integrated, so my assessments must assess each goal. For example, when I assess students, I am looking to make sure that the the feedback they are receiving addressing things like their ability to apply information to real-world problems, their ability to see this integration, and their ability to take charge of their own information. I also want students to care about the information, so I will have them assess their own learning by journaling.

In the interest of time (I've been super swamped this week!), I took a few of my learning goals and designed assessment/activities around them in the Worksheet for Designing a Course. Obviously, I would be more comprehensive/thorough in another situation, but for now this is what I have!