Assessment Genre Critical Review

Identify an assessment genre. Discussion Assignment.

Explain the assessment genre. The assessment genre that I will be reviewing are called Discussion Assignments. Discussions are included in each math course that I teach, and depending on the course there are Discussion assignments approximately every other Unit. Discussion assignments can fall towards the beginning or middle of a unit. On average a course will have 3 discussion assignments per semester.

Discussion assignments include a discussion board where students will post their response to a question, and also respond to two other classmate’s posts. These assignments give students a chance to interact with each other while also giving students the opportunity to explain their understanding of math concepts and apply what they are learning to real world situations. Discussions allow myself to see into students thinking about certain math concepts and inform my teaching based on their understanding, and also provide students with feedback.

To give you a better picture of this assessment genre, here is an example of an Algebra 2 discussion question is “How do variables help you model real-world situations? Give an example of a model that uses variables and explain how it helps people make predictions.” Students will answer this question and then comment on two of their classmate’s posts.

Evaluate the assessment genre. Discussion assignments are really beneficial in a couple of ways. First, as I mentioned in my ADC 1.0, feedback is an important part of an assessment. Students not only receive feedback from myself on these discussion assignments, they also receive feedback from other students which I believe is just as valuable. Students will receive my feedback within 24 hours of posting their response, and they will receive feedback from their classmates at different times throughout the course as other student’s progress to the discussion assignment.

Discussion assignments are useful to inform my teaching because unlike a quiz or a test where I can see if students can solve problems correctly, discussions give me insight into how my students think about math concepts, what they understand and where there are misconceptions. I am able to gain this information from student’s answers to discussion questions, and also from student’s responses to each other. This is a great tool to inform my teaching because it truly provides me with insight about my student’s progress in the unit, and I can modify my instruction based on this understanding.

Discussion assignments are also formative because rather than falling at the end of a unit, they are towards the beginning or middle or a unit. They are not meant to sum up what a students has learned throughout the unit, they are meant to inform myself of where students are at with their learning in the unit. They are a progress check point to check students understanding and misconceptions as they are learning new material.

Provide a recommendation. 

I think it would be great if discussions happened more often throughout a course, for example once a unit. The types of questions that are asked on these assignments encourage students to think about their understanding of a concept and write it down in their own words. It is also great for students to be able to interact with their classmates on these assessments, and I believe that this should happen more often throughout the course.

Once a student posts a response to the discussion board, it is there for other students to see. This can sometimes create an issue because instead of students answering the question themselves, they check what other students have posted and use their classmate’s response to come up with their own. I think that it would be great if there was a way for the discussion board to be designed so that students are unable to see other student’s posts in the discussion board until they post their response. Once they submit their answer, access to the rest of the discussion board should be granted, and students can look at other student’s responses and make comments. I think that this would be helpful for students so that they can truly think about the question and come up with their answer without being influenced by what other students have already said.

Another recommendation I have for these assignments is to notify students when their classmates comment on their post. Once a student completes a discussion by submitting their answer and responding to their classmates, they have to remember to come back to the discussion board and check for their classmates responses. I often see that students move on and don’t remember to come back, and I think if students received a notification when something was added to their post it would be really helpful. Students seeing their classmate’s comments is beneficial for their learning, and a small reminder when this happens would go a long way in students being able to use discussion assignments to promote understanding.

Consider digital contexts. As an online teacher, these assignments are designed in a digital context. It is really neat to see students who live in different areas of the country and who have never met each other interact virtually through these discussion boards. Discussion assessments are designed with good intent, and I think that they could be even more beneficial if the features I mentioned in my recommendations could be added to their design.