Critical Review of a CMS

I will be reviewing the CMS that I use for my work since I am most familiar with it, it is called Connexus. Here is a picture of what my homepage looks like and also the menu bar.

There are many different features offered in Connexus, and I have chosen the ones that I use most often to review: Enrollments, Announcements, Webmail, People, Student Activity Tracker, Gradebook and Assessments. I will explain more about each of these features below.

Enrollments: The Enrollments page gives information about my students. It tells me who my students are, when they began the course, if they have a special status (IEP, 504 plan etc.), and it shares data about students’ progress and pace. I use this page to see when I have new students who have started so I can send them the appropriate welcome information, to view students IEPS, and also which students are failing, at risk of failing or are behind which helps me with who to contact each day. One of the affordances of this page is that along with listing which students are failing, etc., I can click a button right there to send the student a webmail. I can’t think of any constraints from this page, or anything missing that I wish was there, it is well designed and very useful. The most valuable feature for assessing my students is being able to get an overview of student’s grades and their progress in my course.

Announcements: Announcements is a feature that can be used to share announcements with students, for example if I will be out of the office, an update about an assignment or a reminder about a Live Lesson session to review for a test. I can send announcements to all of my sections or select to certain sections to send them to.  Announcements are nice because there is a box on students home page (see picture here) that tells students when they have an announcement to view, so they are easy to see. One constraint is that there is nothing requiring students to view them. Although they are very easy to see, it is a student’s choice whether to click on it or not. This feature can’t necessarily be used for assessment, there is no two-way communication back from students, it is mostly just a means of sharing information with students.

Webmail: Webmail is a tool that students and teachers can use to contact each other. I use this feature daily to let students know about opportunities for making improvements to an assignment, to share resources, to reach out about their progress or to schedule meetings to practice math problems together and to discuss strategies for success. Our CMS is only a couple of years old, and there are a few constraints with webmail. The first is that there is not a webmail button on the home page that notifies students when they have something in their inbox (like the announcements does). Students must remember to go to the menu bar and open their webmail every day to see our messages. Also, at this time parents do not have accounts or access to Connexus, so they are unable to send teachers webmails, aside from through their students account. I was not able to find any information on terms of service or privacy policy for Connexus, however this issue seems to fall in that category and this is a concern for parents who wish to be able to contact their children’s teachers by email without their students viewing the message.

People: This page lists all of my students in alphabetical order, and it shows their score and progress in my course along with page and performance indicators (see picture here, I did not include student names). The flag indicates if the student has an IEP or some other special status. I can also click on each student’s name to access their gradebook for my course to view all of their assignments and scores. I probably use my People page more than any other feature in Connexus because it best helps me to stay organized and track information about my student’s grades and progress, and it allows me to get to their gradebooks. One missed opportunity that I see from this feature is that we can only view a student’s gradebook in our course, we cannot view their gradebooks for other courses to get a picture about how students are doing overall. This would be really helpful to learn about why my students are struggling in my course; if they are struggling in all of their courses or if they are just struggling in math.

Student Activity Tracker: Each contact that students have with a teacher, including phone calls, webmails, Live Lesson attendance, etc. is tracked in the Student Activity Tracker. Students can also add comments in the activity tracker to note any changes that have been made to the course for that student, to note an academic integrity issues and anything else that is important to track about the student. One affordance of this feature is that all of a student’s teachers can view the activity tracker. Whenever I am trying to gather information about a student, along with checking their gradebook I also check the activity tracker to see how often they communicate with their other teachers or attend lessons. This is useful for assessing students because it shows me if there might be a lack of engagement issue with students if teachers have been making attempts to reach them and the student has not been responding. It also allows me to determine if a student is on the right track and communicates frequently with their teachers.

The activity tracker also gives a student’s phone number and location. This is useful information to know what time zone the student is in and also how to contact them. There are some missed opportunities on the activity tracker regarding information that isn’t included that would be useful for teachers. This doesn’t necessarily involve assessment, however it be helpful for teachers to know gender of the student, the parents’ names, and what type of phone number is listed, for example student cell, parent cell, etc. This information is not included and it would be nice to have this information when preparing to call a student.

Gradebook: A students gradebook is probably one of the best features (aside from actual assessments), that allows me to assess my students’ progress. The gradebook shows the students overall score, and also the score they earn on each assessment, the target due date for each assessment and the date each assessment is submitted. There are two views for the gradebook: Syllabus Order lists the assignments in order, and Grading Categories sorts each assignment by type. I can also excuse assignments from the gradebook if I wish to drop an assignment for a student for any reason. One constraint of the gradebook which I mentioned under the People Page feature is that I can only view a student’s gradebook in my course. Connexus should allow teachers to view the gradebook for all of a student’s courses to help us better serve students and also to be able to more easily collaborate with other teachers who share a student.

Assessments: Connexus uses the following type of assessments: Discussions (including a discussion board), Portfolio Items and Sample Work (includes a drop box), Quick Checks and Practice assignments (short 5 problem multiple choice assessments), Quizzes and Tests (multiple choice, short answer and work pad problems which allow students to show their work), and lastly Reflection assignments (multiple choice and short answer problems). Connexus does a good job of using a variety of different assessment types throughout a course in order to assess students. I truly feel that as a teacher I am able to look at a student’s assessment and get a really good idea about their understanding on each concept. Of course it is important to also communicate with a student synchronously, but these assessments are a very good indicator of student understanding.

There are however a couple of constraints in terms of assessment that come to mind. First, it would be really useful if an assessment would track how long it took a student to complete, and have this information available for teachers when students view an assessment after it has been completed. This would be helpful for me to see how long my students are spending on each of their assignments, because in many cases in an online setting students tend to click through assessments very fast. Also, a lot of students like to write out their work on paper. On quizzes and tests students are required to show their work on work pad problems, and there are functions aside from typing such as equations and symbols that aid students in doing this, however I would like to see a place where students can upload their work if they prefer to submit the work they did on paper instead of typing it out also.

Assessment Design Checklist 3.0

This week I finalized my 5 questions on my Assessment Design Checklist. The most obvious change that I made from the past two weeks was adding my fifth question, however there is another important change that I would like to address.

On ADC 1.0 the first question I created was "Does my assessment provide me with insight to inform my teaching?" On ADC 2.0, I created a new question "Is my assessment part of the instruction process", which I later changed to "Does my assessment reveal information regrading how instruction should be adapted to advance my students learning?" based on feedback from my instructor. While I was completing the Peer Feedback assignment, I realized as I was trying to give feedback that I didn't feel there was enough distinction between my two questions:

"Does my assessment provide me with insight to inform my teaching?" and,
"Does my assessment reveal information regrading how instruction should be adapted to advance my students learning?"

This motivated me to rewrite my first question as "Does my assessment provide me with insight regarding student progress towards learning objectives?"

Now, I felt like there was a clear distinction between the two questions. The first question focuses on my assessments ability to give me information about  my students progress, understanding and misconceptions. The second question focuses on my instruction and how it can be adapted. After rewriting these questions I felt like I was able to use these questions to give good feedback, and I will now be able to use them going forward as I design my assessments.

You can check out my final product using the link below!

Assessment Design Checklist 3.0

Formative Assessment Design 2.0

Formative Assessment Design 2.0

Review the purpose of your assessment. The purpose of my assessment in terms of the concepts that will be assessed will remain the same. This portfolio assignment will assess student’s ability to calculate the area and perimeter of various shapes and also the area and circumference of a circle. Critical thinking and dividing skills will also be assessed during this portfolio. Initially I had placed this portfolio at the end of the unit as a review for the test, however I would like to change the placement of this portfolio to the middle of the unit as a Mid-Unit Review assessment.

Describe pre-assessment instruction. Prior to assigning this portfolio students will be instructed on finding the area and perimeter of rectangles, squares, parallelograms, trapezoids and triangles. They will also practice finding the area of composite figures, and lastly the area and circumference of a circle. This material will be delivered in 5 separate lessons. In a virtual environment, the curriculum for each lesson is designed with instruction for students to read through, relevant videos that the students will watch, and then practice assignments from the textbook to complete. I meet with my students one time each week for an online group session, and during the lesson before this assignment is given I won’t be able to go over all of the material that will be covered in these 5 lessons, however I will explain what it is we are trying to solve for when we are asked to find the perimeter/circumference, and also the area, so that students understand what those words represent. Then, we will develop and use formulas to find the perimeter and area and various shapes and also the circumference and area of circles.

Assessment description revisited. This portfolio will be called "Create a Pizza Portfolio". Students will be given an example of a circular pizza with its dimensions that is sold at a pizza store, and also the dimensions of the box that it fits in. Students will have to create their own pizza that is a different shape, and show that it is approximately the same area as the given circular pizza, show that it will fit in the given box, and lastly show that it can be cut into 8-12 equal-sized pieces. This assessment will give students the opportunity be apply their skills to a real world situation to encourage higher order thinking. I will add to this description that students will be given feedback from myself within 24 hours of submitting their assignment. Feedback will be annotated on their assignment using thinglink, and I will add comments to their work and also voice/video feedback if needed.

Instructions revisited. Directions: A large pizza at Tony's Pizzeria is a circle with a 14-inch diameter. Its box is a rectangular prism that is 14 1/8 inches long, 14 1/8 inches wide, and 1 3/4 inches tall. Your job is to design a new shape for a large pizza. For this portfolio you will:

1) Find the area of Tony’s large pizza.

2) Create your own pizza that is a different shape from Tony’s, and draw your pizza labeling its measurements.
3) Show mathematically that your design is approximately the same area as Tony's large pizza.
4) Show that your pizza will fit in the box.
5) Prove that your pizza can be cut into 8-12 equal-sized pieces.

I have updated these instructions to make the requirements more clear for students to understand.

Post-assessment feedback and instruction. As I noted above, I will provide students feedback within 24 hours of receiving their portfolio using annotation in thinglink. I will also give students the opportunity to submit corrections on this portfolio assignment based on my feedback in order to demonstrate understanding of misconceptions that may have been shown on their first submission. During the following week’s group LiveLesson, I will use examples of different shapes that students created and submitted for their pizza  on the portfolio and as a group we will show that the design is approximately the same area as Tony’s pizza, that it will fit in the same box and how it can be cut into 8-12 equal pieces.

Digital technology. My ideas for incorporating digital technologies in the assessment process is by using thinglink to give feedback, and also meeting virtually in our LiveLesson for the pre and post instruction.

Assessment Design Checklist 2.0

I have add two new questions with evidence to my checklist. Check it out using the link below!

Assessment Design Checklist 2.0

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.

Assessment Design Checklist 1.0

Use the link below to view the first two questions on my Assessment Design Checklist. When designing new assessments, it is important to ask myself these two questions, and also to reflect on the evidence of understanding to ensure that my assessments are formative and instructive to my teaching and student learning.

Assessment Design Checklist 1.0

Formative Assessment Design 1.0

Consider an assessment you could use in your professional context. For this assignment, I would like to revise a portfolio assignment that is used as part of the curriculum in Math 6 courses. The instructions on this portfolio can be confusing for students, and I often receive questions from students about what to do for this portfolio and how to complete it. I would like to revise this portfolio in order to make it easier for students to understand while still assessing them on the concepts discussed below.

Identify the purpose of your assessment. There are a couple of objectives for this assignment. First, it will assess whether students are able to calculate the area of a circle given the length of the diameter, and if students are able to calculate the area of rectangles and squares. Students will have to use critical thinking in order to create dimensions for a rectangle or square so that it has an area that meets the requirements of this assignment. Students ability to divide will also be assessed in this portfolio. This portfolio will be assigned to students during the review lesson before the Unit Test on Geometry and Measurement.

Name and describe the assessment you have in mind. This portfolio will be called "Create a Pizza Portfolio". Students will be given an example of a circular pizza with its dimensions that is sold at a pizza store, and also the dimensions of the box that it fits in. Students will have to create their own pizza that is a different shape, and show that it is approximately the same area as the given circular pizza, show that it will fit in the given box, and lastly show that it can be cut into 8-12 equal-sized pieces. This assessment will give students the opportunity be apply their skills to a real world situation to encourage higher order thinking.

Write instructions for this assessment. Below are the instructions I have created for students for this assignment. They may change as I continue to build and create this portfolio.

Directions: A large pizza at Tony's Pizzeria is a circle with a 14-inch diameter. Its box is a rectangular prism that is 14 1/8 inches long, 14 1/8 inches wide, and 1 3/4 inches tall. Your job is to design a new shape for a large pizza. For this portfolio you will:

1) Create a representation of your design that includes measurements.
2) Prove mathematically, using appropriate formulas, that your design is approximately the same area as Tony's large pizza.
3) Show that your pizza will fit in the box.
4) Prove that your pizza can be cut into 8-12 equal-sized pieces.