Assessment and Presentation
Assessing PBL can be intimidating – how should creativity, engagement and interest-exploration in a real-world setting be “graded” by traditional education methods
However, just as in more “traditional” learning, the goal of PBL is to develop skills and content knowledge. Since the final product of PBL is different that traditional teaching, the assessment structure will vary, but many familiar practices and techniques still apply.
However, just as in more “traditional” learning, the goal of PBL is to develop skills and content knowledge. Since the final product of PBL is different that traditional teaching, the assessment structure will vary, but many familiar practices and techniques still apply.
Assessment Strategies
Embed Assessment Through Various Checking-for-Understanding Techniques:
Since the learning process is not dependent on a “test at the end,” nearly continuous assessment throughout the course of the project is implied in its structure. Much of this assessment is checks, to ensure that students are working, comprehending and feeling comfortable in their understanding and progress. Some of these techniques are listed in the table below.
Since the learning process is not dependent on a “test at the end,” nearly continuous assessment throughout the course of the project is implied in its structure. Much of this assessment is checks, to ensure that students are working, comprehending and feeling comfortable in their understanding and progress. Some of these techniques are listed in the table below.
Rubrics and Exemplars:
Ensure that expectations are clear for students and teachers by creating/providing Rubrics and Exemplars
Rubistar - Choose from pre-generated rubrics on a variety of multi-media topics, edit rubrics and create rubrics from scratch
Buck Institute – A Rubric for Rubrics – Use these guidelines to create a rubric that will clearly define assessment criteria for PBL activities
West Virigina Department of Education - a collection of Rubrics to utilize for a variety of different PBL activities
Ensure that expectations are clear for students and teachers by creating/providing Rubrics and Exemplars
Rubistar - Choose from pre-generated rubrics on a variety of multi-media topics, edit rubrics and create rubrics from scratch
Buck Institute – A Rubric for Rubrics – Use these guidelines to create a rubric that will clearly define assessment criteria for PBL activities
West Virigina Department of Education - a collection of Rubrics to utilize for a variety of different PBL activities
Peer Review:
PBL is generally a collaborative process, and students engaged in the same investigations and learning processes can and should provide feedback to each other throughout the course of their learning, and upon completion of the final product
Using a variety of the Web 2.0 programs explored in the Voice and Choice section, students can provide each other with feedback, suggestions and critiques
Students can also provide each other with feedback of through discussion, questioning or through a variety of question and answer techniques
PBL is generally a collaborative process, and students engaged in the same investigations and learning processes can and should provide feedback to each other throughout the course of their learning, and upon completion of the final product
Using a variety of the Web 2.0 programs explored in the Voice and Choice section, students can provide each other with feedback, suggestions and critiques
- Blogs – Any blog set to accept comments, whether it is on Weebly, KidBlog, Blogger or any other platform, is an excellent formative assessment tool. As students blog about their process and progress, post pictures of the evolution of their product or share parts of the final product as it develops, other students can comment,on the blog, offering constructive criticism, encouragement and feedback.
- Zooburst – This program, that creates “3-D” digital picture books, offers a web app that allows students to see a virtual-reality enhanced version of the book by scanning a program-generated code. Students are able to experience each others’ books and provide feedback
- Various presentation programs such as prezi offer share/comment features that allow critique from others
- VoiceThread – Students are able to access each others’ threads and leave comments on each slide, via text, audio or video comments. Students can then experience their peers’ products at their own pace and offer reflective commentary
Students can also provide each other with feedback of through discussion, questioning or through a variety of question and answer techniques
- For example: Modified Chalk Talk – After students present their learning, write their name and/or presentation topic on a large piece of paper (or a slide in a VoiceThread, or on another digital platform). Other students have the opportunity to write comments, critiques and feedback on the paper, which students are then able to retain.
Means of Presentation
There are a variety of different modes by which students can share their product with an authentic audience. Three of those modes - personal, blended and digital - are explored below.
Personal Presentation:
A personal presentation type is the kind most frequently associated with a traditional “presentation” – a speech, an oral report or a presentation in front of an audience. The students and their audience are generally in physical proximity to each other.
Personal presentation srategies include:
Featured personal presentation:
A Hosted Gallery Walk is way in which students are able to share their work with their classmates, and learn from each others' work. Sharing a product with an authentic audience can help encourage students to be more enthusiastic about creating a quality product. In addition, gallery walks can be used for review, enabling each student or group to focus on a part of a larger topic, but still benefit from review by experiencing the projects of other students.
A Hosted Gallery Walk occurs after another, larger, project is completed by small groups within the class. The initial project can take many forms (each groupfocusing on a part of a larger topic, an individual, an event, an element...) but it must result in some kind of visual representation of learning (a poster, digital project, video, etc.) that can be observed by others.
Personal Presentation:
A personal presentation type is the kind most frequently associated with a traditional “presentation” – a speech, an oral report or a presentation in front of an audience. The students and their audience are generally in physical proximity to each other.
Personal presentation srategies include:
- Book launch party
- Presentation to a panel
- Presentation to a group (board of ed, town meeting, faculty meeting)
- Poetry slam
- Art show
- Science fair/demonstration
- Exhibition
Featured personal presentation:
A Hosted Gallery Walk is way in which students are able to share their work with their classmates, and learn from each others' work. Sharing a product with an authentic audience can help encourage students to be more enthusiastic about creating a quality product. In addition, gallery walks can be used for review, enabling each student or group to focus on a part of a larger topic, but still benefit from review by experiencing the projects of other students.
A Hosted Gallery Walk occurs after another, larger, project is completed by small groups within the class. The initial project can take many forms (each groupfocusing on a part of a larger topic, an individual, an event, an element...) but it must result in some kind of visual representation of learning (a poster, digital project, video, etc.) that can be observed by others.
- Display the finished products around the room (or other space designated as the "gallery"
- Regroup students so that each group contains one student from each of the original groups
- Students rotate through all the finished projects. At each one, the student in the new group who was part of the group that completed the project "presents" the product to his/her classmates, ensuring that they "teach" all pertinent points
- Be sure to come together as a large group after the gallery walk, and discuss the different projects and learning accrued from each other
Blended Presentations:
In a blended presentation, students have presented their project personally at some point, and recorded themselves - video or audio - as part of the presentation. Though their audience is not in physical proximity to them, their personal remarks/touch is part of the presentation. The audience also has a way of providing feedback to students.
Students are able, through various programs, to record themselves presenting , via a variety of video and audio tools (including MovieMaker , Audacity, Screencast-O-Matic), and then embed them in other programs that their audience can experience outside of the classroom, but still provide feedback to students
Online or Exhibit Presentations:
Students have created a product that others are able to observe or interact with, but the student is absent from the audience's experience of it, and feedback may be limited.
Through forums, blogs and webpages, student can create digital content that serves as their product (what they create) and their presentation (the way in which their creation is shared with an audience. Non-digital types of product - a structure, painting, exhibit, garden - are also examples of this type of product.
In a blended presentation, students have presented their project personally at some point, and recorded themselves - video or audio - as part of the presentation. Though their audience is not in physical proximity to them, their personal remarks/touch is part of the presentation. The audience also has a way of providing feedback to students.
Students are able, through various programs, to record themselves presenting , via a variety of video and audio tools (including MovieMaker , Audacity, Screencast-O-Matic), and then embed them in other programs that their audience can experience outside of the classroom, but still provide feedback to students
- YouTube video
- VoiceThread
- Podcast
- Instagram
Online or Exhibit Presentations:
Students have created a product that others are able to observe or interact with, but the student is absent from the audience's experience of it, and feedback may be limited.
Through forums, blogs and webpages, student can create digital content that serves as their product (what they create) and their presentation (the way in which their creation is shared with an audience. Non-digital types of product - a structure, painting, exhibit, garden - are also examples of this type of product.
- Website
- Smore
- Blog
- Artwork
- Physical structure
Evaluate and Choose Tools Based on Presentation Style and Assessment Type
|