2.1 Creating Flexible Assessment Pathways

Comparing assessments across modalities

The table below lists constraints and opportunities associated with typical assessment strategies across different modalities—in-person or classroom experience, an online course experience, and a flexible course experience.

Let’s look at some constraints. For example, students in a classroom setting usually must complete a quiz or exam during a class meeting (a specific date, time and location) and usually get a specific amount of time to complete it (a specific duration). To address the needs in a flexible course experience, you may give students the opportunity to make some choices. Modifying the previous example, that quiz or exam might be conducted online (flexible location), giving all students 60 minutes to complete it (specific duration) over a 24-hour period (specific date, but flexible time). [NOTE: These durations do not include accommodations for students with disabilities.]

Take a minute to review the table below. Find the assessment strategies you use with your students. Identify constraints that you might change or remove to increase flexibility related to completing assessments.

Strategies for making assessments flexible

“When teaching practices are themselves using multimodality, it would seem odd to revert to traditional essay writing to assess a course.” – Ruth Weeks, University of Sydney Links to an external site.

In addition to revising the assessment conditions, you may also need to review and revise the assessment process. For example, if you allow students to use different submission formats (e.g., write an essay, record a presentation, or create an infographic), then you may have to change your rubric to be more flexible (e.g., focus more on criteria like supporting an argument with multiple sources, focus less on criteria like citing sources using APA format). Ultimately, it’s most important that each assessment strategy align with one or more outcomes.

Challenges making assessments flexible

Hybrid courses with alternating cohorts of students present challenges for in-person exams. For example, Group 1 takes the test on Tuesday, and Group 2 takes the test on Thursday. Group 2 has 2 extra days. When each in-person group is taking the exam, the online group needs a different activity.

• Create different exams for each group
• Move exams online for everyone

Creating flexible assessment pathways may present challenges for students who are less tech savvy or who have less digital literacy.

Challenges flexible assessments create

Flexible due dates can lead to peaks in teacher workload if there are “cluster completers”

• Reduce maximum possible score over time
• Use more specific due dates and give students a limited number of “assessment tokens” (one-time extension)

Offering a longer exam window (e.g., take a 1-hour exam within a 24-hour period) may provide opportunities for students to share exam questions with classmates

• Draw from pools of questions related to each course topic

Flexible assessment pathways may raise concerns about academic integrity.

Activity 2.1

Purpose (WHY): With this activity we will check our assessment strategies to make sure a) that they can be completed by students who participate in different modalities and b) that they have an equivalent assessment experience.

Task (WHAT): Use the Backward Design Worksheet Download Use the Backward Design Worksheet to review the assessment strategies for one of your courses. The handout includes two tables. The first table shows sample assessment strategies that have been modified to increase flexibility. The second table is for you to write and edit your own assessment strategies.

For Activity 2.1, we will focus on the second column. We’ll come back to this handout to revisit the engagement strategies and content review strategies. If you want to list them all now, go for it. If you want to wait, I’ll prompt you in Modules 3 and 4.

Remember that for this activity we’re focusing on how well the assessment strategies support flexibility or how well they work in flexible environments. However, feel free to adjust them for other reasons as you work.

• If you’re in the room with me or if you’re online in real-time, I’ll give you a few minutes to write or modify one or two assessment strategies in the second column of the matrix.
• If you’re working on your own time, please complete the second column of the Backward Design Worksheet. When you are finished, return to the Micro-Lesson 2.1 video. You’ll hear the real-time participants begin a brief conversation about flexible content review strategies, and we’ll finish this discussion together with you online.

When you're ready, visit the Activity 2.1 discussion and share the before and after versions of your newly revised, flexible assessment strategies. If you want specific feedback, include that request in your post.