Evaluating Learning

There are so many ways to assess student learning... and not every method will accurately assess every student, which is why I plan to evaluate my student's learning using a variety of assessment methods. In particular, many students in an Ag classroom excel due to the hands-on approach to learning and the real-world applications. Rather than just having my students take only multiple-choice exams, short answer, and fill-in-the-blank exams, I plan to design some rubrics and utilize practicums to evaluate their learning which I feel will be a more accurate assessment of their knowledge and skills, and will give students that opportunity to "show what they know" rather than just testing their ability to regurgitate facts and figures.

I think rubrics can be a very beneficial tool in agriculture education; however, care needs to be taken to make sure that they are not too complicated to follow, or too wordy. In trying to "think outside the box" to come up with ways to accurately assess student learning, I am considering using Quizlet to help my students learn. For example, students would be responsible for finding 5-10 "flash cards" that directly relate to what we are learning in class, and save them to the class and unit folder. Some of the exam questions would come from those saved "flashcards" (which could include pictures), and students would also receive part of their grade from selecting and adding the 5-10 "flashcards" to the class and unit folder... just another way I thought of to "kill 2 birds with 1 stone" to help students learn while providing them with an additional way to earn part of their grade rather than just utilizing a unit exam. 

Obviously a little below HS level, but I could see them being very beneficial for learning different breeds of animals, classifying parasites, identifying tools for Ag mechanics, or practicing plant ID.

In my opinion... not everyone that can pass a written exam actually understands the material - they may just be good at memorizing and regurgitating..., and not everyone who does poorly may actually not understand the material - rather they may be able to better demonstrate what they know through a hands-on project or explain what they know through a story or scenario, but struggle to show that knowledge because they don't do well with written exams.