{"id":3117,"date":"2021-07-06T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ele.local\/?p=3117"},"modified":"2022-08-02T11:33:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T16:33:54","slug":"3-steps-for-centering-student-care-in-assessments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everylearnereverywhere.org\/es\/blog\/3-steps-for-centering-student-care-in-assessments\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Steps for Centering Student Care in Assessments"},"content":{"rendered":"

One effect of the pandemic is that many faculty and administrators are re-emphasizing the importance of putting student care at the center of institutional policies and classroom practices, and that is possibly most essential when it comes to assessment. How can these high-stakes, high-anxiety moments be redesigned with student care in mind while helping them achieve better learning outcomes?<\/p>\n

Joshua Eyler, Director of Faculty Development at University of Mississippi, and author of How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching<\/a><\/em>, notes that \u201cthe pandemic put a spotlight on grading. Because students were suddenly ripped out of the educational context they were in, educators began thinking more about how to assess students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eyler\u2019s book explores how grades can be obstacles to learning. Though he\u2019s been researching assessment for years, he says the last year, and the mental health impact on students, has accelerated the conversation: \u201cAnything that\u2019s baked into tradition like grading is hard to get any traction on, but the pandemic got educators thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short order, educators were considering significant changes to grading policies, including pass\/fail options and doing away with grades entirely. Now, as the emergency appears to be passing, how can care-centered assessment practices be extended and sustained?<\/p>\n

The Caring for Students Playbook: Six Recommendations for Caring for Students<\/a> from the Online Learning Consortium, Achieving the Dream, and the Every Learner Everywhere\u00ae Network, includes one section particularly on assessment, exploring methods that instructors can use to assess students\u2019 learning in meaningful ways without provoking anxiety. It invites instructors to reflect on questions including:<\/p>\n