Week 9 Reading: Responding and Assessing Multimodal Texts

 

Quote:

"Assessment is an important component of learning to compose with rhetorical effectiveness" (Borton & Huot, pg. 1)

 

This quote surprised me because I have always thought of assessment as the end result rather than as an instructional tool.  However, this quote suggests that assessment should be an integral part of the learning process.  When used as this article suggests, assessment can help teach students to become critical consumers of their work and the work of others.  They learn to decipher what means can create effective messages or arguments.   With formative assessments, learning is more about the process rather than the end product. I took particular interest in this quote and article because it seemed to be reflective of 21st century learning and innovative skills. 

 

 

Link

 

 

Learning (B)logs

 

 

The learning blogs described on this site are similar to the progress journals discussed in our weekly article.  Like progress journals, learning blogs may be used to provide constructive feedback to guide student learning.  However, the digital nature of learning blogs makes student journals more readily available to teachers and peers, offers students a world-wide audience, and provides them with the ability to collaborate beyond the classroom (McIntosh, 2005).  Learning blogs also more readily allow students to express themselves in more multimodal ways than a traditional progress journal.

 



What should the assessments of multimodal text provide for students?

Assessment of multimodal text should be used as an instructional tool that helps "students learn to assess texts rhetorically - their own texts and the texts of others, as they compose and after they do so" (Borton & Huot, pg. 2).  They should also provide project expectations and focused feedback designed to help guide students in developing their ideas in order to establish effective communication with their intended audience (Borton & Huot). 

 

 

What are the benefits to using formative assessment when asking students to compose multimodal texts?

Formative assessment is an instructional evaluation that "provides feedback to students while they are still working on assignments or project" (Borton & Huot, pg. 2).  Using formative assessment in the classroom can help students to identify project expectations, increase understanding of the task at hand, and learn to evaluate texts critically (Borton & Huot).

 

How do you feel about collaboratively constructing rubrics or assessment criteria with students?

Honestly, I had never considered having students help construct assessments before, however, as with many activities my students have taken on, I am sure they would pleasantly surprise me with the quality of their ideas and suggestions.  In regards to student-centered learning, if Borton and Huot are correct in their assumption that "rhetorically - based understanding of composition should drive and inform teachers' approach to assessment," (Borton & Huot, pg. 2)  it only makes sense that students be involved in the assessment process as well.  Collaboratively creating assessments would be a great way to teach students to effectively judge a project or piece of work.  Discussing what makes a piece effective would help students develop an eye for detail that may translate to their own work.

Rubric

Career Webquest Rubric

Resources

Borton, S. & Huot, B.  (n.d.).  Chapter 8: Responding and assessing (from Crafting a Family Tradition).   Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6DFAmexYq7veC02bzZxTGVZT1k/edit

McIntosh, E.  (2005, Oct. 7).  Learning (b)logs: time to give students voice.  Retrieved from http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2005/10/learning_blogs_.html