ID Musings: Design Down “Authentic” Assessment and the Value of Course Maps (plus a bit of history)
- vickywalker
- Mar 31, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 20, 2022
Before there was something called “e-learning,” education leaders throughout North America and Europe sought to put learners at the forefront of instructional design in K-12 education by using student-centred "authentic” assessment. I grew up in that world. My father, a principal, moved us across the province to tackle this big question through a million-dollar education research project.
Sometime later, I became a high school teacher in the thick of the Ontario curriculum and assessment reform era of the early 2000s. I learned about and then led training sessions as part of a school leadership team. We researched, tested, taught rubrics, descriptive feedback, learner-centred design, and design down assessment.
1. Begin with the end in mind.
2. What do you want your learners to know when they finish the entire course?
3. What should they know at the end of each unit of study?
4. What should they know at the end of each day?
5. How can we make this relevant (authentic) for them?
6. How does one write SMART goals learner objectives/outcomes/goals that provide measurable data... that are student-centred and learner relevant?
Teachers are the original innovators that the newest generation of high-powered corporate leaders now seek to emulate when looking for rewarding, learner-centred assessment practices and real-world data and metrics. Why? Because they grew up with it.
But how is all of this created?
With hard work and INTENTION.
Course maps are the best place to begin. They are time-consuming documents that I started doing in excel years ago. If I had my choice, I would burn Excel to the ground and mind-map or PowerPoint everything, but one linear document serves its purpose.
I will share two adult learning course maps I created over the last five years. These can be downloaded at the end of this post. The first is for a university class new to the Faculty of Education, where I was a sessional lecturer: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum. This course taught pre-service teachers that teaching high school literacy is crucial. Learning to read does not end in grade 3.
The second is a new software application's corporate instructional design course map. Both employ a format similar to the one practiced in my M.Ed Instructional Design degree. Although the format is slightly different from the “Ontario Curriculum Planner” of old, many elements will be familiar to any K-12 teacher.
The goal is to create an instructional roadmap, and that content harkens back to those K-12 education pioneers. They set the stage not just for modern learning theory and research-based best practices but for learning in higher education and corporate realms. The learners who grew up with that now demand it.
What are the advantages of creating a course map? It makes SMART goals for both learners and instructors. It creates measurable activities. It creates relevant data.
Best wishes! Vicky
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