TOPIC: STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOME

We are living in unprecedented times. To reduce the spread of COVID-19, more than 130 countries have
closed schools entirely, impacting 80 percent of the world’s student population. Parents don’t know how
long they will need to care for and educate their children while simultaneously attending to employment
obligations—Meanwhile, educators across the country are trying to figure out how to serve students
from a distance, effectively and equitably. Serving all students equitably requires intentional
effort. Educators are being flooded with links to online learning resources and must comb through them
to determine whether they align with their curriculum and are accessible to all youth as a result of
learning outcomes wherein describes measurable knowledge,skills, and behaviors thatstudents should
be able to demonstrate as a result of completing the program. Goals and objectives are typically broader
statements of program purpose that are more difficult to measure, such as “providing a comprehensive
liberal arts education,” “producing quality scientists for the twenty-first century,”

One of the main focus of the Student Learning Outcomes is that too specify what students will know, be
able to do or be able to demonstrate when they have completed or participated in a course or program.
SLO’S specify an action by the student that must be observable, measurable and able to be
demonstrated.

Moreover there are sources of SLO like for example the institution mission statement is a relevant
source of student learning expectation, policies on competencies and standards issued by government
education agencies such as DEPED,TESDA,CHED are prescribed sources of student learning outcomes,
expected competencies identified by the different professions, business and industry should be adopted
to ensure that graduates are able to perform as expected in their respective work places and or
professions, the thrusts and development goals of the national government are useful integration in the
identified competencies and expectations from all sectors of education, international trends and
development should also be considered in identifying and determining student learning outcomes to
ensure the graduates competitiveness in the employment and professional practice abroad.

Furthermore as a good characteristics of Good Learning Outcome first and foremost good learning
outcomes should focuses on the students, on what the learners are capable of doing, instead of the
teaching technique, good learning outcomes are based on the program mission statement agreed upon
by the program faculty in consultation with other stakeholder like alumni and other professionals, good
student learning outcomes are very well understood by both students and faculty, good learning
outcomes include a spectrum of thinking skills from simple to higher order of application of knowledge
and skills and lastly good learning outcomes are measurable. Student competencies should be expressed
as transitive verbs and/or action words which are demonstrate and observable/measurable competency
levels.

In conclusion The assessment of student achievement, or understanding what students know and can
do, is fundamental to effective teaching and to students' learning. Unless teachers know students well
and are knowledgeable about their achievements, they cannot be confident that they are meeting
the learning needs of their students.

Linked references:
https://www.mathematica.org/commentary/learning-in-the-midst-of-a-pandemic-four-key-education-
takeaways
https://oira.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/297/2017/07/Introduction-to-SLO-Assessment.pdf
TOPIC: AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT TOOLS

Skillful and effective teachers require students to analyze and synthesize information, apply what they
have learned, and demonstrate their understanding of material according to specified criteria. They
have developed learning and assessment experiences to engage students and teach them how to
“produce,” rather than simply “reproduce” knowledge

Many factors are driving assessment reform in this country, including an emphasis on constructivism
and authenticity, standards, and higher-order thinking skills. These forces and others have stirred
interest in the educational community to look for alternatives to traditional testing in order to give a
more accurate and complete picture of student growth and achievement. Organizations that specialize
in assessment (e.g., the Far West Laboratory and the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and
Student Testing) are working with school systems to develop and test alternative assessments. The
preliminary results are quite promising in terms of reform in curriculum and instructional practice as
well as increased student engagement in the learning and assessment process. Assessment of learning is
truly a “work in process.” It is exciting to see the progress that has been made to move beyond teaching
and testing fragmented lists of declarative knowledge in favor of involving students in applying
knowledge in unique and authentic ways

The challenge for teachers is to commit to change the way they teach and assess students as well as put
forth the effort to develop and use alternative assessment strategies such as those described in this
chapter. Every effort should be made to develop meaningful, authentic learning and assessment tasks
that target the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for learning and life. Educators must also learn
how to organize and structure these tasks so that they are contextualized, integrative, flexible, and open
to self-assessment and peer assessment. Additionally, a clear focus on standards and criteria must be
maintained in a way that provides for both formative and summative procedures. Students should be
encouraged to become actively involved in the assessment process through metacognitive reflection,
establishing criteria and performance indicators required to develop effective scoring rubrics, and using
these scoring instruments to assess their own work. Effective feedback is the key to improved student
learning. Yet many teachers are reluctant to spend the time required to develop and exhibit exemplary
models of expected performances and to teach students how to assess and regulate their own
performance. Considerable progress has been made in the 1990s in designing and implementing
alternative assessments. There are many success stories that point toward systemic change in the way
educators are structuring curriculum, delivering instruction, and assessing student growth and
achievement. Much of this work closely mirrors work that has been done in vocational education for
many years. The current shared interest between the vocational and academic communities holds
promise for improving both as teachers share ideas, techniques, and tools across disciplines. Authentic
assessment supports change in curricula, teaching, and school organization. But the real question is “Do
these new assessment methods and techniques contribute to improved student learning?” A growing
number of teachers seem to think so. Reporting on the effects of authentic assessment in action at five
schools, Darling-Hammond, Ancess, and and Falk (1995) note that classroom interactions, student work,
exhibitions, and hallway conversations provide widespread evidence of in-depth learning, intellectual
habits of mind, high-quality products, and student responsiveness to rigorous standards.

Linked References:

https://ilearn.marist.edu/access/content/group/bb30edbb-84eb-4d65-8292-ff8ac52de2e3/Readings
%20and%20Information/custer5.pdf
TOPIC: Traditional vs Authentic Assessment

Assessment attaches much importance to any sort of teaching learning process. The usual and
common assessment we do is known as traditional assessment. Today we should use authentic
assessment keeping pace with the growing necessities of the world. What we mean by Authentic
Assessment? It’s a form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that
demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills’ as is defined by Jon Mueller.
It can be characterised by open-ended tasks that require students to construct extended responses,
to perform an act, or to produce a product in a real-world context—or a context that mimics the real
world. Project works, portfolios, writing an article for newsletter or newspaper, performing a dance or
drama, designing a digital artifact, creating a poster for science fair, debates, and oral presentations
can be the examples of authentic assessment. It involves students in the actual challenges,
standards, and habits needed for success in the academic disciplines or in the workplace” said
Wiggins (1989).

Authentic assessment tasks make the students motivated as they get opportunity to perceive the
relevance of the tasks to the real world. They find it as a meaningful learning.
In our academic life, mostly we do traditional assessment. It refers to   the forced-choice measures
of multiple-choice tests, fill-in-the-blanks, true-false, matching and the like that have been and
remain so common in education.  Students typically select an answer or recall information to
complete the assessment. These tests may be standardized or teacher-created.  They may be
administered locally or education board-wise, or globally. As a nation’s mission is to develop
productive citizens educational institutions must then test students to see if they acquire the
expected knowledge and skills. Teachers first determine the tasks that students will perform to
demonstrate their mastery, and then a curriculum is developed that will enable students to perform
those tasks well, which would include the acquisition of essential knowledge and skills. 

A comparison of authentic assessment and conventional assessment reveals that different purposes
are served, as evidenced by the nature of the assessment and item response format. We can teach
students how to do mathematics, learn history and science, not just know them.  Then, to assess
what our students have learned, we can ask students to perform tasks that "replicate the challenges"
faced by those using mathematics, doing history or conducting scientific investigation. Traditional
assessment follows selecting a response from learners whereas authentic assessment engages
learners to perform a task on the basis of the item they are informed.

Traditional assessment is contrived but authentic is in real-life. Traditional assessment says

recalling or recognition, it is teacher structured and indirect evidence is put but authentic one is
construction or application, it is student structured and direct evidence is set.

Authentic assessments have several advantages over conventional or traditional tests. They are
likely to be more valid than conventional tests, particularly for learning outcomes that require higher-
order thinking skills. Because they involve real-world tasks, they are also likely to be more interesting
for students, and thus more motivating. And finally, they can provide more specific and usable
information about what students have succeeded in learning as well as what they have not learned.

Authentic assessment has played a pivotal role in driving curricular and instructional changes in the
context of global educational reforms. Since the 1990s, teacher education and professional
development programmes in many education systems around the globe have focused on the
development of assessment literacy for teachers and teacher candidates which encompasses
teacher competence in the design, adaptation, and use of authentic assessment tasks or
performance assessment tasks to engage students in in-depth learning of subject matter and to
promote their mastery of the 21st-century competencies.

Authentic assessment serves as an alternative to conventional assessment. Conventional

assessment is limited to standardized paper-and-pencil/pen tests, which emphasize objective
measurement. Standardized tests employ closed-ended item formats such as true‒false, matching,
or multiple choice. The use of these item formats is believed to increase efficiency of test
administration, objectivity of scoring, reliability of test scores, and cost-effectiveness as machine
scoring and large-scale administration of test items are possible. However, it is widely recognised
that traditional standardised testing restricts the assessment of higher-order thinking skills and other
essential 21st-century competencies due to the nature of the item format. From an objective
measurement or psychometric perspective, rigorous and higher-level learning outcomes such as
critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, and extended communication are too
subjective to be tested.

In traditional assessment student’s attention will understandably be focused on and limited to what is
on the test. In contrast, authentic assessments allow more student choice and construction in
determining what is presented as evidence of proficiency. Even when students cannot choose their
own topics or formats, there are usually multiple acceptable routes towards constructing a product or
performance. Obviously, assessments more carefully controlled by the teachers offer advantages
and disadvantages. Similarly, more student-structured tasks have strengths and weaknesses that
must be considered when choosing and designing an assessment.

The amount of new information is increasing at an exponential rate due to the advancement of digital
technology. Hence, rote learning and regurgitation of facts or procedures are no longer suitable in
contemporary educational contexts. Rather, students are expected to be able to find, organise,
interpret, analyse, evaluate, synthesise, and apply new information or knowledge to solve non-
routine problems.

Authentic tasks replicate real-world challenges and standards of performance that experts or
professionals typically face in the field. It is an effective measure of intellectual achievement or ability
because it requires students to demonstrate their deep understanding, higher-order thinking, and
complex problem solving through the performance of exemplary tasks. Hence authentic assessment
can serve as a powerful tool for assessing students’ 21st-century competencies in the context of
global educational reforms.
 
Linked References:

https://www.daily-sun.com/post/343911/Defining-features-of-traditional-and-authentic-assessment-
TOPIC: AFFECTIVE DOMAIN

The affective domain is part of a system that was published in 1965 for identifying, understanding and
addressing how people learn. Part of Bloom's Taxonomy, this classification of educational objectives
includes the cognitive domain, the affective domain and the psychomotor domain.
The cognitive domain is organized in a hierarchy that begins with the straightforward acquisition of
knowledge, followed by the more sophisticated cognitive tasks of comprehension, application, analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation.
The psychomotor domain relates to the learning of physical movements. The members of the original co
The affective domain describes learning objectives that emphasize a feeling tone, an emotion, or a
degree of acceptance or rejection. Affective objectives vary from simple attention to selected
phenomena to complex but internally consistent qualities of character and conscience. We found a large
number of such objectives in the literature expressed as interests, attitudes, appreciations, values, and
emotional sets or biases. [from Krathwohl et al, 1964 ]
Here are descriptions of each step in the taxonomy, starting at the most basic level. (From Krathwohl's
Taxonomy of Affective Domain)
Receiving is being aware of or sensitive to the existence of certain ideas, material, or phenomena and
being willing to tolerate them. Examples include: to differentiate, to accept, to listen (for), to respond to.
Responding is committed in some small measure to the ideas, materials, or phenomena involved by
actively responding to them. Examples are: to comply with, to follow, to commend, to volunteer, to
spend leisure time in, to acclaim.
Valuing is willing to be perceived by others as valuing certain ideas, materials, or phenomena. Examples
include: to increase measured proficiency in, to relinquish, to subsidize, to support, to debate.
Organization is to relate the value to those already held and bring it into a harmonious and internally
consistent philosophy. Examples are: to discuss, to theorize, to formulate, to balance, to examine.
Characterization by value or value set is to act consistently in accordance with the values he or she has
internalized. Examples include: to revise, to require, to be rated high in the value, to avoid, to resist, to
manage, to resolve
If we are striving to apply the continuum of Krathwohl et al. to our teaching, then we are encouraging
students to not just receive information at the bottom of the affective hierarchy. We'd like for them to
respond to what they learn, to value it, to organize it and maybe even to characterize themselves as
science students, science majors or scientists.
We are also interested in students' attitudes toward science, scientists, learning science and specific
science topics. We want to find teaching methods that encourage students and draw them in. Affective
topics in educational literature include attitudes, motivation, communication styles, classroom
management styles, learning styles, use of technology in the classroom and nonverbal communication.
It is also important not to turn students off by subtle actions or communications that go straight to the
affective domain and prevent students from becoming engaged.
In the educational literature, nearly every author introduces their paper by stating that the affective
domain is essential for learning, but it is the least studied, most often overlooked, the most nebulous
and the hardest to evaluate of Bloom's three domains. In formal classroom teaching, the majority of the
teacher's efforts typically go into the cognitive aspects of the teaching and learning and most of the
classroom time is designed for cognitive outcomes. Similarly, evaluating cognitive learning is
straightforward but assessing affective outcomes is difficult. Thus, there is significant value in realizing
the potential to increase student learning by tapping into the affective domain. Similarly, students may
experience affective roadblocks to learning that can neither be recognized nor solved when using a
purely cognitive approach.

Linked References:
https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/intro.html