Reflections

Overview of the Digital Literacies Toolkit

Nadine Aboulmagd and Samah Adel presented “Alternative Assessments to Enhance Students’ Digital Literacies.” They both are instructional designers at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. They talked about the digital literacies toolkit. They asked the audience to share in the chat their familiarity with digital literacies. The majority “heard but don’t understand.” They then asked […]
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Digital Narrative Assignments and Experiences of Visually Impaired Learners

Yasser Atef presented at the Alternative Assessment Institute 2022 on the experience of a visually impaired student. Atef is at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Atef shared their experience and spoke about self-reflection, self-assessment forms, and digital narratives. Atef explained how they navigate assessments and use self-assessment forms to enhance their learning. They spoke […]
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Assessment Literacies?!

As part of the Alternative Assessment Institute 2022, Andrew G. D. Holmes and Dom Henri from the University of Hull, UK spoke about “Assessment Literacies/University Literacies.” This twenty-five-minute session started with the presenters describing the challenges of reducing the “hidden curriculum:” “tacit and unwritten ‘taken-for-granted’ aspects of the curriculum that some students know and some […]
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Grading Options

Today I watched the 2022 Keynote Speaker for the Alternative Assessment Institute, David Buck. Their title was “Ungrading: A Road to Equity.” They mentioned that “ungrading is a pedagogical mindset (philosophy) that de-centers the control-based function of grades to create space for learning that’s divorced from stress. The learning process is centered, students display agency, […]
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Practical News Storytelling

Catriona Forrest from the University of Glasgow, UK presented at the Alternative Assessment Institute 2022 on “Practical News Stories.” This course and assignments have developed over time. This masters of sociology course teaches research methods and practical journalism skills. The MSc Media, Communications and International Journalism Program has four core courses. They use a rubric […]
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Self-Assessment to Encourage Exploration of the Information Landscape

Marta Samokishyn and Victoria Tsonos from Saint Paul University presented at the Alternative Assessment Institute 2022 on Incorporating Alternative Assessment Methods. Saint Paul University is in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The presenters started by explaining that Saint Paul is a small bilingual Catholic university that offers all programs in English and French. The university has ~1,300 […]
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Asynchronous Alternative Assessments and Language

My good friend, co-facilitator, and blogger, Melanie Lenahan, shared the playlist from the Alternative Assessment Institute 2022. Yay! I now have 15 sessions + 1 keynote to watch. I started with Nadia Jaramillo‘s presentation entitled “Alternative Assessment in Asynchronous Courses.” Jaramillo is an instructional designer and was an instructor. They provided definitions and examples to […]
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Helping Students Prepare for Class

Tina Ballard (Elgin Community College), Sabah Sattar (Western University of Health Sciences, medical student), Heather Bergan-Roller, and Jaime Sabel presented at JMBE Live about “Actions and Resources of Introductory Biology Students.” They shared resources for students to prepare for class. They spoke about the need to prepare for class: Ballard emphasized that studying for exams […]
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Evaluation of Retention Strategies for STEM Students at Neumann University

Tonight I watched the recorded session for the ASMCUE poster entitled “Instructional and Retention Strategies for STEM Students Using Co-Curricular Science Courses.” Matt Mastropaolo from Neumann University spoke about their NSF-funded program for first-year students. The program supports “24 academically gifted students” who also have financial needs. The research team evaluated their program and learned […]
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Self-regulated Learning and Remote Instruction

Aaron Esparza and Jeff Olimpo examined how remote instruction during the pandemic influenced learning strategies of students. Their ASMCUE 2022 recorded poster session was entitled “COVID-19 Remote Instruction Prepares STEM Students for the Return to Face-to-Face Learning.” Esparza mentioned that they sought to challenge the deficit focused comments of remote instruction. They described how self-regulated […]
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