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There are prescribed steps used to design performance activities. The process begins with a decision about what standards should be assessed, determining a performance activity, establishing a scoring rubric and establishing a way to assess student work. Strategies for aligning course design and course delivery with both national and state standards, and incorporation of common performance assessments into courses must be developed (see Anderson, Chapter 2).

Student success hinges on the alignment of instruction with assessment. Often this requires modification in instructional design and delivery. According to Marzano et al. (1992) there are dimensions of learning that involve the interaction of five types, or dimensions of thinking, which are loose metaphors for the way the mind works during learning. The five dimensions of learning include acquisition and integration of knowledge as well as the ability to use knowledge meaningfully. At the heart of the emphasis is performance assessment that measures student acquired knowledge and skill. (see Berry, Chapter 1).

Changing instruction, challenging the professoriate

The changing role of the professoriate starts with a review of the general approach to teaching and learning. The challenge is to develop changes in response to conditions that include greater clarity about the knowledge, skills and dispositions desired of graduates. There is the expectation that teaching become research-based and faculty develop and use common assessments embedded within key courses in degree programs. The latest thinking on how people learn—differing learning styles, multiple intelligences—is changing the nature of teaching in higher education. Students have more options for when, where and how they complete coursework than ever before (Cross, 2005).

Today, students attempt to connect concepts to their own life/work as they look for connections and relationships between text, lecture, and assessments. Students have an increased interest in the quality of their learning and are willing to critique their work on quality standards, as well as new knowledge, skills and dispositions developed as a result of their experience.

In order to address the programmatic needs and the needs of students, faculty must review delivery systems, teaching methods, course materials, curricula, student assessment and other factors. The professoriate must increasingly consider a blended learning platform to accelerate learning with seamless access and delivery of formal, informal and self-paced learning resources across the continuum of learning styles. Degree programs that utilize blended course offerings—those that combine face-to-face instruction with online learning and reduced classroom contact hours have the potential to increase student learning.

The instruction that faculties provide, the intellectual climate that they create, and the policy decisions that they make, should all start with the question, “But will it improve students’ learning?” (Cross, 2005). What is clear is that students who are actively engaged in learning for deeper understanding through performance activities are likely to learn more—because of this engagement—than students who are not. The evidence is clear that students have to find their own answers by working through their own pathways of knowledge.

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Source:  OpenStax, Performance assessment in educational leadership programs; james berry and ronald williamson, editors. OpenStax CNX. Sep 26, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11122/1.1
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