How important is to align the learning objectives teaching strategies and assessment tools?
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When developing lesson plans and curriculum, you often hear educators talk about making sure things are aligned. “Alignment is the process of ensuring that the specified curriculum is consistent with enabling students to reach the milestones outlined in the standards” (Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation, 2019, p.1). Often, this means that educators are focused on making sure the objective and assessment for the lesson plan are in sync. This element of alignment in a lesson plan is important, but it is equally important to ensure that the goals, objectives, and standards of your lesson are aligned as well. The goals, objectives and standards components of a lesson plan help to guide the direction of your lesson plan; therefore, it is essential to make sure they are all connected to the same concepts. The goal of a lesson plan is the target you are trying to reach. It helps to provide the framework that you will use when developing your lesson objective. The lesson objective is a clear and measurable statement that tells you what the students will be able to do at the end of the lesson. Finally, the standards are clear written descriptions, developed by each state, of what a child should be able to do at a particular age (early learning standards) or grade level (K-12 standards). Since all these components are focused on the overall concept of the lesson, they must be related, or aligned in the same areas. So, what do we mean by alignment? Simply put, we mean that they all need to be focused on the same area of development or academic concept. For example, if your goal is on sequencing a story, create an objective about how students would demonstrate their knowledge of sequencing a story. “When aligned, the major course components work together to ensure that students achieve the desired learning objectives” (Engage, 2019, para. 3). In addition, you would need to locate a state standard that was focused on sequencing the events in a story. When all of these elements of a lesson plan are connected, the lesson will flow smoothly, and your students will have a greater chance at mastering the lesson objective. On the other hand, when there is not alignment amongst the goals, objectives and standards of a lesson plan, the lesson becomes disjointed. If you have a goal focused on identifying the beginning, middle and ending sounds in a word, an objective centered around reading sight words, and a standard about writing letters, you will not know which direction the lesson plan is headed. The lesson does not clearly address if one is teaching sounds, reviewing sight words, or writing letters. Alignment in a lesson plan ensures that all the components are working together to support student success. If you start with aligned goals, objectives, and standards, you will set your lessons up for success! Written by Jennifer Zaur, MA, Education World Contributing writer. Jennifer is an Assistant Professor, Department of Education and Liberal Arts at the University of Arizona Global Campus. Copyright© 2021 Education World References Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation (CSAI), & WestEd. (2018, March). Standards Alignment to Curriculum and Assessment. CSAI Update. In Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation. Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation. Engage, D. T. (2019, November 15). Learning objectives & alignment. Design Teach Engage. Issue Date: 05-17-2019 We all know that our cars need an alignment service once in a while. But have you thought about the alignment of your course? Ensuring online course alignment means that all critical course components work together to confirm that your students achieve the stated learning outcomes. You will want to be sure that you have aligned critical course components such as teaching materials, learning activities, assessments, other learning tools. Teaching materials contribute to the learning objectives; Learning activities promote the learning objectives; learning tools support the learning objectives. Learning objectives form the basis of your course. When you begin the process of creating your online course, the first step is to define learning objectives for the course and then for the Modules, Units or Weeks, depending on how the course is set up. Keep the Learning Objectives Student-CenteredLearning objectives should focus on what students will be able to do, rather than on what the instructor will teach. The learning objectives need to be precisely and clearly stated using concrete and measurable verbs. Objectives that are written with words like “understand”, “know”, “learn”, “realize” are hard to measure. Rather than "understand" we can expect the student to be able to "Interpret". Instead of asking a student to "know", we can ask students to "Describe". These verbs can be measured and require a higher order of thinking on the part of the student. The verb wheel pictured below is based on Bloom's Taxonomy and can be very helpful when writing course and module objectives. Remember that module objectives should be aligned with the course level objectives and should be written at a level suited to the level of the course. Fremi, J. (2017, November 10). Writing learning outcomes and course objectives. Retrieved March 14, 2019, from https://blogs.uis.edu/colrs/2017/07/13/writing-learning-outcomes-and-course-objectives/ When preparing the course materials, activities and assignments for your course, remember to keep in mind their alignment to particular objectives. Alignment in Learning MaterialsThe learning materials can be a variety of formats (textbook, instructor-created lectures, video, audio, and additional resources from library and webpages) and contribute to the achievement of student learning goals. When you prepare the materials, you need consider both course and module objectives and look for a clear and direct way in which the materials are aligned with both level objectives. Alignment in Learning Activities and AssessmentsWithout the alignment between learning objectives and learning activities/assessments, students will spend time on activities, assignments and assessments that do not lead to intended goals. For example, (if) the objective is to “defend" an idea, but the assessment used is a multiple-choice quiz, students do not learn or practice the skills of defen(ding) an idea. A good practice is to show students the alignment of Course Objectives to Module Objectives and show which Activities and Assessments are connected to those objectives. This can easily be done in a table at the beginning of a module. Table that shows alignment of course objectives and module level objectives with learning materials, learning activities, and assessments.
Just like with a vehicle, you will want to perform some routine maintenance on your course, such as adding new instructional materials, changing the assessments, and updating the activities. When adding and subtracting items from your course, you will want to keep in mind that those changes can have an impact on the overall alignment of the course. Tags: Instructional Design Tips, Canvas Why is it important to align the assessment method to the learning outcomes or objectives?Building alignment between assessment and learning outcomes also allows you to develop and communicate the pathway for students' learning progression. It enables you to explain what knowledge and skills were expected on entry to the course and the knowledge and skills that will be developed throughout the course.
Why should learning objectives and assessments be aligned What if the components are misaligned?If assessments are misaligned with learning objectives or instructional strategies, it can undermine both student motivation and learning. Consider these two scenarios: Your objective is for students to learn to apply analytical skills, but your assessment measures only factual recall.
Why alignment is important in teaching?Alignment: Work to align your teaching strategies with your learning outcomes and assessments. Clear alignment helps students understand how various parts of the course fit together, which in turn helps them learn.
Why are learning objectives important in the teaching and learning process?Learning objectives should be used to guide students as they work through the course, and to assess their learning progress. Excellent learning objectives provide a guide for students when reviewing materials and preparing for assessments. Learning objectives are the most powerful if they are actionable and measurable.
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