Automatic+Preassessment

The purpose of pre-assessments in differentiated lessons and units is to help determine what content and activities are appropriate for each student.

Most teachers use "pre-tests" which they distribute to students then collect and score to help them decide how to challenge and support the diverse group of students in their classrooms.

A practical challenge with the teacher-scored traditional pre-test approach, however, is the need it creates for time:
 * Time for students to take the pre-test;
 * Time for the teacher to score it;
 * Time for the teacher to then use the pre-test data to create differentiated learning opportunities.

This means that, to be truly useful, pre-tests usually have to be administered days or weeks before students will actually start on the unit or lesson that the pre-assessment is intended to help differentiate.

Certainly, this investment of time is sometimes worthwhile.

However, for most of us, using this approach to guide the differentiation of every lesson isn't practical. We'd use up much of our class time pre-testing and many hours each week scoring pre-tests and interpreting results.

If we truly want to make differentiated learning opportunities a daily reality, we need to find ways to //offload and automate// some of the process of pre-assessing students and matching each student with appropriate curriculum and supports.

=Strategies=

Using "If/Then" Logic
Our role models for automation are of course computers. Interactive software applications use "If/Then" logic. In a nutshell, "if" a user does X, "then" the computer then follows one branch of code, producing a certain result. If a user does Y, then the computer follows another branch of code, leading to a different outcome than if the user had done action X.

While we won't actually be writing any programming code, we can still borrow this basic concept.

For a computer program to work, the options that users can trigger need to be at least somewhat predefined, and that's the case with our approach, too.

So, rather than collecting pre-assessment data and THEN start thinking about how to differentiate, the sequence is largely reversed. We would begin by thinking about the ways a unit might need to be differentiated, create those options, and (lastly instead of firstly) create a tool that will use information about a student to guide him or her toward the best version of the content according to his or her interests.

Auto-Graded and Student-Graded Pre-Assessments
Pre-assessments that look like "tests" can still be part of a self-directed online learning module. However, to save the steps of the teacher collecting, scoring, and handing back the pre-tests, then guiding each student to an appropriately differentiated option, online learning modules allow educators to embed assessments that can either score themselves or that students can score for themselves manually using an answer key.

Pre-testing to see what students have already mastered and then letting them skip content that teaches these skills or concepts or branches students down a path that explores these at a more advanced or higher cognitive level is a good practice to use with gifted students and a strategy we highly recommend.

However, don't limit your thinking about pre-tests to assessing factual knowledge or basic skills. Pre-tests can also be designed to assess students' learning modality preferences, relative interests in various topics, and choice of work style. All of this information can be useful in guiding students toward content explorations and project options that are more likely to keep them engaged, motivated, and optimally challenged.

When using an auto-graded or student-graded pre-assessment, teachers build in to their online learning modules guidance to students based on their scores. (For example, "If you scored at least 85% on the pre-test, click here. If you scored less than 85% on the pre-test click here." Or, "If your pre-test results suggest you might learn this concept best through a visual lesson, click here. If your pre-test results suggest you might learn this concept best doing a hands-on activity, click here.)

Basic interactive quizzes that students can score themselves using an answer key and instructions you provide can be created using Google Docs Forms. (With a little more work, slightly more intrepid teachers can make Google Docs Forms-based quizzes score themselves. See this tutorial for instructions.) Self-grading assessments comprised of multiple choice and true/false items can also be created easily using quiz tools in educational social network platforms like Schoology and Edmodo that you may already be using. Zoho, a free web-based collection of productivity tools, also offers a tool called "Zoho Challenge" that lets users create quizzes that can then be embedded within your wiki for a seamless experience for your students.

Guided Choice Menus
This option is based on the popular concept of "Tic Tac Toe Boards", also known as "choice boards," in which a pre-determined menu of learning options is offered to students that they then choose activities from, not unlike a prix fixe menu in a restaurant that allows each diner to choose an appetizer, first course, entree, and dessert.

We suggest adding one more step to this process, however, which is to guide students to make INFORMED choices from the menu. (Going back to the restaurant menu analogy, being able to choose an entree is great in theory, but not helpful in practice if you're eating in an exotic restaurant and don't know what any of the dishes are like. A helpful waiter can talk with you about the kinds of foods you like and then make recommendations that will increase your chances of getting a dish you'll enjoy. In this project, your descriptions or guidance tools will serve the same function: allow students to make choices for themselves, but provide guidance to help increase their odds of making a choice that suits them.)

If done well, this approach has the added benefit of helping students develop greater awareness of themselves as learners and help them develop greater learner self-efficacy.

The "if/then" logic of this approach would look something like, "If you like/excel at/are interested in X, you might prefer option A. If you like/excel at/are interested in Y, you might prefer option B.

(The decision tree diagram in this wiki that you used to decide whether to join the wiki group or the Prezi group is an example of this approach in action. The descriptions of the curriculum repositories that you used to decide which one you wanted to explore is another take on this approach.)

"Choose Your Own Adventure" Navigation
This strategy is inspired by the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books for children written in the second person. In the CYOA books, readers would read passages than then be presented with a choice. (e.g. "You have arrived at a cottage in the woods. It's getting dark outside and the cottage looks abandoned. Do you enter the cottage or keep walking? If you enter the cottage, turn to page 34. If you keep walking, turn to page 35.") The choices readers would make would therefore affect the story they experienced. (And most readers would go backwards and forwards through the books trying different choices until they found a path through the book that lead to a positive ending for the protagonist.)

In your project, you could use this approach to either allow students to make choices based on preferences (e.g. asking "Would you like to read a short passage about this concept or view an online video?" and then linking "short passage" to a text file" and "online video" to a video that plays when a student clicks the link) OR on mastery. For example, a question could be embedded in a GoogleDocs or PowerPoint presentation slide with a variety of response options. Depending on which answer the student chooses, they go to a different place in the presentation or a different page on the wiki. This can be used to automate pacing students through the content, allowing "skipping" of content students don't need to review and giving reinforcement and additional practice opportunities when they need it.

For an example of how you might do this using PowerPoint, [|watch this tutorial.] These same concepts can be used in GoogleDocs presentations that can be embedded in your wiki or offering options for navigating your Wiki or Prezi.