An informal classroom assessment strategy

1. An Informal
Classroom
Assessment
Strategy
FOCUSED
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH
DAWN RUECKL, ID#000391051
PIDP 3230 EVALUATION OF LEARNING
OCTOBER 23, 2016

2. Describe FAS
Creating a FAS
When to use
Advantages
Limitations
Best practices
Providing feedback
FOCUSED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
(FAS)

3.  Short personal statement on a specific topic
 Reflect on learning experience
 Identify successful experience and explain reason for
success
(Angelo & Cross, 1993)
WHAT IS FOCUSED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH (FAS) TECHNIQUE?
•Cluster 5: Work &
Career Preparedness
Teaching
goals:
•Cluster 6: Personal
Development

4. WHY IS IT USEFUL?
Narrative Learning –
meaning making of
experience
(Clarke & Rossiter, 2008)
Assessing student’s
self-awareness
Relating student
experience to course
objective
Baseline for assessing
understanding of topic
FAS

5. Four Step Process:
CREATING FAS:
1. Determine topic or focus. -- ex. Support
for group members
2. Define scope – ex. Professional
experience working with a team
3. Determine criteria for assessment – ex.
Prior team experience; role on team;
definition of success; definition of support
4. Create instructions for the activity

6. Think about a time in your professional experience where you
worked as part of a successful supportive team. In 250 words or
less, reflect on the following:
1) Describe the team and your role on the team.
2) Describe why you think the team was successful. What
measurement of success are you using?
3) Discuss what factors made you feel supported. What did
others do to support you? What did you do to support
others?
4) What more could have been done in terms of collaboration
and support to increase the team’s success?
SAMPLE FAS:

7. FAS
Introductory
Reasoning
Proficiency
Self
Awareness
WHEN TO USE FAS

8.  Focused on a specific course
objective
 Provides baseline of student
knowledge or lack of
 Informs instructor of student
experience and self-awareness
 Informs differences between
course objectives and student
preparedness
ADVANTAGES OF FAS TECHNIQUE

9.  Depth of student reflection
 Lack of relevant experience
 Incomplete honesty
 Undeveloped critical skills
 Compiling useful information
Categorizing
Assessing quality
Synthesizing and summarizing
Measurements for success
Instructor’s Time!!!
LIMITATIONS

10. Strong Instructions
Clear measurement
Safe spaces
BEST PRACTICES

11. Class
Measurements
Objective
Individual
Self-Reflection
Depth of
Analysis
STUDENT FEEDBACK

12. Assesses student’s self-awareness
related to a course objective as a
baseline for learning
BUT time consuming and challenging to
synthesize useful information
FOCUSED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
(FAS)

13. Angelo, T. & Cross, P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: a handbook
for college teachers 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco, CA
Arter, J., Chappuis, J., Chappuis, S., & Stiggins, R. (2004). Ch 4: Assess how?
Designing assessments to do what You want. In Classroom Assessment for
Student Learning: Doing it Right and Using it Well. Assessment Training
Institute, Portland OR. p.89-121. Retrieved October 2016 from http://www-
tc.pbs.org/teacherline/courses/inst325/docs/inst325_stiggins.pdf
Clarke, C. & Rossiter, M. (2008). Narrative learning in adulthood. In Third
update on adult learning theory, Sharan B. Merriam (ed.), Wiley Periodicals,
Danvers MA, p. 61-70
Stansses, M., Dohety, K. & Poe, M. (2001). Course-based review and
assessment: Methods for understanding student learning. University of
Massachusetts, US. Retrieved October 2016 from
http://www.umass.edu/oapa/oapa/publications/online_handbooks/course_b
ased.pdf
REFERENCES