Using Blueprints to Align Learning Objectives and Assessments


Presented by:

Whitney Alicia Zimmerman & Glenn Johnson, The Pennsylvania State University

Abstract

In this virtual poster presentation we will give an overview of using blueprints to design assignments, quizzes, and exams that align with learning objectives. We will share examples from one online introductory statistics course that used blueprints to align each lesson’s learning objectives with the course lecture notes, learning activities, and the lesson quiz. This ensured that students could receive instruction and practice with feedback before the lesson’s summative assessment. We will also share our midterm and final exam test blueprints. These blueprints may be shared with students to communicate what instructors perceive as the most important content and to guide their studying. Blueprints may also be used to facilitate the alignment of multiple sections of a course. The blueprint approach facilitates the collaboration of a collection of instructors who are all working together to maintain an organized bank of frequently changing assessment questions. In addition, for reasons of practicality or efficiency, should any instructor need to use a subset of questions to assemble a specialized assessment, it is easy to use the blueprints to build assessments covering the intended learning objectives. In the future we would like to use blueprints to build learning activities that are adaptive.

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