Lesson 2: Co-Creating Learning Targets with Students

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Hi, welcome back to the VEX Classroom. I'm Jason McKenna, and we are in Chapter 2, Lesson 2 in our VEX Masterclass on Student-Centered Assessment. Today, we're going to be talking about Co-Creating Learning Targets. This is the second step in student-centered assessment that we've been discussing. The first step was creating clear goals, and now we're focusing on co-creating learning targets.

When I used to teach, I had a board just like this, and I would put the learning objective up on the board. Oftentimes, that learning objective could be a standard, like a common core standard or a specific state standard, or it could be a learning objective from my teacher's manual. The problem with those is they were always written in very specific teacher language. We talk about proficiencies, measurable verbs, and similar concepts. To be honest, they probably meant absolutely nothing to our students. The reason is that our students couldn't relate to what it meant because it was written in a particular teacher language.

It's very important that as we talk about co-created learning targets, we differentiate between learning objectives and actual learning targets that we are going to co-create with our students. So, what's the difference between those two things? A learning objective, as I mentioned, is written from the teacher's point of view, whereas a learning target is written from the learner's point of view. You will have a conversation, which will be the second part of this video, where together you derive that particular learning target.

The second point is that learning targets serve to unify outcomes across a series of lessons or a unit. A learning target contains lesson-sized chunks of information. Students often do a much better job of identifying the particular things they need to be successful in a lesson. This ties into the third difference: learning objectives are often very broad, but learning targets are often very specific. They are written in the language of the student, in bite-sized chunks, and are much more specific. That's what a learning target is, and that's what you want to create with your students.

The organization we will use for this, as we discuss co-creative learning targets, is our Treasure Hunt STEM Lab for VEX IQ. Let's take a look at that now. We want to establish a clear goal. As a reminder, with this STEM lab, we aim to build a robot, use a sensor, and use VEXcode to identify the red cubes and deposit them at the end of our field. We need to check each cube, determine if it's red, and if it is, grab it and place it at the end of the field.

So, that's what we're trying to do. You've completed the first step of student-centered assessment by establishing a clear goal. Now you and your students are on the same page. The next step is to sit down and have a conversation with them to identify these learning targets. You want to make the learning targets with the students. How do you actually go about doing that? That's what we're going to talk about right now.

You've created a clear goal and discussed it with your students. Now it's time to sit down and co-create the learning targets.

Remember, the learning targets are written in a very student-friendly manner and are written with our students. So how do we go about doing that? Okay, we're going to talk about this here in one second. But the first thing that you want to do is you, as the teacher, want to determine the skills that you think are needed in order to be able to complete the lesson.

You should be familiar with this example here, the Treasure Hunt STEM Lab, and what the students will need in order to be able to complete that particular STEM lab unit. Now, you are going to want to do that in a particular level of detail. So you don't want to just, so the students are going to have to use a sensor in order to determine the color of the cube. You're going to want to think about the blocks that are associated with VEXcode to be able to do that.

If you're not sure about that, that's a great example to ping us in the community. There, we can show you some sample code that you could use in order to be able to solve that particular challenge. By taking a look at that sample code, you can understand what the students are going to have to do in order to be able to solve that particular challenge. So you want to go into this conversation prepared, understanding what the students are going to have to do in order to be able to be successful at this particular challenge.

So that's the very first thing that you're going to want to do, is you're going to want to think about and identify those things with your students. Now, as your students are actually creating the learning targets themselves, you're going to want to keep a list of them. I would keep them on the board in the classroom. There's no reason to hide it. You're not trying to hide anything from your students. You're going to want to keep these things up there on the board, wherever, so that you can refer to them all throughout the STEM Lab activity that you're doing with the kids.

Keep a running list of them, if you want to do it in a class Google Doc, if you have a Google Classroom where you have documentation for these types of things, or if you want to keep them visible in your room, whatever it is, you want to make sure that you're keeping track for all the different groups of students in your classroom that you have.

The third thing that you want to be able to do is you want to figure out a form that the students are going to use when they report the learning targets back to you. Okay, so you can see there's one example here where we have, I can, okay, then we have a learning verb. So here we have code. So we can, I can code the robot and then I have an object, that's the robot. So I can, learning verb, object, okay? That's a form that you can utilize as the students are giving their co-created learning targets back to you. You can use that form. If you want to come up with your own, you can obviously do that, but that's the one that we would recommend.

So let me review those first three steps with you again. Step number one, you want to prepare and determine the essential knowledge on your own. Step number two, you want to keep that knowledge as a list, okay? You want to keep the knowledge as a list, you want to make sure that people can see that list in your classroom or using your LMS, whatever that may be. And then number three, you want to make sure you establish a form. Establish a form the students can then articulate to you, the actual learning target itself.

And then the fourth one, which we're going to talk about right now, is you want to use the four knowledge domains. So here are my knowledge domains right here. I have knowledge, reasoning, skills, and products. Why is this important? Well, one of the criticisms that you hear about through this process is like, how do we ensure that we have an actual depth of knowledge?

Thank you for your attention and dedication to enhancing student learning. Your efforts in creating effective learning targets are greatly appreciated.

Depth and breadth of knowledge that our students are utilizing when we make the learning targets with them? This is how you do that. You will talk to, you know, you don't want to hide this from your students. You want to be very upfront with the students. You want to say, when we are creating learning targets, we want to make sure that we are using all of our different domains. Let's go through and talk about each of these.

Knowledge domain, what do I need to know to compete in the Treasure Hunt competition? So here's my form. I can code. Code what? The robot to move cubes, okay? So that's a good example of a learning target for this particular domain, Knowledge. Probably know that one. That's probably one you're most familiar with. That is probably a lot of what your students will come up with.

But now we get to reasoning, okay. What can I do with what I know and understand about a concept in order to successfully compete in the Treasure Hunt STEM Lab? So I have knowledge, what can I do with that knowledge? That's the reasoning. So I can use, again, the form, I can use the data I record in my engineering notebook to create a strategy for the Treasure Hunt competition. So now we're moving just beyond basic, the, you know, the commands I'm going use, right? Now, we're doing a little bit more comprehension, a little more application, a little bit more understanding, and that's what we want to do with this reasoning domain, okay?

We don't just want to have surface level knowledge, which is being addressed here, but we want to make sure that we also have conceptual knowledge, okay? Now, this reasoning could be, obviously here, I'm taking data from engineering notebook and then applying it to an actual game strategy. This could also be in collaborative decision making, right? This could be the interpersonal skills that you're trying to foster. That could also be in knowledge, but that could also be reason. So this is not just about specific coding or engineering skills, but all of those great interpersonal skills that we want to foster in a STEM lab, we can be doing this also. So reasoning, what can I do with what I know and understand? How can I apply it?

And then we get the specific skills, what can I demonstrate? Okay? So now the difference between knowledge and skills is this word right here. Demonstrate, what can I demonstrate to show that I understand the concept. So now we've talked about knowledge, we've talked about reasoning, the application. Now with skills, what can I do to actually show it, right? I can show it with my collaboration, right? I can show it via my engineering notebook, okay? But notice all three examples that I have here are following that form that we talked about, in which that form is I can learning verb product.

Okay and then the last thing, speaking of product, is the product itself is what can I make or demonstrate? Okay? So beyond me being able to articulate something, or beyond me being able to log something in my engineering notebook, this is project based learning, this is STEM. So what can I actually make, okay? So here's an example. I can record time in my notebook. I can make an algorithm, right? I can make a drivetrain on my robot, I can make a manipulator on my robot for my Treasure Hunt STEM Lab. Here is where I'm actually showing the product that I'm doing.

Now, you do not have to specify to your students that they have to have, you know, two in each domain, right? And there could be lessons, especially introductory lessons that you're doing that you might not hit every knowledge domain. That's up to you, right? But as you were talking about learning targets with your students, you definitely want to try to create learning targets in each of these domains.

Again, that's going to ensure that you have a depth and a breadth of skills and knowledge that you're eliciting from your students as you're co-creating the learning targets. To go back to Chapter 1 in this course, by doing this, you are now doing assessment with the students as opposed to to the students. You're bringing them into the process with you. And again, you're not trying to hide in this. I'd make this into a poster. I would have this displayed in my room as an example of the co-creation of learning targets, the domains I want to hit. I would spend time teaching this to the students to ensure that they knew what each of these was so the students are working either individually or in a group, they're able to come up with learning targets that address all of these domains, okay?

So let's go back and review what we talked about here. So, it's time for me to co-create learning targets. What do I do? Step one, I determine the essential skills, okay? So I determine the skills. Step two, I keep those skills as a list. I want to make sure that the list is displayed for everyone to be able to see. Step three, I establish a form. The form that we've been talking about is I can, learning verb, product. And then step four is I want to make sure that I achieve each of my knowledge domains that I have right here, okay? Follow this process with your students and you'll have a much more fulfilling means of assessment as opposed to just putting a learning objective on the board and then just quizzing the students. This is really bringing students into the process. This is having a dialogue with the students.

I think this is beyond being a much more research-backed way to do assessment in a way that the focus is on learning, not just on an end letter grade, and it really motivates the students. I think it's much more enjoyable for you as a teacher to go through this process with your students also. So, if you have questions about this, let's talk about it in the community. Love to hear your questions. I'd love to see your examples. I'd love to see your examples of what you're doing with this in your classroom for a particular STEM lab. Would love to see your examples. We could talk about it. Would love to see that success in your classroom.

So, this is all about co-creating learning targets. Now, after we've done this, we've created a clear goal. We've had a learning targets. Now we're going to have a debrief conversation in which we're going to have a conversation with the kids about did we reach the learning targets in these domains that we're talking about. We're going to talk about that in our next video.

But again, if you have questions about this, let's talk about it in the community. But I will see you again in the Chapter 2, Lesson 3 video.

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