It is interesting how many times in this course the idea of a supportive "classroom culture" comes up. A positive culture that encourages risk-taking and does not penalize "failure" is very important to getting the most out of self- and peer-assessment.

Student goal-setting is something I've not tried in my classroom, but I am intrigued by it. To me it seems this would most successful within a scaffolded structure of teacher-provided "big-picture" goals. The student would then provide some "mini-goals" to work toward.

This is a key statement. Students don't automatically know how to monitor and assess their own learning. It is a skill that can and must be taught.

I think this is very important -- teachers must share with their students what is to be learned in a direct fashion. This is often done with a daily objective placed on the board, or something similar.

This is a really effective teaching practice that I would like to become better at! Getting students to think about their thinking is a very powerful tool.

This classroom culture is so important; it is interesting that having a trusting culture yields better student learning outcomes!

The importance of having criteria stated in such a way that it is specific, yet student friendly.....

I think this is a great idea and one that I wished I would have tried during my time in K-12 education. One hurdle I see with this is that the student needs to have a clear vision of what the outcome should be. Perhaps exemplars are used for the purpose, without stifling student creativity? Without a vision for the outcome, how can a student suggest grading criteria in a rubric?

I felt that I would fall into this trap when developing rubrics for my students. For example, for our HS Chemistry lab reports, I felt that I was "nickel and dime-ing" students to death on minutiae according the the rubric while missing out on the big picture altogether. Eventually I scrapped the rubric.

Absolutely true. Just giving an "assessment" does not automatically produce data that is relevant or easily used to make instructional decisions!

This seems so simple -- in order to assess something, you need to know what that "thing" is. But just because something is "simple" doesn't mean it is "easy" to do!

This is very true. I've seen some good ideas for diagnostics or screener tests that were not properly utilized because the user interface/database was so hard to use; or it was confusing; or it was a mess of data that scared people away. The ability to access the data, when needed, in a manner that is easy to utilize, is very important. But not necessarily easy to accomplish.

This, along with standard 4, is perhaps what I'm the most concerned about. As a classroom teacher, I knew that my 1st hour didn't always get the best version of me for the day -- which sounds horrible -- because I was also learning as the day went on. I was learning what strategies worked the best to help kids learn. So often my last period of the day looked very different from the first period. What I realize in my new position is that I have less iterations -- less opportunities -- to adjust "on the fly". So more front-loading and preparation has to occur on my part. The inability to course-correct easily has me nervous. Thus, I must improve my planning and designing skills.

I appreciate what was taught in the corresponding lesson to this assignment -- that online learners are still normal humans with normal human needs according to Maslow. I think so often we take that for granted -- assuming that just because content is posted "online", that students can automatically find it to be an enriching learning experience. Unfortunately, I've had too many poor online learning experiences -- I know that it doesn't just "happen". I think that this criterion is underrated by many who profess to be online "teachers". I need to improve in this area.

This is so critical for a positive online learning experience -- the feeling of connection to other humans. It doesn't occur as organically as it would in a traditional face-to-face classroom environment. So it needs to be planned-for and developed. I already appreciate the weekly video posts -- just so I can see my instructor "in-person" -- it lends such a more welcoming feel to the course. It makes me feel that I am not alone in this journey.