Planning Assessments

Introduction  

 

I'm still using State of Arizona Standard 2.0 - Demonstrate Marketing Concepts, but have moved on to Objective 2.4 now. There are eight objectives within this standard, so I've still got four left before I complete this Standard. I'll now provide the description of Objective 2.4 - Explain a Marketing Plan. This objective is the start of a student's summative final project which is a group business plan due by the end of the semester.

After reading the study material and considering my objective, I decided to use the following three formative assessments:

1. Explain What Matters: "Explain the most critical part of a given topic to a self-selected audience."

2. Yes/No Chart: "List what you do and don't understand about a given topic - what you do on the left, what you don't on the right, but your overly-vague responses don't count. Specificity matters."

3. Dos and Don'ts: "List 3 Dos and 3 Don'ts when using, applying, relating to the contents." 

In choosing these assessments, I'm attempting to allow students to "build" knowledge. I will use the Yes/No Chart assessment to introduce students to the contents of a marketing plan and the Dos and Don'ts assessment to increase deeper knowledge. However, none of this matters unless they understand the PDCA method which is described in Formative Assessment #1. Use of the PDCA method must be continuously applied to a marketing plan.

Formative Assessment #1 

 

Explain What Matters

Before digging into the contents of a marketing plan, I want my students to understand the first rule of planning because it is the driver of a marketing plan. The PDCA method is identified as the first rule of planning and it consists of the following steps: "plan a process improvement, do the improvement, check results, act to hold gains or reenter planning."

 I will instruct my students that the first rule of planning a marketing plan is Plan-Do-Act-Check (PDCA) in one sentence and to go look up the details on the Internet. At the end of class, they'll have to turn in a card with their name on it and a paragraph on the PDCA method and how it is used in the development and maintenance of marketing plans. Although I considered asking for a verbal response from each student, it would be too time-consuming. Asking each to write a paragraph saves time.

Why did I choose this assessment?  

I want my students to get familiar with acronyms and independent work because they'll be creating a business plan as part of their summative assessment. They'll be doing a lot of independent work to create business plans. Although the business plan will be a group project, each student in the group will be responsible for a portion of it and each portion identified by name.

Formative Assessment #2

Yes/No Chart

At this point, students are ready to start learning about the contents of a marketing plan. Because it is critical that students learn about the contents of a marketing plan, I've applied two formative assessments to it. Students will individually create a Yes/No Chart on all of the following items listed below:

This chart lists the contents of a marketing plan. Students will have to list what they do and don't know about each of the chart items and be specific. After completing the chart, students will have to research anything they don't understand in class or at home and turn in results by the end of the week. In addition to the business plan, students will also be tested on the contents of a marketing plan.

Why did I choose this assessment?

In order to successfully create a marketing plan and pass tests, students will need to understand every item on the chart. This is necessary because they'll be creating every item on the chart. My current plan is give students a week to work on this chart.

Formative Assessment #3

Dos and Don'ts 

After returning graded Yes/No charts, each student will take his or her Yes/No chart and list three Do's and Don'ts when "using, applying, and relating to each of the items listed above." They'll have a week to complete this exercise which will be submitted for grading at the end of the week.

Why did I choose this assessment? 

 This assessment was the logical next step in promoting understanding of the contents of a marketing plan. The Yes/No Chart provided the basis for understanding but listing Dos and Don'ts promotes deeper learning of the items. Once I determine that students have demonstrated deeper knowledge of the chart, they'll begin working on group marketing plans. There should be some computer lab time each week to work on their marketing plans and they may also work at home on them.

Conclusion

 I specifically chose each of these assessments because they fit best with Objective 2.4 - Explain a marketing plan. I deliberately looked for formative assessments which allowed the learner to build knowledge. The first assessment (Explain What Matters) introduced the topic of marketing planning to students. Before even looking at marketing plans, students need to learn how to plan it out. The second assessment I used promoted basic understanding and knowledge while the third assessment increased deeper learning by requiring students to think critically about the subject matter.

References

Anselmo, D. (2010). Marketing DeMystified. New York. NY: McGraw-Hill.

Heick, T. (2013, March 13). 10 Assessements You Can Perform in 90 Seconds. Retrieved from: http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/assessment/10-assessments-you-can-perform-in-90-seconds/.

Understanding and Applying Standards

In this module, I learned how to unpack a standard and the theories and mechanics behind backwards mapping, writing lesson plans and objectives. I also learned that the Arizona Department of Education provides a comprehensive curriculum guide which includes standards, objectives and lesson plans. For example, when I reviewed the Accounting standards, I found objectives, content, implementation (lesson plans), terminology and whether or not the objective was a testing item. In the curriculum guide, I only saw flexibility in regards to creating activities and learning experiences, but nothing else. Thus, I will not be writing my own objectives but I will be following the curriculum guide. And, I will be allowed to create activities which will supplement existing lesson plans.

Since I will be teaching Business Education subjects, I wanted to learn about their respective standards to become familiar with what I need to know in the Fall. And, I wanted to stay with my subjects and not veer off into a subject I won't be teaching as it has no value to me. Finally, the teacher I do classroom observation with told me to study the curriculum guide, so I'm following her instructions.

What this week's work taught me is how to find the objectives and how to see the backwards mapping and construction of lesson plans. Prior to studying backwards mapping and writing lesson plans, I wouldn't have understood the curriculum guide, how it was created or what I was supposed to do with it. For example, I did not know that column heading "Implementation" contained the lesson plans I was to use for teaching. I also didn't know that the State's lesson plans do in fact correlate with the information in Fink and Bloom's taxonomy. Prior to studying Fink and Bloom's taxonomy, I didn't know the origins of the State's curriculum guide. What I discovered is that the State followed Fink and Bloom's taxonomy to the letter. They used the same words, designed lesson plans according to the taxonomy and suggested activities and learning experiences which corresponded directly to the taxonomy. Before this week's activities, interpretation of the curriculum guide would have been difficult.

After completing this week's activities, I realized that in order to use the curriculum guide, I needed to understand it and this week's activities accomplished that goal. Now that I understand the curriculum guide, I can use it and I'll be prepared for teaching these courses in August.

Standards and Backwards Mapping

In this blog, I'm going to discuss developing a unit plan for State of Arizona Business Management and Administrative Standard 2.0: Demonstrate Marketing Concepts. The standard was taken from Arizona Department of Education Career and Technical Education standards and is part of the the Business Management and Administrative list of standards.

I chose this standard because I'll be teaching it and need to refresh on it. It is part of the entrepreneurship class and will be mostly taught to junior and senior level high school students. Although sophomores are eligible, I was informed that it is mostly taken by junior and senior level students participating in FBLA (Phi Beta Lambda) and DECA (Delta Epsilon Chi) clubs. Both clubs are active on the college level with FBLA additionally operating in the post-college, professional environment.

The standard asks students to "Demonstrate Marketing Concepts" by way of eight measurement criteria which are:

2.1 Explain marketing terminology
2.2 Analyze internal and external markets
2.3 Explain the difference between product and service-based marketing
2.4 Explain a marketing plan
2.5 Predict how changes in sales volume, unit costs and unit sales and pricing affect net income (Note to teacher: accounting - financial ratios)
2.6 Describe how businesses compete for market share in identified markets
2.7 Explain the impact marketing research has on the success of a business
2.8 Use desktop publishing to design and print a flier to market a product or service

Looking ahead to Activity 3, these criteria should also be viewed as objectives as there is an identifiable goal in each with a final goal of "demonstrating marketing concepts." Under Fink and Bloom's taxonomy we have:

1. Explain - Foundational Knowledge - Understanding and Remembering
2. Analyze - Application - Critical Thinking
3. Demonstrate - Application - Performance Skill, Human Dimension and Caring
4. Predict - Application - Practical Thinking
5. Describe - Foundational Knowledge - Understanding and Remembering
6. Explain -  Foundational Knowledge - Understanding and Remembering
7. Use - Application - Performance Skill

And does the Standard and it's measurement criteria fulfill SMART learning objectives? They will once conditions, time limits and relevant activities are attached to them. In their present state, they are missing a few SMART components.

Knowing that the district will be updating to Apple Macs in Fall 2016, I anticipate that this and other Business Management standards will be updated because they currently show Power Point and Word as tools to use and lesson plans listed under them. But I couldn't find a curriculum guide for the Business Management standards. There was reference to lesson plans, but I wasn't able to access them. The Accounting Curriculum Guide was complete in that it listed all standards plus measurement criteria, content, implementation, terminology plus assignments and projects for the teacher to use. Thus, although Accounting Standard 3.0 is very large, it is also very complete and features instructions for lesson plans in it. In that standard, the user would simply read the text under the heading, "Implementation," and use it to create a lesson plan.

As I stated above, I wasn't able to access lesson plans for Marketing Standard 2.0, only references to them. That being said, I created my own set of proficiencies, assessments and activities for the standard.

 Proficiencies

Four proficiencies students will have to demonstrate are: create a business plan, an infographic project and pass both midterm and final exams.

 Assessments

My three critical assessments are the midterm and final exams plus successful creation of a business plan. Because business plans can be complex, I'll divide students into groups. Each group will ultimately present the completed business plan to the rest of the class. In order to increase learning, some groups will work on business plans for service-based industries while others will focus on product-based industries.


Activities

I anticipate that many activities and projects will be attached to this standard. Some will include: create a business plan, a SWOT analysis project, a marketing mix project, a marketing research project, a pricing game and an infographic project instead of the flier project listed above. As I stated above, I'm anticipating that the Business Management and Administrative Standards will be updated as new technology is being introduced. Although teachers must follow curriculum guidelines, they are allowed to introduce topics and technology that may be helpful. For example, although the focus is on business marketing, I may suggest students study how marketing is used in political campaigns, by non-profits to encourage donations, the government as well as social impact and psychological marketing strategies. For example, one student did a project on the influence of marketing on gangs and how the desire for high-priced sneakers encouraged criminal behavior (stealing) while other students chose to look at successful strategies used by non-profits to boost membership and donations. I'll give my students a choice of topics to encourage learning.





References

The University of New Mexico School of Medicine. (2005). Effective Use of Performance Objectives For Learning and Assessment. Retrieved from: http://ccoe.rbhs.rutgers.edu/forms/EffectiveUseofLearningObjectives.pdf.