Flower garlands in the market in front of Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai. Tamil Nadu, India, December 30, 2011. Photo by Anna A Golovkova, © 2016.
In my assessment of students’ learning I aim to use a variety of approaches, taking into account the learning objectives of the particular course. Formative assessment includes providing students with regular ongoing feedback throughout the course: in class and after class, during office hours and review sessions. I particularly emphasize the developmental nature of learning, pointing out to students what their short-term and longer term goals should be. Every course will also include some summative assessments consisting of graded assignments.
In literature, religion, and history courses, I also utilize various forms of authentic assessment to help students develop skills that will be useful in their lives after college. For example, an assignment of a “twitter post” (define the content in 140 characters) develops skills necessary beyond social media: summarizing ideas succinctly. An “exit slip,” which asks students to briefly reflect on lessons learned during class and write them down, helps students reflect and think critically and provides me with a quick, informal assessment of their understanding of the material.
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Summative assessment for Elementary and Intermediate Sanskrit includes quizzes, midterms, and finals. Quizzes train students to become sufficiently facile with the Devanāgarī script, sandhi (phonological changes) rules, and particular grammatical concepts to enable students to progress to reading more difficult texts.
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Midterms and finals serve a similar goal on a larger scale and encourage students to memorize vocabulary that will be necessary for reading more advanced texts. Exams include previously read passages for translation, as well as questions on grammatical structures and types of compounds used. Since the exams require a thorough review of vocabulary and grammar, they help students further develop their skills in producing polished translations of Sanskrit passages and increasing their understanding of grammatical structures to enable them to read texts at the Advanced level and engage in guided independent reading.
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Students are given a class participation rubric so that they know exactly what is expected from them. At the Intermediate II level, I also assign students to research a subject of their choice related to Sanskrit grammar or literature and present their findings in class (see Course Design and Planning page for more information). Here I utilize an oral presentation rubric adapted specifically to the Intermediate Sanskrit II course to guide them in their preparation of content, its presentation, organization, and delivery, in order to help students develop their public speaking skills and learn to be able to carry on an informed conversation regarding a research topic.
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Updated September, 2019. Anna A Golovkova, © 2016–2019.