Self-Assess
The bullet:
 to self-assess by reflecting thoughtfully on both their understanding of course content and their
development of target skills; in other words, self-assessment here refers to the skill of “knowing
when we know something”)
The clarification:
Self-assessment is a second-order skill, meaning that it requires students to reflect on their strengths
and weaknesses in the primary skills targets (reading, composition, engagement, argument), as well
as in their understanding of content. Instructors should therefore pursue the following general goals
as well as the specific self-assessment sub-goals listed under the respective individual skills. Because
skills development is the principal mission of FDN 111, this document will address self-assessment as it
pertains to skills development; we believe that students’ ability to assess their understanding of
content consists ultimately in their conscientious attention to the self-assessment measures related to
these skills (especially reading); for an example assignment of this type, see “Response Journal” under
Sample Assignments, below.
Instructors should guide and support their students in understanding and embracing the long-term
skills-development goals of FDN 111 by developing the following general self-assessment skills:
 Identifying personal strengths and weaknesses in target skill areas
 Establishing concrete, accomplishable goals to move gradually towards better performance in
these target areas
 Periodically evaluating their progress based on concrete examples (leading to self-reflection
paper / portfolio)
 Developing self-reflection and self-evaluation as intellectual habits to apply routinely in target
skill areas.
Explanation:
Identifying personal strengths and weaknesses:
By identifying their own strengths and weaknesses (with the help of the instructor), students can begin to take
responsibility for their development and progress over the course of the term. If students are asked to do this
early in the term, such a reflection serves as the baseline against which they can track their development.
Examples
 Baseline self-assessment of individual strengths and weaknesses, to be used as tool for comparison for later
periodic and/or cumulative self-assessments (see under Sample Assignments below).
 Response journal to track interest, ease/difficulty with individual assignments (see under Sample Assignments
below)
Establishing concrete, accomplishable goals:
Instead of despairing that they are not good at this or that skill, students should identify concrete,
accomplishable goals that they can work on in their daily or periodic assignments.
Examples

Students might be asked to respond to instructor feedback on the major papers (see under Sample
Assignments below).
Periodically evaluating progress:
Students should use examples of their own work together with feedback from their instructor to reflect
periodically on their progress in developing the respective target skills. These periodic self-assessments
emphasize personal responsibility in skills development and give students ample material to use in writing their
final evaluation of their progress, the self-reflection narrative at the end of the course.
Examples
 Students might be asked to reflect on their progress and re-evaluate their goals at routine intervals
throughout the course, e.g. at the end of every unit. This could be done in the same format as the response
journal mentioned below.
 Final skills-development narrative to accompany portfolio (see under Sample Assignments below)
Self-assessment as an intellectual habit:
Ultimately, one goal of FDN 111 is to make students more thoughtful about the way they approach each of the
target skills. To this end, instructors should try to habituate students to using the self-assessment measures
listed under the individual respective skills, and thus to making self-assessment a natural part of their process
for reading, composing, arguing, and engaging.
Examples
 Throughout the course, students should read instructor feedback carefully and apply it to future assignments.
 Response memo to major papers aims to make such reflection mandatory and habitual.
Teaching Strategies
The goal of self-assessment, as outlined in this document, is for students to take a more active role in both their
development of FDN 111’s primary target skills (reading, composition, engagement, argument) and in their
comprehension of course content. The ultimate aim is for students to become more thoughtful and reflective in
their approach to both FDN 111 and to college courses more generally. Although one semester will not suffice to
effect permanent change in our students’ intellectual habits, we can help students move in this direction by
stressing their personal responsibility for learning and skills development. To this end, instructors should (a)
reinforce the course’s stated goals by making clear how assignments and activities contribute to them, and (b)
provide opportunities for students to reflect thoughtfully on their progress towards these goals. By thus clarifying
the course’s structure, it is to be hoped that instructors can create an environment in which students take a more
thoughtful approach both to assignments and to instructor feedback.
Sample Assignments
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Baseline self-assessment: Relatively early in the semester, students may be asked to reflect on their own
relative proficiency at the skills of reading, arguing, composing, and engaging. Ideally, such reflection
might come after students have attempted and gotten feedback on one or two assignments, and are
beginning to discern their own proficiency relative to course expectations and to their classmates.
Students should keep this assignment and use it as a baseline for reflecting on their development at the
end of the course.
Response Journal: Students might keep a log/journal noting their response to/level of interest/level of
ease or difficulty with readings and assignments (track whether these things depend on topic, time
period, the way a piece is written, etc.)
Periodic self-assessment: Students might reflect on their progress and re-evaluate their goals at routine
intervals throughout the course, e.g. at the end of every unit; could be combined with response journal.
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Response to paper feedback: Students may be asked to write a one-page memo in response to instructor
feedback on their major papers. Instructors might ask students to address: (1) how they understood the
instructor’s feedback (i.e. a summary), (2) whether they think the instructor has erred or overlooked
something in his/her evaluation of the student’s paper, and (3) what specific weaknesses, based on this
feedback, the student hopes to improve in the next paper. Barbara Burch, who suggested this
assignment, has made it a precondition for recording a student’s paper grade—i.e. if the student never
writes the memo, the instructor never records the grade.
Portfolio narrative and content exams (this suggestion represents a substantive change to the assignment
structure of the course, and so will have to be approved by the body of instructors): Instead of giving
students the choice between writing their Self-Reflection Paper on DUSI content or on skills development,
students could be held accountable for both of these areas through the following two assignments:
o Skills-development narrative for portfolio: In lieu of a skills-based self-reflection paper, students
may be required to compose a skills-development narrative to accompany their portfolio, which
might itself be expanded to include more assignments than just the papers. In this expanded
portfolio, students would keep evidence for their skills development throughout the class,
including all the self-assessment assignments mentioned above as well as other assignments that
they feel concretely illustrate their development. Students would then review this material and
use it as evidence for writing their narrative. This assignment would replace the skills
development option for the Self-Reflection paper.
o Midterm and/or Final Exam on course content: To enforce student responsibility for course
content, FDN 111’s DUSI content might be tested by examination. Such an exam would replace
the DUSI option for the Self-Reflection paper.
Sourcing:
Skills Handbook:
 How is College Different from High School? (1–4: self-assessment quiz on p. 1)
 The Basics of Self-Management (16–27: self-assessment quiz on p. 16)
 Active Learning (39–43: self-assessment quiz on 39–40)
 Developing Concentration (44–46)