Using Surveys

     For this project, we were required to use a survey as part of the learning process. At first, when thinking of a survey, I thought of all the surveys that I have taken in my life. Most of these surveys are just asking for my opinion on a product, event, or lifestyle and really have not asked me to display anything that I have learned. Yet, after some time thinking about and creating my own survey for this project, I have come to realize that surveys can be an interesting and useful tool for teachers to you in assessing student learning.
    I have realized that surveys can be a great way to assess how the class as a whole is learning. While other forms of assessment - paper/pencil tests, essays, speeches - all have students show what they have learned while being held accountable for what they get right and wrong. However, a survey can be used to assess all students and get a broad view of how the class is doing as a whole while not having students take a test with the accountability and pressure that other assessments pose.
     Even though the accountability to students is a valuable part of the education process, students often either don't perform well in pressure situations or choose not to perform at all in those situations. This makes it easier to get students in a comfortable environment. Also, an anonymous survey also allows a teacher to get honest opinions from their class about the topics that they enjoy learning about, aspects of projects that worked for them, and things about activities that they really don't care for. Even though teachers are not always going to take this information and design lessons around it, it may help them design lessons or units that appeal to students better.