TaskStream for Faculty
What is TaskStream?
In December 2010, the
faculty of the College of Education adopted TaskStream, a
web-based electronic portfolio,
as a tool to organize and store assessment information gathered
in the form of course assignments and tasks.
These assignments and tasks include Critical Tasks, Transition
Point Projects, and portfolios that have been developed by
faculty as a means to assess candidate progress toward meeting
standards. These
standards include our own (COE Conceptual Framework), those set
by the Florida Department of Education (Florida Educator
Accomplished Practices, Florida Principal Leadership Standards),
those set by our accrediting agency (NCATE), and those set by
our professional organizations.
After reviewing several electronic portfolios, and
viewing demonstrations of TaskStream, the faculty felt
TaskStream would meet its goals.
TaskStream enables students to build
media-rich online portfolios showcasing learning achievements,
which can be shared with peers, instructors, parents, and
employers. The COE
uses these assessments to evaluate candidate progress toward
meeting standards set by the Florida Department of Education, by
the faculty, and by professional organizations.
Further, the COE analyzes data from the assessments and
uses the data for program planning in order to ensure continuous
improvement.
TaskStream has unique education-specific
features such as the ability to track formative and summative
assessment activities, facilitate collaboration on
standards-based lesson plans, and provide a simple means of
web-publishing standards-based lesson and rubric development.
What do I tell my students
If you are a student in the College of Education at USF Sarasota-Manatee and pursuing a degree in any of the following programs: BA/BS Elementary Education, MA. Elementary Education, MA. Reading, or the Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT), you are required to have a TaskStream subscription.
In order to access TaskStream’s program portfolio and submit work for evaluation students need to have a TaskStream account and self-enroll into the appropriate program which corresponds to their program of study.
Non-Degree
seeking students and students whose home campus is not Sarasota
(/ North Port) do not need to submit work through TaskStream.
TIP: Have students put their Critical Task assignments (or portfolio or Transition Point Project) in TaskStream in a time-frame that allows you to evaluate their assignment prior to the e-grade deadline. Some instructors evaluate them in hard copy first and then on TaskStream. The students’ course grades should not be finalized until their assignments have been evaluated on TaskStream.
What are Critical Tasks?
These are assignments being used to assess candidate proficiency in regard to FEAPS (Florida Educator Accomplished Practices). Students must add these assignments to their electronic portfolio, housed in TaskStream. TaskStream is a web-based system in which the portfolio is constructed, and in which assignments are assessed using specific rubrics developed by program faculty. Data from the assessment are used to track candidate progress toward meeting standards, and as a source of information for faculty to use in evaluating COE programs. Instructors can add elements to the assignment, but the core of it must remain the same so that data from the rubric-based assessment can be aggregated and reported. This means Critical Tasks will be assessed on two levels; one for the course itself and the other for the Program, via TaskStream with the assigned rubric. Assignments designated as Critical Tasks must receive a passing grade in order to pass the course. If students turn in an assignment that receives an unsatisfactory grade, they will be required to redo the assignment and resubmit it to their electronic portfolio before the last day of classes (instructors set the deadline); however, their initial grade on the assignment will be used to compute their final grade for the course. In this way, we hope to obtain students best efforts with the first submission.
What are Essential Assignments?
These are the assignments that have been aligned with most of the other FLDOE requirements, i.e., ESOL standards, Reading Competencies, or Florida Teacher Competencies/Skills. They need to be included in the course. They ensure that our courses hold the required content in order for our candidates to qualify for certification as elementary education teachers. If your course has an Essential Assignment, please use it. If you have recommendations regarding ways to improve/revise the assignment, please send a note to the contact person for your course, or to Pat Wilson (gpwilson@sar.usf.edu), who can direct the information to the appropriate person. Our goal is to keep improving the system.
Do faculty need to purchase TaskStream Ac
No: Instructors will receive log-in instructions along with a
Registration Key Code.
They will be expected to self-register. There is no cost to
instructors.
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Get Technical Help
Downloadable guides
|
Evaluator FAQs |
Contact TaskStream Mentoring Services by phone 1-800-311-5656 (Press "1"
for support)
View Webcasts from the online Help system within TaskStream.
You may also contact the College of Education at 941-359-4448
View TaskStream
'Highlight Tours' for professors (called evaluators)
http://www.taskstream.com/Main/Help2/LAT/coordinator_web/Content/Tours/DRFProgramEvaluator.htm
