Assessment and Improvement of Student Learning

Annual Report 2004 - Highlights from Assessments

• Data collection:
  1. reliability - use judging panel, or jury, to provide scoring. rubric must be explicit, specific, and provided ahead of time to both students and scoring panel
  2. uniformity and consistency - the automated questionaire for submitting assessments is a great idea, but it needs to be modified and thoroughly tested on multiple client platforms so that faculty will use it.
  3. authenticity - one way is to ask students in questionnaire or interview what they think about such things as the course format, textbook, homework, etc. and to be candid in their responses
  4. validity - embedded tests must be truly embedded and must "count" to be valid measures of learning
• Promoting true learning:
  1. regular and meaningful feedback from students using informal ("Who has questions about ...?) or formal (questionnaire, interview) methods or in-between (muddiest point at end of class period)
  2. post lecture notes on web, then expect students to use it so that class time can be used for more in-depth explanation, discussion
  3. many students simply memorize rather than push for comprehension and understanding of material - use:
     • in-class for students to explain and discuss difficult concepts (orally or written) so as to better synthesize concepts
     • projects with early assignment date plus regular required drafts
     • in-class time for homework (but causes secondary problem sometimes where students stop doing homework outside of class, so make it clear that this is only a small fraction of the time needed to complete homework assignments)
  4. reducing homework does not help
  5. self-analysis by students
  6. capitalize on interest factor with:
     • guests (bank workers for banking class, native Spanish speakers for Spanish, engineers for calculus)
     • observation trips to classrooms for education majors, field trips to local geologic features for geology, etc.
     • debates
• Syllabi
  1. read and explain syllabus to class
  2. repeated pleas to students to read expectations - amplify with syllabus quiz
  3. visual representation of "what-if" analysis - what happens to grade if student misses one, two, ... assignments
  4. place scoring rubrics in syllabus
  5. mandatory due dates
  6. attendance identified as major issue - college wide policy being produced
• Needs and changes made or continued:
  1. Speech room needs to be set up for speeches.
  2. GEY needs containers for rocks.
  3. Use built-in MS-Word feature, highlighting, to edit student papers
  4. Give project assignments earlier and require drafts
  5. On tests, use fewer, better-designed, short-answer, questions to provide insight into students' thinking process. Make tests authentic.
  6. Will require more writing about math to enhance understanding.