Assessment and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

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Assessment and the Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning
Ethelynda Harding California State University,
Fresno
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Converging Movements

• Outcomes Assessment of Student Learning
• Improved feedback and learning
• Improved teaching
• Accountability
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

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Focus of this session

• Defining student learning outcomes
• Identifying researchable questions
• Systematic collection of data across students
• Classroom action research
• From assessment to scholarship

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Scholarly Approach to Teaching Learning

• Define the problem
• Search the literature
• Design an experiment

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Use the Results

• To improve teaching and learning in your
  classroom
• Inform changes in the way you teach
• Increase students sophistication about learning

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Disseminate the Results

• So others can learn from your activities
• So that you can get credit for your dedication
  and effort

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Simple Example

• Introductory microbiology course
• After first exam, students were asked anonymous
  questions

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Anonymous questions

• How many hours a week do you routinely study for
  this course?
• How many hours did you study for this exam?
• Are you satisfied with your performance on the
  exam?
• What will/can you do differently to improve your
  performance?

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Assessment Driven Course Design

• Define student learning outcomes
• Design major learning experiences/assessments to
  achieve and measure those outcomes
• Systematically collect data across students

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Define Student Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge, skills, and attitudes expected of a
  typical graduate from the class
• A few broad goals
• Objectives under each goal
• Students will be able to

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Design major learning experiences/assessments to
achieve and measure those outcomes
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Systematically collect data across students

• Use student work products
• Saves time
• Keeps focus on learning outcomes
• Use multiple measures (quantitative and
  qualitative) to assess key goals

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Using Scoring Rubrics to Obtain Quantitative Data

• Determine important traits (Primary Trait
  Analysis)
• Describe each trait at various levels
• beginning, intermediate, advanced
• number scale
• poor, fair, good, excellent

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Other Types of Evidence

• Student self-report
• Surveys
• Focus Groups
• Interviews
• Student records/demographics

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Example of Faculty SoTL

• Prelecture quizzes in Micro 140

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AAHE Principles of Good Practice in Assessment

• 1. Assess what is important, not what is easy.
• 2. Use a diverse array of methods, including
  measurements over time.
• 3. First, define and communicate goals or
  outcomes.
• 4. Attend to the experiences that lead to those
  outcomes.

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AAHE Principles of Good Practice in Assessment

• 5. Assessment works best when it is ongoing
  rather than episodic.
• 6. Assessment fosters wider improvement when
  representatives from across the educational
  community are involved.
• 7. To be useful, information must be connected to
  issues or questions that people really care
  about.
• 8. Assessment is most likely to lead to
  improvement when it is part of a larger set of
  conditions that promote change.

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Angelo and Cross

• Classroom Assessment Techniques
• Provides 50 techniques
• Cross-referenced by discipline
• Categorized by time and energy required
• Matched to teaching goal areas
• higher order thinking
• discipline-specific knowledge
• personal development

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CATS for Course-related Knowledge and Skills (27)

• Muddiest Point
• Application Cards
• Pre- and post-quizzes or exams

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Normalized Gain (Hake and others)

• Physicists use force concepts inventory to
  measure student learning in introductory courses
• Administer pre- and post-instruction
• Calculate increase in scores/possible increase
• Normalized Gain (g) (post-pre)/(100-pre)

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Attitudes and Values (13)

• Self-confidence surveys (can be pre and post)
• see sample from Microbiology eGuide
• Productive study time log
• Attitude surveys

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Response to Instruction (10)

• Chain notes
• Pass around an envelope and a set of index cards.
• Ask students to write down what they were
  attending to when the envelope reached them.
• Survey forms
• Can inquire about an activity, an assessment, a
  class, or a number of classes
• Mid-course correction