1.
Where can I get help regarding assessment of student learning?
There are several resources that can help in
the design of assessments of student learning. On campus, you
may contact members of the University
Assessment Committee as well as contact NET
to identify faculty who are interested in discussing issues in
assessment. Online, the American Association for Higher Education
(AAHE) includes the Nine
Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning
and Fair
Assessment Practices on its assessment Web page. A particularly
valuable resource is Walvoord and Anderson's Effective
grading: A tool for learning and assessment, available
from Jossey-Bass.
2. I've heard about
student portfolios used in assessment on campus. How can I begin
to use portfolios in my class? How do they fit with my assessment
of classroom learning?
Portfolios are a collection of student papers and projects
that are used by faculty to assess students' growth and learning
over time and to assess the effectiveness of teaching. Indeed,
a primary aim of portfolio assessment is to help faculty better
understand the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction.
Portfolios of student work, on the UW—Eau Claire
campus, are used in various contexts. To assess the baccalaureate
degree, graduating seniors submit a collection of twelve papers
and projects created over time and across courses. Teams of faculty
readers assess these papers and projects to understand how well
the goals of the baccalaureate degree are being accomplished.
The plan for
assessment of student academic outcomes can be viewed online.
Faculty can help students maintain the baccalaureate portfolio
by identifying the paper or project in a class that is relevant
to one of the Submission Paper Guidelines.
Another context for portfolio assessment may be the departmental
major. In such cases, a department may require a portfolio to
assess student achievement and to assess how well the department
is achieving its teaching and learning goals. Students can certainly
submit, when appropriate, a paper or project for both the departmental
and the baccalaureate portfolio.
Finally, some teachers use portfolios as a method to assess
learning and teaching in a course. Typically, classroom portfolios
include explicit learning and performance goals that enable
students to more fully participate in and monitor their growth
and learning. The American Association for Higher Education
provides the
9 Principals of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning
online.
3. What is the
difference between formative and summative evaluation?
Formative and summative evaluations represent strategies for
assessing the effectiveness of teaching and learning. The two
differ in when they are conducted and their purpose.
Formative strategies are implemented during the instructional
process. They are designed to help the instructor understand
factors that facilitate and impede student learning so that
changes can be made immediately. Student management teams that
operate for the duration of a course and brief surveys conducted
periodically during a course are examples of formative evaluation
procedures.
Summative evaluations are conducted when a teaching-learning
experience is completed. The purpose of these evaluations is
to summarize the effectiveness of instruction with the intent
of making modifications in the future. Student evaluations collected
at the end a course represent summative evaluations from the
students' perspective.
For more information about formative and summative evaluation
and techniques for these assessment strategies, see the following
resource: (http://www.iub.edu/~teaching/feedback.html).
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4. What are rubrics
and how are they used in evaluation of student performance?
Rubrics are grading grids for evaluating student work. They
are beneficial in a wide variety of projects, especially when
there is not a "correct" answer. Rubrics can become
a learning tool when they are shared with the students at the
time the project is announced. Students can even grade their
own project with the rubric.
The first step to developing rubrics is clarifying
the criteria for the project and then establishing the requirements
for A-work, B-work, etc. Once that is done, the criteria can be
transferred into a grading rubric. For more information on developing
rubrics, check out the MS Word
document: (RubricsResources.doc).
Donna Raleigh and Mona Majdalani teach a course through CITI about
developing and using rubrics. Call Donna at 836-5162 or email
her at draleigh@uwec.edu
to request an offering of the course.
5. What type of
assessments can I do in an online environment?
Many of the assessments that you can do in a traditional face-to-face
class, you can do in an online environment. Of those, presentations
are the toughest to move to the online environment. Developing
the appropriate strategy for implementing the assessment is
the key. For additional information, see online
quizzes on this site under Web Based Learning Systems.
6. What kind of
help is available for the use of the electronic grade book?
Donna Raleigh from the Teaching and Learning Technology Development
Center will provide individualized instruction in the use of
electronic grade book. Call her at 836-5162 or email her at
draleigh@uwec.edu to
make arrangements.
The Registrar's Office has posted instructions
for electronic grade submission on the Web. Donna Raleigh
will also conduct departmental workshops to teach faculty groups
how to submit grade electronically.
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