Office of Academic Programs
Assessment
Classroom Assessment
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are simple techniques for finding out how well students are learning. The underlying premise is that instructors who use these will share the results with students and both will make adjustments/improvements as appropriate based on the feedback obtained. CATs are based on the book Classroom Assessment Techniques by T.A. Angelo and K.P. Cross (1993). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. In the book, each CAT is linked with specific goals from the Teaching Goals Inventory (the link is to an online version) and contains an estimate each for instructor preparation, student response, and instructor analysis (low, medium, high).Web sites with descriptions of several Classroom Assessment Techniques.
• http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/assess.htm
• http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/assess-2.htm
• http://www.csuohio.edu/offices/teachingexcellence/tchtips3.3.html
• http://frank.mtsu.edu/~itconf/proceed99/Martin.htm
• http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/cl1/flag/cat/catframe.asp (This site also includes examples of instructor use.)
Testing Strategies
• Enhancing learning opportunities with summative testing
Take a look at this testing strategy that Bob Strack and Mark Schulz have used.
• Tip for efficient use of short answer questions
Celia Hooper offered this strategy that she has used in her online class.
" I gave my midterm online and I did like the short answer. I gave half multiple guess and half short answer/short paragraph. I made a list of all possible answers and it was not hard to grade. For the final I have 5 case studies and they have to write a short paragraph or bullet. Again, I have the expected answers ready. Takes a tad more time, but it does tap into integrative skills...very hard to cheat with a time limit. I know the computer auto grades multiple choice, but that doesn't work for me...is too Las Vegas and taps into only one type of learning/answering skill."
Rubrics
This page contains links to the HHP May 2005 workshop on rubrics as well as to several sample rubrics created by HHP faculty.Other rubrics are most welcome! HHP faculty frequently ask for examples.
Course Evaluation Questions
(Some of these include online learning questions as well.)HHP Sample Midcourse Evaluations
• Midcourse Evaluation (Mekia Barclift - DrPH candidate) - This is an extensive, nicely balanced and categorized instrument. If you remove the categories, the questions are in Respondus format and ready to go.
• Midcourse Evaluation (Mark Schulz) - This is a brief, but nicely balanced instrument. It is in Respondus format.
• Look under Quick Assist for the HHP Course Evaluations Online Procedure and the HHP Course Evaluation form.
• Also, look under Online Learning/Online Assessment for evaluation of online courses.
• Faculty Course Evaluation (2003) from Carnegie Mellon University (pdf)
This balanced course evaluation includes questions on student effort, resourcefulness, expected grade, kind of knowledge gained, instructor effectiveness, content effectiveness, pace and cheating.
• Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) from the University of New Mexico
This site includes an extensive set of questions in the following categories: course management, student outcomes, instructor characteristics and style, environment, student preferences, specific settings, and supplemental items. If you select one of the categories, you will see that it is possible to drill down to questions in subcategories. It does not say at the site whether the questions have been validated.
• Free Assessment Summary Tool (FAST)
Developed by Bruce Ravelli at Mount Royal College, Canada.
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FAST is an anonymous online survey tool that automatically summarizes students' impressions of a course and/or instructor and supplies the data directly to the instructor. ...
The user can create his own questions, or choose from a pool of 374 validated questions. The assessment or survey tool is web-based, password-protected, anonymous, and instantaneously updated."
There are some good questions in this database, including a category of questions for online courses. To access these questions, you must create a login. FAST will send you an email within 15 minutes with your login information and then you can access the site.
FAST is a 2006 MERLOT award winner.
Program or Institutional Assessment
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
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The National Survey of Student Engagement(NSSE) is designed to obtain, on an annual basis, information from scores of colleges and universities nationwide about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development. The results will provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college. Survey items on The National Survey of Student Engagement represent empirically confirmed "good practices" in undergraduate education. That is, they reflect behaviors by students and institutions that are associated with desired outcomes of college."
• 2006 Paper Survey Instrument
• 2006 Web Survey Instrument
Higher Education Assessment Metasites
Internet Resources for Higher Education Outcomes AssessmentThis is an extensive and well-known site at North Carolina State that includes annotated links in the following categories: general resources, assessment handbooks, assessment of specific skills or content, an alphabetized list of individual institution assessment-related pages, accrediting bodies, and student assessment of courses and faculty. Links to research papers are included as well.