This is an up to date guide to teaching and learning in higher education, addressing issues raised by the Professional Standards Framework. It encourages the development of thoughtful, reflective teaching practitioners in higher education, and is useful for the review of existing courses. The authors and editors acknowledge the distinctive nature of teaching in higher education, explore a variety of creative and innovatory approaches, and promote reflective, inquiry-based and evaluatory approaches to teaching. The book supports the professional development of staff involved in teaching, supporting and assessing students.
Teachers spend much of their time on assessment, yet many higher education teachers have received minimal guidance on assessment design and marking. This means assessment can often be a source of stress and frustration. Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education aims to solve these problems. Offering a concise overview of assessment theory and practice, this guide provides teachers with the help they need.
Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are a ubiquitous tool used in college classrooms, yet most instructors admit that they are not prepared to maximize the question's benefits. Learning and Assessing with Multiple-Choice Questions in College Classrooms is a comprehensive resource designed to enable instructors and their students to enhance student learning through the use of MCQs. Including chapters on writing questions, assessment, leveraging technology, and much more, this book will help instructors increase the benefits of a question type that is incredibly useful as both a learning and assessment tool in an education system seeking ways to improve student outcomes. .
There has been a remarkable growth of interest in the assessment of student learning and its relation to the process of learning in higher education over the past ten years. This interest has been expressed in various ways – through large scale research projects, international conferences, the development of principles of assessment that supports learning, a growing awareness of the role of feedback as an integral part of the learning process, and the publication of exemplary assessment practices. At the same time, more limited attention has been given to the underlying nature of assessment, to the concerns that arise when assessment is construed as a measurement process, and to the role of judgement in evaluating the quality of students’ work. It is now timely to take stock of some of the critical concepts that underpin our understanding of the multifarious relationships between assessment and learning, and to explicate the nature of assessment as judgement. Despite the recent growth in interest noted above, assessment in higher education remains under-conceptualized. This book seeks to make a significant contribution to conceptualizing key aspects of assessment, learning and judgement.
This book examines important advances and offers a realistic image of the state of the art in student learning outcomes assessment in higher education—a field close to the core of nearly every higher education institution. Producing sound information on what students know and can do is critical to higher education practitioners and future social prosperity. Spanning international, national and institutional developments, the book presents methodological and empirical insights, highlights research challenges, and showcases the enormous progress made in recent years. The book will be of interest to researchers in education assessment and neighbouring fields, and stakeholders like institutional leaders, teachers and graduate employers looking for better insight on returns, governments searching for information to assist with funding and regulation, and members of the public wanting more clarity about outcomes and public investment. This book was originally published as a special issue of Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education.
"How might we might help teachers use classroom assessments to gather appropriate evidence for all valued learning goals? How might our classroom assessments serve to promote learning, not just measure it? This book addresses these questions by offering a practical and proven Assessment Planning Framework. The Framework examines four different types of learning goals, considers various purposes and audiences for assessment, reviews five categories of assessment methods, and presents options for communicating results. This updated edition addresses the assessment of academic standards as well as transdisciplinary outcomes (e.g., 21st century skills), and describes the principles and practices underlying standards-based grading"--
Higher education professionals have moved from teaching- to learning-centered models for designing and assessing courses and curricula. Faculty work collaboratively to identify learning objectives and assessment strategies, set standards, design effective curricula and courses, assess the impact of their efforts on student learning, reflect on results, and implement appropriate changes to increase student learning. Assessment is an integral component of this learner-centered approach, and it involves the use of empirical data to refine programs and improve student learning. Based on the author's extensive experience conducting assessment training workshops, this book is an expansion of a workshop/consultation guide that has been used to provide assessment training to thousands of busy professionals. Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education provides a comprehensive introduction to planning and implementing the assessment of college and university academic programs. Written for college and university administrators, assessment officers, department chairs, and faculty who are involved in developing and implementing assessment programs, this book is a realistic, pragmatic guide for developing and implementing meaningful, manageable, and sustainable assessment programs that focus faculty attention on student learning. This book will: * Guide readers through all steps in the assessment process * Provide a balanced review of the full array of assessment strategies * Explain how assessment is a crucial component of the teaching and learning process * Provide examples of successful studies that can be easily adapted * Summarize key assessment terms in an end-of-book glossary
This bestselling book is a unique introduction to the practice of university teaching and its underlying theory. This new edition has been fully revised and updated in view of the extensive changes which have taken place in higher education over the last decade and includes new material on the higher education context, evaluation and staff development. The first part of the book provides an outline of the experience of teaching and learning from the student's point of view, out of which grows a set of prinicples for effective teaching in higher education. Part two shows how these ideas can enhance educational standards, looking in particular at four key areas facing every teacher in higher education: * Organising the content of undergraduate courses * Selecting teaching methods * Assessing student learning * Evaluating the effectivenesss of teaching. Case studies of exemplary teaching are used throughout to connect ideas to practice and to illustrate how to ensure better student learning. The final part of the book looks in more detail at appraisal, performance indicators, accountability and educational development and training. The book is essential reading for new and experienced lecturers, particularly those following formal programmes in university teaching, such as courses leading to ILT accreditation.
Contextualising why assessment is still the single most important factor affecting student learning in higher education, this second edition of Innovative Assessment in Higher Education: A Handbook for Academic Practitioners offers a critical discourse about the value of assessment for learning alongside practical suggestions about how to enhance the student experience of assessment and feedback. With 17 new chapters this edition: contextualises assessment within the current higher education landscape; explores how student, parent and government expectations impact on assessment design; presents case studies on how to develop, incorporate and assess employability skills; reviews how technology and social media can be used to enhance assessment and feedback; provides examples and critical review of the use and development of feedback practices and how to assess professional, creative and performance-based subjects; offers guidance on how to develop assessment that is inclusive and enables all students to advance their potential. Bridging the gap between theory and the practical elements of assessment, Innovative Assessment in Higher Education: A Handbook for Academic Practitioners is an essential resource for busy academics looking to make a tangible difference to their academic practice and their students’ learning. This practical and accessible guide will aid both new and more experienced practitioners looking to learn more about how and why assessment in higher education can make such a difference to student learning.
Pivotal to the transformation of higher education in the 21st Century is the nature of pedagogy and its role in advancing the aims of various stakeholders. This book brings together pre-eminent scholars to critically assess teaching and learning issues that cut across most disciplines. Systematically explored throughout the book is the avowed linkage between classroom teaching and motivation, learning, and performance outcomes in students.
