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.
Praise for The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Reconsidered "A worthy capstone that pulls together two decades of Carnegie Foundation projects on the scholarship of teaching and learning. The authors review the genesis of these ideas and envision a future of continued integration of a culture of evidence in the world's universities and colleges. Projects end but the work continues." —Lee S. Shulman, president emeritus, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education emeritus, Stanford University "This book captures the most important lessons from a decade of thoughtful experimentation with methods to improve the learning outcomes of American college students. The authors have deep experience in institutionalizing various approaches that have been devised and endorsed by faculty in many kinds of higher education settings. It will be a manual for those seeking to improve their own teaching and learning outcomes." —Katharine Lyall, president emerita, University of Wisconsin System "The authors recount the history of research into one's own teaching, further develop its conceptualization, and make recommendations for how to bring it into the mainstream. Collectively, they have been at the center of the movement and have written, spoken, strategized, and organized conversations and scholarly work on the topic for many years. They present rich examples from many different environments and an unwavering vision of the benefits of the scholarship of teaching and learning and its potential." —Nancy Chism, Indiana University School of Education, Indianapolis "This book reframes the literature on the scholarship of teaching and learning, faculty development, assessment, and the future of higher education. The writing sparkles with fresh analysis on teaching, learning, academic culture, and the possibilities for change. This book will help both individual faculty and entire institutions to enhance scholarly teaching and to deepen student learning." —Peter Felten, assistant provost and director, Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, and associate professor of history, Elon University
No less than other divisions of the college or university, contemporary writing centers find themselves within a galaxy of competing questions and demands that relate to assessment—questions and demands that usually embed priorities from outside the purview of the writing center itself. Writing centers are used to certain kinds of assessment, both quantitative and qualitative, but are often unprepared to address larger institutional or societal issues. In Building Writing Center Assessments that Matter, Schendel and Macauley start from the kinds of assessment strengths already in place in writing centers, and they build a framework that can help writing centers satisfy local needs and put them in useful dialogue with the larger needs of their institutions, while staying rooted in writing assessment theory. The authors begin from the position that tutoring writers is already an assessment activity, and that good assessment practice (rooted in the work of Adler-Kassner, O'Neill, Moore, and Huot) already reflects the values of writing center theory and practice. They offer examples of assessments developed in local contexts, and of how assessment data built within those contexts can powerfully inform decisions and shape the futures of local writing centers. With additional contributions by Neal Lerner, Brian Huot and Nicole Caswell, and with a strong commitment to honoring on-site local needs, the volume does not advocate a one-size-fits-all answer. But, like the modeling often used in a writing consultation, examples here illustrate how important assessment principles have been applied in a range of local contexts. Ultimately, Building Writing Assessments that Matter describes a theory stance toward assessment for writing centers that honors the uniqueness of the writing center context, and examples of assessment in action that are concrete, manageable, portable, and adaptable.
Colleges and universities across the US have created special initiatives to promote faculty development, but to date there has been little research to determine whether such programs have an impact on students' learning. Faculty Development and Student Learning reports the results of a multi-year study undertaken by faculty at Carleton College and Washington State University to assess how students' learning is affected by faculty members' efforts to become better teachers. Extending recent research in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) to assessment of faculty development and its effectiveness, the authors show that faculty participation in professional development activities positively affects classroom pedagogy, student learning, and the overall culture of teaching and learning in a college or university.
They’re not the students strolling across the bucolic liberal arts campuses where their grandfathers played football. They are first-generation college students—children of immigrants and blue-collar workers—who know that their hopes for success hinge on a degree. But college is expensive, unfamiliar, and intimidating. Inexperienced students expect tough classes and demanding, remote faculty. They may not know what an assignment means, what a score indicates, or that a single grade is not a definitive measure of ability. And they certainly don’t feel entitled to be there. They do not presume success, and if they have a problem, they don’t expect to receive help or even a second chance. Rebecca D. Cox draws on five years of interviews and observations at community colleges. She shows how students and their instructors misunderstand and ultimately fail one another, despite good intentions. Most memorably, she describes how easily students can feel defeated—by their real-world responsibilities and by the demands of college—and come to conclude that they just don’t belong there after all. Eye-opening even for experienced faculty and administrators, The College Fear Factor reveals how the traditional college culture can actually pose obstacles to students’ success, and suggests strategies for effectively explaining academic expectations.
John S. Levin, Susan T. Kater, and Richard L. Wagoner collectively argue that as community colleges organize themselves to respond to economic needs and employer demands, and as they rely more heavily upon workplace efficiencies such as part-time labor, they turn themselves into businesses or corporations and threaten their social and educational mission.
* Is the conferring of baccalaureate degrees by community colleges a solution to increasing access to and capacity in higher education? * Will the conferring of baccalaureate degrees restrict open access to, and imperil the existing mission of, community colleges? * What are the models and alternative methods of delivery? What are the implications? Breaking away from their traditional mission of conferring only associate degrees and occupational credentials, an increasing number of community colleges have begun seriously to explore and, indeed, in some U.S. states and Canadian provinces, to actually implement offering and conferring bachelor's degrees. Some leaders see these changes as a natural extension of community colleges' commitment to access, while others view their awarding of baccalaureate degrees as inappropriate and threatening the basic core values of this unique sector of higher education. This has become a "hot" and controversial topic, not only among community college and university leaders, but also among policy makers, business leaders and students concerned with issues of access, cost and the structure and purposes of post-secondary education. This book analyzes the emerging trend of the community college baccalaureate degree in the United States and Canada in order to contribute to the development of policy. The authors aim to describe, document, and explain this significant development in higher education. They present the background, examples of practice and different models of delivery, develop a common terminology to facilitate discussion, give voice to the views of proponents and critics alike, and include a comprehensive bibliography and set of resources. This book is intended as a catalyst for dialog, action and further research on this critical and emerging trend. It is essential reading for leaders of community colleges, for administrators and planners in higher education concerned with issues of access and articulation, and anyone in public policy grappling with demographic trends and society's need for educated citizens able to meet the challenges of the future.
This book focuses on dilemmas inherent in the practice of assessment in the contemporary context. New forms of assessment are being introduced in all sectors of education and training, and the culture of assessment is shifting. The authors in this volume discuss the practice of assessment, reporting empirical research on modes of assessment within a variety of educational contexts, while also addressing conceptual and theoretical aspects of assessment. Though most publications on assessment do not go beyond one sector or phase of education and only consider assessment in one national context, this volume is cross-sectoral and international in scope. This groundbreaking book illustrates the conceptual and practical dilemmas of assessment and raises issues that are relevant and applicable across a variety of modes of assessment and across various contexts where assessment takes place.
This is a book for teachers and school leaders on formative assessment i.e., assessment as learning where assessment occurs throughout the learning process to inform learning as opposed to assessment that occurs at the end of a learning unit to measure what students have learned (summative assessment). Formative assessment emphasizes the role of the student, not only as a contributor to the assessment and learning process, but the critical connector between them. It defines assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment as learning, making a case for assessment as learning. It addresses assessment in the context of what learning is. It shows how to use formative assessment to motivate student learning, help students make connections so that they move from emergent to proficient, extend their learning and to help them become reflective self-regulators of their own learning. It explores how teachers can make the shift to formative assessment by engaging in conceptual change.
