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Assessing Outcomes: Knowing Results
The authors describe the purpose of classroom assessment, its characteristics, why it is needed, and give seven basic assumptions of classroom assessment, which include among them important research-based principles of good practice every teacher should know. In addition to the Teaching Goals Inventory described above, this book is a compendium of information, including 50 different techniques for obtaining information from students in courses: about their learning; their attitudes, values, and self-awareness; and their reactions to instruction. The book describes how to plan classroom assessment projects and gives 12 examples of successful projects.
This is a textbook for designing classroom tests. Among its other useful contents the book discusses validity and reliability. These are two key technical qualities that all teachers should pay close attention to but often don't, thus potentially greatly reducing the value of their assessments as mental measurements and any inferences drawn from their tests about student learning. Methods discussed are multiple-choice, matching, true-false, and completion items and essay examinations. The authors also include chapters on alternative assessment procedures, test administration, computer-assisted testing, item analysis, and grading.
Milton has searched the literature for studies on the quality of teacher-made classroom tests. He reviews these studies and synthesizes his findings. Every college teacher should be aware of his findings: most classroom tests test the lowest two levels on the Bloom Taxonomy, Recall and Comprehension. Statistical software. Some statistical programs have item analysis components. They will take data from student tests that have been scanned from mark-sense forms and calculate simple descriptive statistics, reliability coefficients, indicate how long a test should be to improve its reliability, and compare the performance of the top half or third of the class to the bottom half or third on every response in each item. This last analysis is useful for spotting defects in the test, identifying inadequately taught content, identifying common student problems, and for improving the quality of the items. Textbooks on measurement and evaluation in education are numerous, in every college library, and of great potential value to college teachers. They are typically used in education courses at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Cognitive DevelopmentRating and Controlling the Cognitive Level in Courses
This classic sets out the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the classification of types of cognitive learning that has been for four decades the standard for controlling cognitive level in the classroom, on assessments, and on assessments. All college teachers should read this book and use in their daily work, if not this taxonomy, some formal classification of cognitive behavior. Critical thinking and epistemological development
This is a collection of chapters by different authors, all of whom discuss various aspects of what the editors term pseudoscience. The two categories of beliefs are so-called "scientific" creationism and a potpourri of paranormal beliefs. Several studies of college students' beliefs about these topics are included. There is a gold mine worth of ideas, examples, and research here to help teachers develop their students' epistemologies and critical thinking skills and dispositions. Also see The Skeptical Inquirer on the Web.
This review of research gives the historical background of critical thinking and discusses informal logic, cognitive processes in critical thinking, developmental bases for critical thinking, teaching for critical thinking in various disciplines, and institution-wide considerations and methods.
Learning Environment Preferences, an instrument to assess epistemological development. For information about using the LEP contact:
An encyclopedic compendium of information about critical thinking, this book is divided into two sections: "What Is Critical Thinking?" and "How to Teach for Critical Thinking." The first section shows why CT is essential in the modern world, discusses intellectual standards and assessment ("The Foundation for Critical Thought"), contrasts various approaches to thinking, and discusses the affective and ethical aspects of life. The second section discusses instruction and staff development, and relates CT to academic disciplines. One of three appendices provides a 31 page glossary of CT terms and concepts. (See also the critical thinking Web page.)
In this chapter the developer of the Perry Scheme for describing epistemological development sets out the research from which this classification emerged, and in detail describes students' patterns of epistemological development. He discusses student-teacher interactions and the affective aspects of cognitive development. Moral Judgment
Defining Issues Test--to determine level of moral judgment development. The DIT can be obtained from:
This book contains a series of chapters by different authors describing research on moral development in various academic disciplines, many of them studies with college students. Among others, chapters deal with accounting, nursing, medicine, and veterinary medicine. The disciplines differ from each other, and the research reveals interesting patterns. Chapters provide a useful overview of moral development theory and new research on dimensions of moral development other than moral judgment, the best studied. Active Student Involvement and Quality of EffortCollege Student Experiences Questionnaire. The CSEQ investigates learning in courses, use of the library, activities related to science and technology and the arts, use of campus facilities, personal experiences, and group associations. Taken together, this information can help educators develop a detailed and coherent picture of their students' learning and intellectual behavior.
The CSEQ is available from:
Community College Student Experiences Questionnaire.
The CCSEQ is tailored to the needs of community colleges and is available from:
Pace describes in detail the behavior of over 25,000 undergraduate students at 74 four-year colleges and universities as revealed by the CSEQ. College Effects on StudentsThese two references are featured resources in the ERIC Tracks column (The National Teaching & Learning Forum, V6N2, pp. 9-11) They are so important for college educators they bear listing again here as well.
On the WebHere are some of the best sites and discussion groups I've found relating to higher education. Not only do these sites have high-quality information of their own, but they also often provide links to other high-quality sites.New Developments and the Future of Higher Education
The Horizon Home Page
New developments in learning and teaching: help from the experts
Contact POD's administrative office for information on subscribing:
Improving assessment of learning
For information on subscribing write to
Critical Thinking
The Skeptical Inquirer
Information on Everything in Education
For information on education at all levels try the Department of Education's award-winning site.
Ordering Copies. Redesigning Higher Education can be ordered from its publisher, The George Washington University, or its sponsor, The New Jersey Institute for Collegiate Teaching and Learning.
(1) ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Reports
(2) New Jersey Institute for Collegiate Teaching and Learning
Contact:
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