Student Assessment Rachel O’Brien, Allegheny College Preparing for an Academic Career in Geosciences Workshop: Summer 2011

Formative vs. summative Qualitative vs. quantitative Types of assessment

Formative vs. summative Qualitative vs. quantitative Key point to remember: You can only assess something that is easily measured by a defined metric Types of assessment

Start your design of the course—and the assessment--with these in mind You want to define specific, directly observable actions We often choose that are hard to measure: know, understand, appreciate Student learning objectives

Creating Evaluation Analyzing Applying Explaining, interpreting, classifying Remembering Anderson et al., A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing. NY: Longman. Bloom’s Taxonomy

Assessing learning objectives Written assignments (both in and out of class) Exams (either standardized or your own) Written critiques of reports or articles Field books Project/lab reports Poster presentations Speeches and/or debates Professional writing samples Journals

Student feedback is a form of assessment! One minute paper Pre-course survey or inventory In-class surveys Summative surveys

Assessment Rubrics Provide a documented means for you to explain how a student performed Best if given out before the assignment/task

Angelo, T.A. & Cross, K.P. (1993) Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teaching, 2 nd ed. Josey Bass Diamond, R.M. (2008) Designing and assessing courses and curricula, 3 rd ed. JW Wiley Useful references