August 12, 2009 Mary Bart
Troll through university websites and you’re likely to see mission statements with such lofty phrases as “instill a passion for lifelong learning” or “a commitment to student-centered education.” But…
In 2000, the college of education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) introduced an electronic portfolio system for its students. The goal was to get students to…
May 28, 2009 Mary Bart
The Association of American Colleges and Universities released findings last month from a survey of its members that revealed trends in undergraduate education and documenting the widespread use of…
In Educational Assessment, Online Education
May 4, 2009 Mary Bart
Even the most experienced educators can feel overwhelmed when they teach their first hybrid or fully online course. On top of dealing with the time and space constraints of…
In Educational Assessment, Online Education
May 1, 2009 Patti Shank PhD CPT
Multiple-choice tests are commonly used to assess achievement of learning objectives because they can be efficient. Despite their widespread use, they’re often poorly designed. Poorly written multiple-choice tests are…
In Educational Assessment, Effective Teaching Strategies
April 7, 2009 Todd Hamilton PhD.
I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. After 10 years of teaching, I finally realize why students get so nervous about exams. It’s because taking an exam…
In the corporate world, there’s long been talk of breaking down the workplace silos that often prevent true company-wide communication, collaboration, and growth. Now colleges are looking to get…
In Educational Assessment, Effective Teaching Strategies
March 27, 2009 Adam Chapnick PhD
After years of stating my expectations for tutorial participation orally, I have developed a rubric that I think both improves my accountability as an assessor and provides my students…
February 20, 2009 Rob Kelly
Meaningful program assessment requires faculty participation. The challenge of getting faculty involved and staying involved lies in convincing them that the benefits of educational assessment are worth any additional…
In Course Design, Educational Assessment
February 2, 2009 Mary Bart
Donna Saulsberry was in a bind. As an associate professor of computer and information technology at Doña Ana Community College, one of her jobs is to prepare her networking…
In Academic Leadership, Educational Assessment
January 28, 2009 Mary Bart
The accreditation review process may never be stress-free, but with proper preparation you can at least minimize the stress that so often accompanies it. So just how far ahead…
In Educational Assessment, Teaching and Learning
January 14, 2009 Mary Bart
If you think multiple choice tests are only good to assess how well students memorized facts, it may be time to rethink your testing strategy. Although they are not…
In Educational Assessment, Teaching and Learning
January 12, 2009 Mary Bart
MAPP, CAAP, C-BASE, CLA, NSSE, to name just a few. With so many published assessment instruments available, how do you know the best one for assessing student learning at…
In Academic Leadership, Educational Assessment
January 7, 2009 Chuck Wight PhD
With state and federal governments putting more and more emphasis on assessment and learning outcomes, these new-style accreditation processes can be grueling, to say the least. Here are a…
December 15, 2008 Mary Bart
For some educators, student learning assessment is a little like exercise. Yes, we know it’s important, we feel better when we do it, and we can even see the…
December 3, 2008 Maryellen Weimer, PhD
It’s not a new finding — in general, more exams lead to better grades—but it’s always nice when research confirms some of our best practices in teaching. In the…
September 14, 2008 Denise D. Knight
One of the changes we have seen in academia in the last 30 years or so is the shift from lecture-based classes to courses that encourage a student-centered approach.…
August 31, 2008 Ricky Cox
In recent years, my desire to teach students more than chemistry content has increased considerably. I now want my students (even those in nonmajor, introductory courses) to learn how…
August 28, 2008 Ron Byrnes
worked in a small education studies department that used a wonderfully simple, three-part conceptual framework for responding to student work -- whether oral presentations, written papers, or even student…
In Educational Assessment, Teaching and Learning
July 6, 2008 Maryellen Weimer, PhD
As interest in scholarly work on teaching and learning continues to grow and more faculty are trying their hands at work in this arena, materials are needed that summarize…
Many faculty incorporate a peer-assessment component in team projects. Because faculty aren’t present when the groups interact and therefore don’t know who’s doing what in the group, they let…
