Education Commons^™

Aligning Metaliteracy With Self-Directed Learning To Expand Assessment Opportunities, Trudi E. Jacobson, Thomas P. Mackey, Jako Olivier

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

Metaliteracy is a holistic model that emphasises information-related knowledge attainment whilst challenging individuals to take charge of their learning strategies and goals. It prepares learners to become informed consumers and responsible producers of information. Metacognition is a core concept in metaliteracy, just as it is in swelf-directed learning (SDL) and in methods of assessment appropriate to SDL, such as assessment as learning (AaL) and assessment for learning (AfL). This congruence provides clear avenues for using metaliteracy’s framework in ways that support SDL. The first part of the chapter explores metaliteracy and its connections with SDL and assessment. The remainder of …

Students’ And Faculty Members’ Perceptions And Experiences Of Classroom Assessment: A Case Study Of A Public University In Afghanistan, Sayed Ahmad Javid Mussawy, Gretchen Rossman, Sayed Abdul Qahar Haqiqat

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objective: The primary goal of the study was to examine students’ perceptions of classroom assessment at a public university in Afghanistan. Exploring current assessment practices focused on student and faculty members lived experiences was a secondary goal. The study also sought to collect evidence on whether or not the new assessment policy was effective in student achievement.

Method: Authors used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design to conduct the study. Initially, we applied the Students Perceptions of Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ), translated into Dari/Farsi and validated, to collect data from a random sample of 400 students from three colleges: Agriculture, Education, and …

Reimagining Scripts For Human And Environmental Justice In Experiential Learning, William F. Heinrich, Benjamin Lauren, Sandra Logan

Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education

This article shares a case study of an experiential learning framework designed specifically for supporting learning in courses focused on human and environmental justice. We argue that our educational practices must substantially change to be accountable to each other as we address social issues and explore societal solutions. Findings from qualitative analyses of student reflective writing led us to a new framework and repeatable pattern for planning and implementing courses with justice-oriented outcomes. Implications for the ways we engage and empower students are considered in light of dominant scripts of power and control in classrooms.

Improving Outcomes Assessment Through Silo Integration, Jeffrey Scott Harmon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study was to leverage the experiences and perceptions of academic administrators at Mountain State University to disrupt the negative aspects of silo-based decision-making within closing the loop assessment practices. Siloed operations naturally begin to operate in contradiction to one another and often to the detriment of the organization. Focusing specifically on siloed operations across academic schools at Mountain State University, this study reveals issues of inefficiency and redundancy, and develops intervention strategies in an effort to improve closing the loop assessment efforts. These strategies include structural changes leading to a more integrated assessment model …

Leading Leaders In Rethinking Grading: A Case Study Of Implementation Of Standards-Based Grading In Educational Leadership, Erin E. Lehmann

Journal of Research Initiatives

The purpose of this paper is to share the process of how one university instructor worked toward a shift to standards-based grading (SBG) in a graduate Educational Leadership program. Educational leadership programs use standards to guide coursework and instruction in an accountability era, but grading practices remain as subjective as they were 50 years ago. Educators of future leaders must address this need. In addition, instructors need to effectively communicate essential learning to students to understand their learning progression clearly; standards-based grading is designed to do this. The author shares best practices in grading as well as the challenges of …

Ungrading, Supporting Our Students Through A Pedagogy Of Care, Shaun Ferns, Robert Hickey, Helen Williams

Articles

The awarding of grades or marks to student work is traditionally considered a fundamental feature of assessment. Grades became more widely established in the twentieth century becoming ubiquitous across most educational institutions. There is increasing evidence to suggest that grades are not effective tools for promoting or measuring learning. One alternative approach for promoting and measuring learning is "Ungrading," in which no letter grades or marks are given to students. Instead, they are replaced with formative feedback provided through strategies such as individual feedback, peer review and self-assessment. An Ungrading approach promises increased learner motivation, a reduction in stress, and …

Online Prehealth Advising: Impact Analysis Spring 2017 To Fall 2020, Alasdair Ekpenyong, Mykel Beorchia

Publications

At Utah State University, various online, Canvas-based advising programs complement the traditional in-person advising program. The online prehealth advising service assists students who are considering health professions graduate school.

This report explored the association between online prehealth advising participation and student persistence to the next term at Utah State University.

Entrepreneurship Education And Experiential Learning In Higher Education, Sophia N. Koustas, Elham Shahidi Salehi

Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education

Entrepreneurship education (EE) and experiential learning can be delivered in several ways depending on the program design, the course's purpose, and the learning outcomes. With the distinct stages of doing, observing, thinking, and planning, Kolb's experiential learning theory is favored in EE. Additionally, EE programs and courses can be categorized in the three instructional themes of teaching about, for, or through entrepreneurship. Each theme offers a particular purpose, unique learning objectives, specific teaching methodology, and different student engagement levels. Due to the various references to EE, this exploratory qualitative study presents five selected entrepreneurship project course examples at Southern New …

Ungrading Uncovered: How Going Gradeless Can Support Learner Diversity In Higher Education, Shaun Ferns, Robert Hickey, Helen Williams

Other resources

The awarding of grades or marks to student work is traditionally considered a fundamental feature of assessment. Traditional grades, the awarding of numeric values to student work, date back to the 1600s where Harvard used exit grades to measure and categorize students (Smallwood, 1935). Grades became more widely established in the education sector at the beginning of the twentieth century to deal with increased numbers of students and as a means of communication between educational institutions and third parties, a form of universal measurement. Although becoming ubiquitous across most educational spectrums in the second half of the twentieth century, there …

Beyond The Checklist Approach: A Librarian-Faculty Collaboration To Teach The Beam Method Of Source Evaluation, Jenny Mills, Rachael Flynn, Nicole Fox, Dana Shaw, Claire Wiley

Library Faculty Scholarship

Evaluating information is an essential skill, valued across disciplines. While librarians and instructors share the responsibility to teach this skill, they need a common framework in order to collaborate to design assignments that give students multiple opportunities to learn. Librarians and First Year Seminar faculty at Belmont University collaborated to design a unit of instruction on source evaluation using the BEAM method. BEAM requires students to apply a use-based approach to evaluation, to read and engage with sources more closely, and to think about how they might use a source for a specific purpose. Structured annotated bibliographies that included BEAM …

Reflection Practices In Consulting Projects For The Learner And Instructor, Sophia Koustas, Christine Blais

Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education

Reflection practices in consulting projects are an integral part of both the instructor/coach and student learning journeys. Using reflection tools as an instructor/coach models behavior to encourage students to share what they observe, do, learn, and feel.

This roundtable will contribute to this year’s theme by using reflection as a tool for assessment, to promote program excellence, and to encourage student success. This session will encourage participants to share best reflection practices in consulting projects.

Institutional Accreditation: Making The Process More Efficient, Effective, And Meaningful To Colleges And Universities, Cynthia J. Requa

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

Institutional accreditation is a voluntary, peer-review process that is overseen through the seven institutional accreditors governed by the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of accreditation is to ensure institutional quality standards are being met by colleges and universities. The purpose of this study was to identify how the accreditation process could be improved with foci on efficiency, effectiveness, and more meaningful impact to the institutions. Drawing on Heifetz et al.’s (2009) theory of adaptive leadership, Kotter’s (2012) accelerators and the integrated planning principles of Stephens (2017) and Immordino et al., (2016), this study employed grounded theory to discover the …

Creating A Culture Of Assessment To Elevate Students’ Voices, Amber Knight

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the University of San Diego’s department of Student Activities and Involvement (SAI) could strengthen its assessment practices and execute consistent data-driven decision making. The following question guided my research: How can I promote a culture of assessment so that SAI’s programs and advising are directly informed by a more thorough data collection process that elevates students’ voices? Building on the work of assessment scholars, this study serves as a model for assessing student affairs assessment. By critically evaluating SAI’s existing assessment culture, administering assessments to understand departmental needs, and offering training …

Investigating Alignment In A Quantitative Literacy Course For Social Sciences Students, Vera Frith, Pam Lloyd

Numeracy

The Numeracy Centre at the University of Cape Town has taught a one-semester quantitative literacy course for social sciences students since 1999. This study aims to provide an example for how the design of such a course can be assessed for alignment with quantitative reasoning goals. We propose a framework of learning outcomes for the course and use that framework to analyse the assessments and student performance on them. We find that just under half of the overall mark for the course was devoted to the interpretation and communication of quantitative information (our “main” outcomes), and about a quarter was …

Opening Act: The Academic Library's Role In Orientation Planning And Evaluation, Zachary Lewis, Katy Kelly

Roesch Library Faculty Publications

This article describes a private, mid-sized university library’s experience of hosting a music festival-themed event in the library building as part of new student orientation, with program evaluation and student learning assessment at the forefront of planning. The authors and co-planners will discuss four years of data to explore the connection between library outreach and students’ use of the library, their perceptions of the institution, and the role the event plays in shaping student success. It offers recommendations for collaborating with academic libraries and approaches in future cross-campus collaborations, including using a scaffolding approach to outline the goals and assessment …

Exploring Neurocognitive Processes That Underlie Reading Performance In Children: A Foundational Study, Ayan Mitra

Theses and Dissertations

With advancement in brain research, neuroscience researchers have collectively informed our understanding of reading-related processes. Despite an extensive body of literature, many educators are not aware of specific neuroimaging findings related to phonological processing and word reading. Therefore, the study builds on this body of research by exploring the connection between the brain and reading scores. Quantitative EEG and standardized academic achievement analyses were performed on 60 school-aged children. Intrahemispheric coherence analysis at rest were conducted across the sample of participants and several coherence networks were extracted and compared to standardized reading achievement scores. Specifically, networks that included Brodmann area …

Covid-19 Modifications To A Service-Learning Project Designed To Prepare Special Education Students To Be Effective Participants In Transdisciplinary Collaborations, Kathy R. Doody, Katrina Fulcher-Rood, Pamela Schuetze

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This research study examined the impact of COVID-19 on university students’ perceptions about the effectiveness of a community-based service-learning project designed to prepare graduate students in special education and undergraduate students in psychology and speech-language pathology to work in transdisciplinary teams in early childhood settings. Students were placed into transdisciplinary teams and assigned to one of two community-based early childhood programs to administer a universal screening tool that assessed young children in several domains. The project was in its sixth year when the country stood still because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was re-envisioned, mid-course, to provide an equitable …

Uptodate Use As A Predictor Of Medical Student Success, Connor Buechler, Kurt Wendland, Jason Booza, Diane Levine

Medical Student Research Symposium

Background

Both practicing physicians and student learners prioritize speed of access and ease of use over most other criteria in choosing how to look up clinical information, with electronic resources far outpacing books for these reasons. While there are many variations of electronic reference materials available, UpToDate is one of, if not the most, frequently referenced clinical knowledge resources. It is professionally written and edited by practicing clinicians with frequent updates as new information or studies become available to inform care, allowing the learner to answer clinical questions rapidly, correctly, and fully. Given its proven popularity, the usefulness of UpToDate …

Thriving Instead Of Surviving: The Role Of The Reasoned Action Model In Assessing The Basic Course, Michael E. Burns, Kristen L. Farris, Mark Paz, Sean Dyhre

Basic Communication Course Annual

The current study investigates the use of the reasoned action model (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) as an assessment tool for the basic communication course. Specifically, this study examines how attitude towards behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence students’ behavioral intentions to use communication behaviors taught in the basic course outside of class. In addition to the stated variables in the reasoned action model, this study also examines how knowledge gain influences behavioral intention. Data was collected from 2,228 students enrolled in a basic communication course at a large southwestern university, and a random sample of 666 students was …

A 14-Year Empirical Analysis Of Undergraduates’ Pre- And Post-Test Scores In Three Introductory Communication Courses: Lessons Learned For Pedagogy And Assessment, Sherwyn P. Morreale, Pamela S. Shockley-Zalabak, Barbara Gaddis, Janice Thorpe M.A., Constance M. Staley, Erica Allgood

Basic Communication Course Annual

Conducting long-term assessment of the impact of students’ participation in introductory communication courses is an important endeavor for enhancing pedagogy and understanding the contribution of communication instruction to the student experience. This 14-year study reports data from a campus-wide assessment program extending from 2004 to 2018. The study analyzed a large sample of undergraduate students’ self-reported pre- and post-test scores on critical variables related to student outcomes in three introductory communication courses. The variables examined were demographic characteristics, self-esteem and communication apprehension in both the public speaking course and the business communication course, and self-esteem and willingness to communicate in …

The Impact Of Communication Center Visits On Students’ Performance And Engagement, Nate S. Brophy, Adebanke Loveth Adebayo, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study sought to empirically evaluate the extent to which visiting the communication center before delivering the first major speech in an introductory communication course improved students’ academic performance and engagement. A total of 262 students were included in this study, half of whom visited the communication center prior to their first speech, and half of whom did not. Between-subjects MANOVAs showed that students who visited the communication center had significantly higher speech grades, course grades, and attendance than students who did not. Likewise, those who visited the communication center also had higher levels of behavioral and cognitive engagement, but …

Using Institutional Ethnography To Illuminate The Contested Space Of Grading, Sharon Ultsch

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

A plethora of research has documented the detrimental effects of assigning grades, A-F, to student work as well as the inherent inequities embedded in this century-old assessment practice that persists in the majority of US higher education institutions. Coupled with the ubiquitous Grade Point Average (GPA) and prevailing neoliberal audit culture in HEI, grades serve to maintain a social hierarchy veiled by the myth of meritocracy and objectivity. The goal of this study was to investigate how grades operate as a text to mediate social relations and how faculty participate in the social organization of ruling regimes, often unknowingly. This …

Does Instructor Quality Affect Student Grades?, Emily Faulconer, John C. Griffith, Bobby Mcmasters

Publications

High quality instructors positively influence student outcomes.

• Course design with strong organization
• Feedback
• Community of inquiry presences
• Cultural responsiveness

Towards The Development Of A Framework For The Inclusion Of Peer Assessment In Irish Medical Science Undergraduate Education, Mary Mcgrath

Doctoral

Assessment of learning is integral to all programmes in Higher Education (HE). While one purpose of assessment is to confirm achievement of standards, another is to support student learning. When educational programmes adopt an assessment strategy that is inclusive of ‘assessment for learning’ the role of assessment supporting learning can be expanded and sustained more effectively. Peer Assessment (PA) is an example of an assessment approach that can support and enrich student learning. The advantages and benefits of PA are strongly established in the published literature.

This research study aimed to investigate and develop a framework for the inclusion of …