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Full-Text Articles in Higher Education
Students Helping Students Provide Valuable Feedback On Course Evaluations, Adriana Signorini, Mariana Abuan, Gautam Panakkal, Sandy Dorantes
Students Helping Students Provide Valuable Feedback On Course Evaluations, Adriana Signorini, Mariana Abuan, Gautam Panakkal, Sandy Dorantes
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
The purpose of the student evaluations of teaching (SET) are to help instructors enhance the teaching and learning experience in their courses; however, student feedback can often be more unconstructive than useful because students are usually requested to evaluate instruction with little or no formal training. As a result, SET become missed opportunities for students to effectively communicate their learning needs and for instructors to collect actionable information about how the course is perceived. This project aims to improve the quality of student responses to the open-ended questions that instructors receive by partnering with undergraduates in demonstrating to their peers …
Assessment Literacy In College Teaching: Empirical Evidence On The Role And Effectiveness Of A Faculty Training Course, Kyle D. Massey, Christopher Deluca, Danielle Lapointe-Mcewan
Assessment Literacy In College Teaching: Empirical Evidence On The Role And Effectiveness Of A Faculty Training Course, Kyle D. Massey, Christopher Deluca, Danielle Lapointe-Mcewan
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
This research explores how faculty members’ conceptions of assessment and confidence in assessment change as a result of an instructor training course. Based on a sample of 27 faculty members enrolled in a semester-long instructional development course, this survey-based study provides initial evidence that faculty members can develop confidence in assessment while adopting increasingly complex conceptions of assessment. Based on this study’s findings, we argue that instructional development programs for college faculty have a critical role to play in stimulating faculty learning about assessment of student learning and are an important component in promoting a positive assessment culture.
Cultivating And Sustaining A Faculty Culture Of Data-Driven Teaching And Learning: A Systems Approach, Marsha Lovett, Chad Hershock
Cultivating And Sustaining A Faculty Culture Of Data-Driven Teaching And Learning: A Systems Approach, Marsha Lovett, Chad Hershock
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
A prominent goal of colleges and universities today is to enact data-driven teaching and learning. Faculty clearly play a key role, and yet they tend to have limited time, a lack of training in assessment or education research, and few incentives for engaging in this work. We describe a framework designed to address the practical and cultural aspects of these challenges via a cycle of educational development and support: motivate, educate, facilitate, disseminate. We illustrate this systems approach with concrete examples and conclude with lessons learned from our experiences that should translate to a variety of institutional contexts.
Broaching Threshold Concepts: The Trouble With “Skills” Language In Defining Student Learning Goals, Angela J. Zito
Broaching Threshold Concepts: The Trouble With “Skills” Language In Defining Student Learning Goals, Angela J. Zito
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
This essay argues that description of student learning goals as various “skills” presents a conceptual threshold lying between and connecting routinely dichotomized characterizations of student learning—most notably, “concrete” versus “abstract.” Qualitative analysis of instructor interviews shows that “skills” language tends to conceal abstract (that is, affective) learning goals behind more concrete (that is, cognitive) ones. Ultimately, this essay proposes that cognitive and affective student learning goals might be more clearly articulated using threshold concepts within and across disciplines, and that the recognition of “skills” as both affective and cognitive is itself a threshold concept in educational development.
An Explorative Case-Study Of The Use Of Peerwise To Foster Student Centred, And Peer Supported, Learning In A First-Year Business Module, Anna Dynan, Barry J. Ryan
An Explorative Case-Study Of The Use Of Peerwise To Foster Student Centred, And Peer Supported, Learning In A First-Year Business Module, Anna Dynan, Barry J. Ryan
Irish Business Journal
Peer based learning is not a new concept in business studies in higher education; however, the integration of technology enabled and asynchronous peer learning has limited reported use and even less evidence based evaluation. In this explorative case study, the online tool PeerWise was used to scaffold and support an asynchronous peer-learning environment for a group of 212 first year business studies students. Students were required to create, answer and rate multiple choice questions on topics aligned to their curriculum within the peer constructed PeerWise question database. While there was no statistically significant correlation between PeerWise engagement and final module …
Evaluating Centers For Teaching And Learning: A Field-Tested Model, Susan R. Hines
Evaluating Centers For Teaching And Learning: A Field-Tested Model, Susan R. Hines
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
This paper provides a program evaluation model, along with field-testing results, that was developed in response to the need for an evaluation model able to support systematic evaluation of teaching and learning centers (CTLs). The model builds upon the author’s previous studies investigating the evaluation practices and struggles experienced at 53 CTLs. Findings from these studies attribute evaluation struggles to contextual issues involving evaluation capacity, ill- structured curricula, and ill-conceived evaluation frameworks. This field-tested Four-Phase Program Evaluation Model addresses these issues by approaching evaluation in a comprehensive manner that includes an evaluation capacity analysis, curricular conceptualization, evaluation planning, and plan …
Assessment From An Educational Development Perspective, Mary C. Wright, Molly Goldwasser, Wayne Jacobson, Christopher Dakes
Assessment From An Educational Development Perspective, Mary C. Wright, Molly Goldwasser, Wayne Jacobson, Christopher Dakes
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
As assessment, already well established in higher education, gains attention in the field of educational development (ED), we ask: What does it mean to practice assessment from an ED perspective? In response, we examine four principles that are central to this endeavor: (a) bridging work across communities and multiple institutional levels; (b) collective, collaborative ownership; (c) action-oriented focus on student-centered learning; and (d) intentionality about inclusiveness to recognize diverse experiences of participants and stakeholders. We apply these principles to four examples of assessment practice at different institutions and offer a rationale for why this lens has utility for the improvement …
Don’T Box Me In: Rubrics For Ártists And Designers, Natasha Haugnes, Jennifer L. Russell
Don’T Box Me In: Rubrics For Ártists And Designers, Natasha Haugnes, Jennifer L. Russell
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
Two faculty developers at a professional art and design university were met with uneasy faculty attitudes toward grading when they opened their CTL 13 years ago. Conversations revealed that the faculty artists and designers suspected that grading would somehow shatter the fragile muse of creativity, which is so central to the processes of producing art and design. The developers’ quest for transparent, consistent grading, and assessment practices resulted in an approach to rubric creation that taps into artists’ reverence for the critique. This narrative account reveals how the approach allowed an interactive introduction of rubrics as teaching tools, ensured their …