Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Resource Pack On Curriculum Design And Assessment To Promote Effective Learning., Christine O'Connor

Other resources

This resource pack is an overview of current considerations for academics designing programmes for third level education. The changing demographic of third level students along with employers’ demands has resulted in programme development with a focus on skills basis (Hyslop-Margison, 2001) to support a knowledge based society. The rationale behind the changes in curriculum design is introduced and further focus is emphasised in the areas of curriculum design models, assessment models and evaluation models. Examples of innovative curricula and assessment models in third level chemistry education will be incorporated during the pack which may be applied across other disciplines.

Graduation Rates 2008-09, Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

IPEDS Graduation Rate

IPEDS Graduation Rates annual report contains the following information:

• Numbers of students entering the institution as full-time, first-time, degree or certificate-seeking in a particular year (cohort), by race/ethnicity and gender
• Number completing within 150% of normal time to program completion
• Number transferred to other institutions
• Developed to help institutions comply with requirements of Student Right-to-know
• Worksheets are provided to calculate rates

Psy 7670 - Literature Reviews, Spring 2008, Karl White, M. Harrison Fitt, Tom Caswell

Psychology - OCW

This course is designed to help students in doctoral programs write a literature review that is appropriate for a dissertation or thesis proposal. The course will emphasize skills for writing the Problem Statement and conducting and writing the Review of Literature. Even though the Procedures section is an important part of the dissertation proposal, it will not be dealt with extensively in this class. Other courses which deal specifically with the appropriate design, analysis, and interpretation issues which the student will use for his or her research should be taken prior to this course. Substantial time will be devoted to …

Motivations And Reasons For Exercising In Water: Gender And Age Differences In A Sample Of Spanish Exercisers, Juan Antonio Moreno Murcia, Celestina Martínez Galindo, Pablo Marcos Pardo

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The purposes of this study were, on the one hand, to relate the reasons for exercising with self-determination and, on the other, to check gender and age differences with a sample of 311 exercisers in water. The data were collected using the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire–2 and Motives for Physical Activities Measure–Revised. A positive and significant correlation was seen between self-determination and the reasons for exercise, with self-determination predicting 22% by enjoyment and 8% by fitness/health reasons. Similarly, the multivariate analysis showed that the women had more self-determination than the men and that they also rated fitness/health, social, enjoyment, …

Marginalized Students' Perspectives Of School Consolidation: A Case Study In Rural West Virginia, Betty A. Sias

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

While prior research provides evidence that school consolidation impacts student achievement, the economic efficiency at state and district levels, dropout rates, participation in extracurricular activities, curriculum offerings, and the length of bus rides, “little is known about what happens in consolidated schools to impact student learning,” (Blake, 2003, p. 21) and little attention has been given to studying students’ lived experiences of consolidation. This qualitative case study explored these issues by attempting to understand students’ transition to a consolidated high school, as well as their current experiences with and perceptions of consolidation in a rural community in West Virginia. The …

Technology-Aided Participative Methods In Environmental Assessment: An International Perspective, Ainhoa Gonzalez, Alan Gilmer, Ronan Foley, John Sweeney, John Fry

Articles

Provisions for citizen involvement in the assessment of potential environmental effects of certain plans, programmes and projects are present in current legislation. An international survey revealed that public participation is common practice in European and some other countries worldwide. However, a number of issues are observed to affect public involvement in EIA/SEA processes and expert opinion differs when evaluating the effectiveness of existing participative methods. Results suggest that technology-aided methods can improve traditional participation processes. In particular, GIS has the potential to increase community knowledge and enhance involvement by communicating information more effectively. Variable accessibility to technology and data quality …

Revitalizing The One-Shot Instruction Session Using Problem-Based Learning, Barbara Kenney

Library Faculty Publications

Problem-based learning (PBL) provides the theoretical framework for a learner-centered active instructional experience that relies on collaboration, critical thinking, and hands-on interaction with resources. When used in a one-shot session, PBL challenges the instruction librarian to strengthen and renew their pedagogical skills. Sessions are lively and provide the opportunity for students and faculty to experience library instruction in a new and dynamic way. PBL and information literacy are ideal partners with limitless possibilities for enhanced library instruction.

Western Guide To Mentorship In Academia, Donald Gordon Cartwright

Purple Guides

This guide addresses the importance of mentoring for new faculty members, describes the pros and cons of various mentorship models, and offers advice for mentors and mentees.

The Need For Advanced Cardiac Life Support Certification For Open-Water Lifeguards At Huntington Beach, Ca, Daniel Jerome, Peter R. Chambers, Steve Reuter, John Porcari

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The number of people visiting U.S. beaches increased in 2007 to more than 240 million people. This increase in activities does not come without danger. Lifeguards maintain beach safety, but little research is available to assist us in determining appropriate certification levels for lifeguards. The authors analyzed various injuries that occurred in the open-water environment of Huntington Beach, CA. Based on the nature of the injuries, they attempted to determine the level of training lifeguards needed. The vast majority of injuries (99%) were soft-tissue injuries, musculoskeletal injuries, or environmental injuries. It was felt that lifeguards with first-aid and basic-life-support (BLS) …

Measuring Knowledge Of Natural Selection: A Comparison Of The C.I.N.S., An Open-Response Instrument, And An Oral Interview, Ross Nehm, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Growing recognition of the central importance of fostering an in-depth understanding of natural selection has, surprisingly, failed to stimulate work on the development and rigorous evaluation of instruments that measure knowledge of it. We used three different methodological tools, the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS), a modified version of Bishop and Anderson's (Bishop and Anderson [1990] Journal of Research in Science Teaching 27: 415-427) open-response test that we call the Open Response Instrument (ORI), and an oral interview derived from both instruments, to measure biology majors' understanding of and alternative conceptions about natural selection. We explored how these instruments …

Collaboration Or Plagiarism? Explaining Collaborative-Based Assignments Clearly, Tuesday Cooper

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Much has been written about the use of collaborative learning as a pedagogical tool to enhance student learning. Collaborative learning, or group work as it is commonly known, can be defined as a structured process where students are required to work in groups to complete a common task or assignment for a particular course. It has been identified as one of the most effective ways for students to become actively engaged in classroom activities (Davis, 1993; McKeachie, 1999; Nilson, 1998).

Although there are many positive aspects of group work, there are negatives as well. One particular problem occurs when students …

Developing The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning Using Faculty Learning Communities, Milton D. Cox

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) have proven successful in producing teaching projects, as evidenced by a survey of institutions with FLCs. It follows that these groups should provide ideal conditions for a subsequent development of those projects into peerreviewed publications and presentations, or the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This essay offers faculty practical advice for producing such SoTL products based on what started as a teaching project in an FLC. My advice is based on work with FLCs for 28 years on my campus and others (Cox, 2003).

The Right Start: Reflections On A Departmentally Based Graduate Course On Teaching, Craig E. Nelson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Full credit courses on teaching offered by academic departments for their own graduate students and postdocs have many advantages. Many students come to graduate school because they want teaching to be an important part of their future professional life. Most who are hired in academia will go to jobs where teaching is important. Indiana University’s Graduate School noted that 95% of its PhDs who landed tenure-track positions found those positions at liberal arts colleges, smaller comprehensive universities, and urban institutions. They noted that their teaching experience at Bloomington did not necessarily prepare them fully for these jobs.

I offered a …

The Useful, Sensible, No-Frills Departmental Assessment Plan, Barbara E. Walvoord

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Academic departments from physics to philosophy to physical therapy face new demands for “assessment of student learning.” It’s hard to argue against the basic idea of assessment: when a department invests time and resources trying to nurture student learning, it should ask itself: Are they learning? Yet departments may also fear that assessment will require them to dumb-down their teaching; use standardized tests; teach alike; or compromise academic freedom. Every department wonders how it will find the time and resources for one more thing.

This essay suggests a simple, sustainable, and useful departmental assessment plan that capitalizes on what departments …

Normative Comparison For The Woodcock-Johnson Iii : Tests Of Achievement In 15 & 18 Year Olds, Amber Cummings

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study evaluates the use of the original and updated norms of the Woodcock Johnson-III in making educational decisions. The method of collection involved placing the raw score obtained from the updated norms into the original Compuscore program to see if there is a difference between the two scoring systems. The scores were then placed in a figure to see how much the scores varied from each other. Results of the study showed that there was a 1 to 3 point difference between specific skill areas, with some skill areas obtaining a 5 to 6 point difference. Suggestions are made …

Using A Resiliency Perspective To Inform Bilingual Teachers’ Classroom Inquiry, Brooke Kandel-Cisco, Yolanda Padrón

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Recent research has established the importance of teacher quality in the academic success or failure of students (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Sanders, Wright, & Horn, 2004) and policy initiatives, such as NCLB, have propelled the issue of teacher quality to the forefront of educational reform in the U.S. While No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has been successful in establishing minimum teacher quality standards for general educators, the act has failed to highlight the importance of quality for teachers of second language learners (Nieto. 2003).

Teacher quality is especially impo1tant for second language learners. both because of the pedagogic and Iinguistic complexities inherent …

Improving Reading Comprehension In Dual Language Programs, Susana E. Franco-Fuenmayor, Brooke Kandel-Cisco, Yolanda Padrón

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

The low achievement levels and high dropout rates of English Language Learners (ELLs) continue to be a great challenge for educators. One area that can provide us with useful information on how to improve the education of ELLs is dual language programs. Research in this area indicates that native language development is important for academic success. The present study examined the cognitive reading strategies of students enrolled in a dual language program. The results indicate that both language groups of students were using successful cognitive reading strategies to comprehend text. The study also describes how the questionnaire used in the …

Fantasy, Fashion And Fact : Middle Schools, Middle Schooling And Student Achievement, Stephen Dinham, Ken Rowe

School and system improvement

This paper provides a critical review of the literature that has attempted to identify ‘best practice’ in middle schooling.. It is noted that despite the large and burgeoning literature claiming positive effects of approaches to middle schooling that focus on the cognitive, developmental, social and emotional needs of adolescents, evidence to substantiate the claims remain elusive. Rather, it is suggested that emphasis is best directed at building evidence-based pedagogical capacity in school’s most valuable resources – teachers. Further, it is argued that whereas prevailing adherence to the moribund philosophies of biological and social determinism are foremost among several ‘barriers’ to …

An Investigation Into Enterprise Education At Senior Cycle In Second Level Schools In Kerry, Mary Mulvihill

Theses

This dissertation seeks to investigate enterprise education at senior cycle in second level schools in county Kerry. In carrying out this investigation the researcher seeks to identify the factors encouraging and inhibiting enterprise education. The reason for this research is that education plays a specific role in reinforcing a positive culture towards entrepreneurship. It provides students with the necessary skills to have confidence in themselves and in their ability to identify an opportunity and set up their own business.

Existing studies in the area provide several leads as to the ideal place to be taught enterprise and about the factors …

Student Performance With And Attitudes Toward Electronic Distributed Assessment In First-Year Composition Classes, Annette Arrigucci

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In Fall 2008, UTEP's composition department implemented a pilot program to test a redesign of English 1312, their second-semester freshman composition course. In addition to a redesigned curriculum, a system of electronic distributed assessment was implemented in ten sections of English 1312. Instead of the traditional format of a class where instructors grade all student assignments, a group of teaching assistants graded student writing anonymously using standardized grading rubrics. The system, which has been used at Texas Tech University since 2002, was put in place at UTEP in order to enhance efficiency and consistency in the teaching of this course. …

Identification Of Learning Barriers Affecting English Reading Comprehension Instruction, As Perceived By Esl Undergraduates In Thailand, Chayapon Chomchaiya, Katie Dunworth

EDU-COM International Conference

Facility in English language reading comprehension is essential for learners of English as a second language, since English is the international language of written (as well as spoken) communication for business, science and technology. In Thailand, as acknowledged in the literature, learners of English as a second language often experience considerable difficulties with reading. There are many reasons for this, but, given the importance of reading to the development of language proficiency, it is of great importance to identify ways in which student learning can be enhanced. This paper reports on a project that sought to obtain specific information from …

What Do Primary School Teachers Know, Think And Do About Adhd?, Julie Kos

School and system improvement

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood disorder affecting approximately 5% of primary school-aged children. The disorder is characterised by severe difficulties in one or more of three areas; inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Considering that primary school teachers are often the first to notice behavioural difficulties in children, it is surprising that relatively little research has been undertaken with teachers. The limited research that has been conducted on teachers’ knowledge has shown that knowledge scores range from 50 to 70%, and most attitudinal research has merely assessed knowledge. There is also a dearth of research assessing teachers’ classroom management of …

An Evaluation Of The Getting It Right: Literacy And Numeracy Strategy In Western Australian Schools, Marion Meiers, Lawrence Ingvarson, Adrian Beavis, John Hogan, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Shaping educational policy

This evaluation report is presented in two volumes. Volume 1, Evaluation of the GiR-LNS is focused mainly on the survey component of the evaluation. The complete data set from the surveys undertaken in 2003 and 2004 is analysed, and conclusions drawn from these analyses. The concluding sections draw on the survey data, some research literature and the illustrative case studies to report on the effectiveness of the GiR-LNS as a strategy for professional development, and as a strategy for change. Volume 2, Getting it Right in Context, presents the findings from the illustrative case studies. Twenty schools from across Western …

Assessment: How Hard Can It Be?, Public Lands Institute, Michelle L. Weibel, Daphne Sewing, Gregory Schraw, Lori Olafson

Our Places to Tell Stories

• Demonstrate how assessment of a curriculum-based education program can work.
• Share results of the Forever Earth program assessment
• Stimulate thought and discussion of how to implement assessment strategies for your program.

Assessment Of Forever Earth Curriculum 2007/2008: Final Report, Lori Olafson, Gregory Schraw, Michelle L. Weibel

Reports (FE)

Forever Earth is a floating environmental laboratory and learning center at Lake Mead National Recreation Area that provides hands-on science experiences for students in the Clark County School District. The Forever Earth program was brought about through the efforts of numerous partners including Forever Resorts, a division of Forever Learning LLC, the National Park Service, Lake Mead National Recreation Area; Outside Las Vegas Foundation; and UNLV’s Public Lands Institute. In 2005, a formal written agreement was reached between Fun Country Marine Industries and UNLV’s Public Lands Institute to operate and manage the Forever Earth houseboat for the purpose of enhancing …

An Appraisal Of The Criticisms Of Educational Research In Recent Years, Sherwin Rodrigues

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

According to Hodkinson (2001) educational research in the UK has been passing through "a crisis of confidence" in the last decade as a result of several attacks upon its quality. The scope of this paper is to briefly highlight these „attacks‟ on educational research and then focus on one of its primary criticisms for an in-depth analysis. I mainly draw upon the work of Hargreaves (1996), Hammersley (1997) and Hillage, Pearson, Anderson and Tamkin (1998) but allude to other sources as well.

Learning To Live With League Tables And Ranking: The Experience Of Institutional Leaders, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

This paper draws on the results of an international survey of HE leaders and senior managers which was supported by the OECD Programme on Institutional Management of Higher Education (IMHE) and the International Association of Universities (IAU). It focuses on how HEIs are responding to league tables and rankings (LTRS), and what impact or influence – positive or perverse – they are having on institutional behaviour, decision-making and actions. The growing body of academic research and journalist reportage is referenced to contextualise this international experience. The paper shows that while HE leaders are concerned about the impact of rankings, they …

Secondary Students' Perceptions Of Web-Based Learning, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

This article presents the results of a survey study of secondary students' perceptions of useful and challenging characteristics of Web-based learning environments. Data were collected using a modified version of a questionnaire from earlier studies. More specifically, the author focuses on what Web-based learning looks like for secondary students, along with their perceptions of the benefits, challenges, and helpful components of Web-based learning environments. As this study utilized similar instruments to earlier studies that looked at the perceptions of postsecondary students and corporate Web-based trainees, comparisons will be made between the secondary students in this study and the populations in …

How Are They Doing?: Examining Student Achievement In Virtual Schooling, Michael K. Barbour, Dennis Mulcahy

Education Faculty Publications

Six years ago the Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation began a virtual high school within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Designed primarily to provide courses in specialized areas to students in rural areas, where schools have difficulty in attracting second language, mathematics and science teachers. However, there has been some concern that the opportunities provided by this virtual high school are "second rate" or only able to cater to independent, self-motivated students. The purpose of the study is to examine the student achievement in standardized public exams and final course scores in the province between different delivery …

Getting Ready: Promoting School Readiness Through A Relationship-Based Partnership Model, Susan M. Sheridan, Christine Marvin, Lisa Knoche, Carolyn P. Edwards

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

School readiness is determined by the life experiences of young children between birth and enrollment in formal education programs. Early intervention and education programs designed to promote school readiness often focus on skills a child fails to demonstrate that are believed to be of importance to social and academic success. The Getting Ready model of early childhood intervention (Sheridan, Edwards, & Knoche, 2003) recognizes the transactional nature of young children’s development and the important role parents play in pre-school readiness and school-age success. In the Getting Ready model, collaborative partnerships between parents and professionals are encouraged to promote parent’s competence …