Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Feeding Back To Feed Forward: Formative Assessment As A Platform For Effective Learning, Lucy Wheatley, Alex Mcinch, Scott Fleming, Rhiannon Lord

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

Abstract

Students construct meaning through relevant learning activities (Biggs, 2003) which are largely determined by the type, amount, and timing of feedback (Carless, 2006). The aim of the present study was to develop a greater awareness and understanding of formative assessment and feedback practices and their relationship with learning. During 2011 five focus group discussions were undertaken with students and academic staff involved with a range of modules and degree pathways at a UK University. Three of the focus groups were with undergraduate students (one at each level of study), and one was with taught postgraduate students. Discussions focussed …

Broadband Access In Arkansas Schools, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

With the computer-based Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) test, the Arkansas Digital Learning Act, and Governor Hutchinson’s efforts to increase participation in computer science courses, the Arkansas Legislature is discussing actions to take in order to close the “digital divide” in the state. This brief will explore the technological requirements of providing the recommended bandwidth to schools, the barriers to the provision of that service, and potential steps for the Arkansas Department of Education to take in order to ensure that every Arkansas student has fast, consistent access to the Internet to support their learning.

Research And Education In Parallel: Scientific Outreach Through On-Site Experiments At The Museum Of Science Boston Living Laboratory, Vivian Ciaramitaro, Hiu-Mei Chow

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Our world is multisensory, as is our perception of it: we see lips move while we listen to what is being said, we smell food as we taste it, we touch a surface as we feel its texture as we look at. Cross-modal sensory processing, the way information from our different senses interacts and influences our conscious perceptual experience is ubiquitous in everyday life, yet, it is not well understood, compared to unimodal sensory processing, processing information from a single sensory system. One of our research goals is to standardize a set of computer-generated stimuli and procedures to study sound-shape …

The Relationship Between The Level Of Language Acquisition And Reading Achievement Among English Language Learners, Kathleen Barrett

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This study examined two research questions: How are reading proficiency and English language proficiency assessment scores in third and fourth grades associated with fifth grade reading proficiency? As well as: How are reading proficiency and English language proficiency assessment scores in third and fourth grades associated with fifth grade English language proficiency? The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between English language proficiency and reading achievement in English Language Learners. This study included one cohort of English Language Learners from a middle sized district in the Portland, Oregon metro area, enrolled from their third grade school …

Biological Sciences Academic Program Review, 2014, College Of Science And Mathematics, Wright State University

Academic Program Review Reports - All

This 17 page report reviews several programs from Wright State University's Department of Biological Sciences, specifically looking at the time from Fall 2009 to Fall 2014. Programs Reviewed: Biological Sciences (Bachelor's and Master's) Clinical Laboratory Sciences

Communicating Value: Understanding Adjunct Typology, Job Satisfaction Levels, And Professional Development Interests, Lisa P. Davidson

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Higher education institutions are navigating budget cuts, changing enrollment, and the need to differentiate from the competition. Reductions in government funding and budgetary constraints are prompting universities to reduce the number of full-time, tenure-track faculty and rely more heavily on adjunct faculty to meet their demand for instructors. Therefore it is important to determine the distinct needs and satisfaction levels of this faculty group in order to provide appropriate resources and development opportunities for them. This study sought to determine if adjunct faculty job satisfaction levels differ based on adjunct typology (Gappa & Leslie, 1993) or institutional affiliation, and to …

We Get To Carry Each Other: Using The Musical Activism Of U2 As Framework For An Engaged Spirituality And Community Engagement Course, Marshall Welch

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

This article describes a January term community engagement service-learning course that used the musical and spiritually-based activism of the rock group U2 as an example of engaged spirituality using activism and advocacy. In addition to learning about the history, music, and activism of the band, students were taught a specific set of skills for activism, advocacy, and community organizing that included creating goal statements, developing and implementing action plans, and coordinating logistics for advocacy-based events on campus. Students were assigned to apply these skills as the service-learning component of the course. These activities were conceptualized as indirect service that reflected …

Interfacing Catholic Social Meanings, Sociology, Self, And Pedagogical Practices, Daniel J. Myers, Andrew J. Weigert

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

What connects Catholic Social Tradition with Sociology? How do each inform the other and how do they, together, flow through and animate the sociologist? Within a student-driven learning community pedagogy, this course builds on the humanistic aspects of Sociology as a scientific perspective a la Peter Berger’s Invitation to Sociology. This foundation is then filtered through a social psychological understanding of self with a sense of vocation through which persons’ deepest passions meets humans’ greatest needs. Biographical vignettes of sociologists’ careers of study that address issues of racial and gender inequalities and psycho-social shifts in values over the life course …

Journey Into Shame: Implications For Justice Pedagogies, Roger C. Bergman

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

Being formed for justice can be a painful experience. Sometimes that pain takes the form of shame and contributes to the formation and exercise of conscience. But shame in other forms can be opposed to human flourishing and social justice. Psychologist James Fowler provides a spectrum of two forms of healthy shame and four forms of unhealthy shame, to which the author adds four other varieties, strategic shame and spiritual shame, at one end of the spectrum, and murderous shame and genocidal shame, at the other. Various experiences of shame are dramatically illustrated in Black Like Me, John Howard …

Prophetic Imagination: Confronting The New Jim Crow & Income Inequality In America, Cornel West

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

On October 11, 2014, Cornel West delivered the keynote address to nearly 600 students at the regional Leadership & Social Justice Conference, hosted at Saint Mary’s College of California. The conference occurred two days before West was arrested in Ferguson, Missouri, during a demonstration to protest the killing of young Black men by White police officers, as in the case of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson. Speaking of the students, West said, "I would like to see these precious young people commit themselves to lives of integrity, honesty and decency, where they are vigilant against all forms of evil—White supremacists, …

Multidimensional Resilience In Honors Students At Bryant University, Haley Nicol

Honors Projects in Applied Psychology

College level honors programs are continuously working towards improvement of their programs and working towards improving the college experience for their students. Apart from recognition and developing a positive reputation for the university, the goals for these selective academic programs include better serving their students from both academic and professional perspectives, as well encouraging and increasing program completion retention rates. There are various ways of testing students to assess their mindset and personal drive as well as gauge the possibility of students graduating with successful completion of their Capstone project or thesis in their senior year. To better understand how …

Does Being Bilingual Make You Better At Math?, Enxhi Elezi

Honors Projects in Mathematics

The purpose of this study is to examine if there is any relationship between being bilingual, defined as speaking your native language at home and another language in school, and your mathematical ability. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was used to compare the math grades of students who were not born in the US and speak English, Spanish, or Other at home. Also, data from the Bryant University first year students was used to test if students who speak a different language at home have a higher mathematical average than their monolingual peers. Results show that …

Standardized Testing: What Is It Good For? A Case Study In Connecticut, Megan Mapp

Honors Projects in Mathematics

The case study was developed in an attempt to shed more light on the debate of standardized testing. The goal of the study was to find evidence to support whether or not standardized testing is worth doing in public secondary schools. To investigate this question, the state standardized math test scores of three Connecticut public high schools were analyzed. The average math scores over thirteen years were observed and statistical analysis was performed to see if any significant differences existed between the three schools. Tests were performed before and after the change in standardized test. The graduation rates of the …

A Question Of Perspective? Measuring Views On Equal Rights And Opportunities Among Minority Groups In European Large-Scale Surveys, Wolfram Schulz

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Attitudes toward diversity and acceptance of minorities have increasingly become a focus of public attention due to the transition of the European region toward a more diverse society. In recent years, many studies have gathered and presented data on perceptions of tolerance or attitudes toward equal rights for social groups across European countries. Whenever respondents are asked about their views on diversity, tolerance and acceptance with regard to specific social group, it is always important to take into account whether they belong to this particular group or not. However, when studying attitudes towards smaller minority groups, comparing attitudes between majority …

Academic Unit Assessment Panel, Betsy Aller, James Cousins, Barbara Sagara

Assessment in Action Conference

Three assessment practitioners at Western Michigan University will discuss their experiences with assessment activities, successes, and lessons learned, with time for Q&A.

Using Lassi To Assess Peer Academic Success Coaching, Katie Easley

Assessment Grants

Katie Easley, Director of Student Success Services in the College of Arts and Sciences at Western Michigan University, shared this poster at the WMU Assessment in Action Conference 2015 on April 3. Katie was a recipient of one of the 2014-2015 WMU Assessment Fellows Grants to conduct research on assessment of student learning in the Peer Academic Success Coaching program at WMU. This poster provided information regarding her assessment project.

Faculty Achievements, April 2015, Otterbein University

Faculty Achievement Reports

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of A Career Exploration Course's Impact On Student Career Development, Mark St. Martin, Adam Osborne, Shaakira Jones, Michael Bobbitt

Assessment Grants

Mark St. Martin, Associate Professor, Western Michigan University Counseling Center, Adam Osborne, MA, Shaakira Jones, MA and Michael Bobbitt, MS, at WMU shared this poster at the Assessment in Action Conference 2015 on April 3. The group were recipients of one of the 2014-2015 WMU Assessment Fellows Grants to conduct research to measure the effectiveness of the UNIV 1020 Career Exploration and Development course at WMU on student career knowledge and decision-making skills. This poster provided information regarding their assessment project.

Goal Attainment Scaling: An Interprofessional Assessment Of Student Learning, Ann M. Chapleau, Jennifer Harrison, Kathryn Hillenbrand, Edward Roth, Kimberly Searing

Assessment Grants

Ann Chapleau, from the Department of Occupational Therapy, Jennifer Harrison, from the School of Social Work, Kathryn Hillenbrand, from the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Edward Roth, from the Department of Music Therapy, and Kimberly Searing, from the Bronson School of Nursing at Western Michigan University, shared this poster at the Assessment in Action Conference 2015 on April 3. The group were recipients of one of the 2014-2015 WMU Assessment Fellows Grants to conduct research on assessment of personal professional development for students at WMU at selected clinical training locations. This poster provided information regarding their assessment project.

Effect Of Information Literacy Instruction On Students In The Revamped Phys 3100 Course, Carrie C. Leatherman, Christopher Hoffmann

Assessment Grants

Carrie Leatherman, University Libraries and Chris Hoffmann, Department of Physics at Western Michigan University, shared this poster at the Assessment in Action Conference 2015 on April 3. They were recipients of one of the 2014-2015 WMU Assessment Fellows Grants to conduct research on assessing the effectiveness of information literacy instruction by teaching students to use appropriate sources when doing their pre-lab write-ups for their course, PHYS 3100: Intro to Modern Physics Lab. This poster provided information regarding their assessment project.

The Processing Of Formulaic Language On Elicited Imitation Tasks By Second Language Speakers, Yan Xun

Open Access Dissertations

The present study investigated the processing of formulaic language, in an effort to examine how the use of formulaic language may or may not contribute to second language (L2) fluency in speaking performance. To examine the effect of formulaic language on L2 fluency, this study utilized elicited imitation (EI) tasks designed to measure general English language proficiency in order to compare repetition of individual sentences containing formulaic sequences (FS) to repetition of sentences that do not. In addition to the presence of FS, the length of stimuli sentences was manipulated and compared to a second independent variable. Responses to EI …

Service Learning And Assessment: A Brief Overview, Katherine Paschetto

Assessment & Accountability in Student Affairs & Higher Education (CNS 610)

No abstract provided.

A Qualitative Case Study On Parental Involvement In A Midwestern Urban Charter School District: Perspectives Of Parents, Teachers, And Administrators, Amanda N. Aldridge

Dissertations

Research has shown that there can be a positive impact on the child’s academic achievement when parents are closely involved with the child’s schooling. When parents are involved in the school, they understand what is being taught in the classroom and are usually encouraged to extend the learning at home. When parents value education, students succeed. When parents are invested and show an interest in their child’s school, they develop a sense of pride for the school and tend to support the school and teachers in their decisions. This cooperative attitude allows for better, open communication and a team attitude …

Writing Observable And Measurable Learning Objectives, Eli Collins-Brown

Assessment in Action Conference

This session will show participants how to write learning objectives (or outcomes) that are useful to the student and essential for faculty who want to improve student learning and assessment in their courses. Writing observable and measurable outcomes is not a difficult task once you learn the process to follow. By the end of this session, participants will be able to distinguish between content, learning activities and learning objectives and apply the three-step process for writing observable and measurable learning objectives.

Rubrics: The Good, The Great And The Awesome, David S. Reinhold

Assessment in Action Conference

The basic contents of a good rubric will be discussed, as well as the versatility of rubrics. The session will spend some time on rubric calibration and introduce how rubrics can be used for both grading and assessment.

Let's Talk About Assessment!, David S. Reinhold

Assessment in Action Conference

This presentation was from the plenary session at the Western Michigan University Assessment in Action Conference 2015 which took place on Friday, April 3. The session was an interactive discussion highlighting some of the main topics of assessment. Attendees were asked to respond to various questions regarding assessment issues using clickers and each question was followed by a group discussion of the results. The session also laid the framework for the sessions presented at the conference that day.

Using Assessment To Improve Teaching And Learning, Amy Bentz

Assessment in Action Conference

In this session, there was a discussion regarding the differences between formative and summative assessments, as well as how to utilize both types of assessment strategies to improve learning and teaching. Best practices were be shared and specific examples were provided. Participants left the session with multiple assessment techniques that could be utilized in the classroom.

Assessment Resources: How Do I Find The Help I Need?, Karen Stokes Chapo

Assessment in Action Conference

If you are searching for best practices for assessment and/or education and assistance with all things pertaining to assessment of student learning, this session will show you where to find some reliable and useful online resources including information about local assessment conferences.

Writing Your Student Support Unit Assessment Plan: Tips, Techniques, And Resources, Anne Lundquist, Cari Robertson

Assessment in Action Conference

Working on your student support unit assessment plan? Want some guidance on how to get started, keep moving, or wrap it up? We will share tips, suggestions and ideas for any phase of the process. We will also highlight best practices from other institutions.

You've Collected Tons Of Assessment Data, Now What?, David S. Reinhold

Assessment in Action Conference

The early results of Academic Program Planning at Western Michigan University in 2015 indicate that many units within the university are having some issues with closing the assessment loop. Data is gathered and reported, but often times, program improvements are not the result of data analysis. This session discussed how we can keep our eye on the assessment prize, continuous improvement.