Thinking about Assessment

1. Thinking about Assessment Presented by Katherine R. Rowell, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Sinclair Community College

2. What is assessment? • What have you heard? • What is meant by formative assessment? • What is meant by summative assessment? • A special note on quantitative literacy

3. Definitions: Assessment • The Higher Learning Commission defines assessment of student learning in the following way: • “Assessment of student learning is a participatory, iterative process that: • Provides data/information you need on your students’ learning • Engages you and others in analyzing and using this data/information to confirm and improve teaching and learning • Produces evidence that students are learning the outcomes you intended • Guides you in making educational and institutional improvements • Evaluates whether changes made improve/impact student learning, and documents the learning and your efforts.” • http://medsci.indiana.edu/m620/reserves/def_assess.pdf

4. Definition Formative Assessment • Formative Assessment (Practice) • Formative assessment is often done at the beginning or during a program, thus providing the opportunity for immediate evidence for student learning in a particular course or at a particular point in a program. Classroom assessment is one of the most common formative assessment techniques. The purpose of this technique is to improve quality of student learning and should not be evaluative or involve grading students. This can also be used to monitor learning during a class. • Classroom Assessment Techniques (Cross and Angelo)

5. Definition: Summative Assessment • Summative Assessment (Evaluation) • Summative assessment is comprehensive in nature, provides accountability and is used to check the level of learning at the end of the program. Thus the program would conduct summative assessment at the end of the program to ensure students have met the program goals and objectives. Attention should be given to using various methods and measures in order to have a comprehensive plan. Ultimately, the foundation for an assessment plan is to collect summative assessment data and this type of data can stand-alone.

6. Definition: Quantitative Literacy • http://www.msmc.la.edu/academics/quantitative-literacy-program/definition-of-quantitative-literacy.asp • http://www.maa.org/features/QL.html

7. Assessing Quantitative Literacy • American Association of Colleges and Universities Quantitative Literacy Rubric (intended to be summative used at the end of a program) • http://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/pdf/QuantitativeLiteracy.pdf • http://serc.carleton.edu/nnn/QLprojects.html

8. SSDAN note on Assessment • http://www.ssdan.net/datacounts/modules_assessment.html

9. Rubrics • What is a rubric? • How many use one? • Helpful sites on rubrics: • http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/rubric.htm • http://serc.carleton.edu/quirk/Assessment/index.html • http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/webdesign/Assessment/index.html • Pros and Cons of Rubrics

10. Pedagogical Practice and Assessment • Assessment strategies should be combined with good pedagogical practice • Importance of Integrating Data Analysis Early and Often in the Sociology Undergraduate Curriculum • Scaffolding and Practice (formative assessment)opportunities • Example: Table Reading Exercises • Importance of Immediate Feedback • Importance Draft project opportunities

11. What can you assess with your module? • Pre-Post test comfort with numerical information (did using these materials increase interest/confidence in working with numbers?) • Assess quantitative skills • Assess to what extent using quantitative skills increasing learning of the content of sociology • Critical Thinking • Look at module grade and correlate with overall class grade • Other?