Category Archives: General Assessment Info

General information about the Office of Outcomes Assessment at JCCC and assessment in higher education.

Back to Basics: Revisiting Bloom’s Taxonomy

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A common challenge in college teaching is keeping course objectives, program outcomes and classroom assessments in alignment. As we construct our assessment instruments, course assignments, and test questions, are we also considering where on the cognitive ladder we are asking our students to think? In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of three domains:  Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge), Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude), Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills). Within this cognitive domain, Bloom identified six levels from the simple recall or recognition of facts at the bottom level through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels to the highest order thinking characterized as evaluation.  This representation of the levels of thinking is widely known in education circles as “Bloom’s Taxonomy.” Figure 1 – Original version of Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy Bloom found that over 95 % of the test questions students encountered in the classroom require them to think only Continue reading Back to Basics: Revisiting Bloom’s Taxonomy→

Takeaways on Giveaways

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I recently participated in a conference call with the Regional Assessment Coordinating Council.  We regularly confer as we prepare for the April assessment conference.   One agenda item during this meeting was discussion about the type of “bling” we should offer conference participants this year.  In the past, we’ve provided useful items like insulated travel cups, mugs, tote bags, coasters, etc.  Our call ended with all council members promising to do some further investigating with the intent of sharing their respective findings during our January conference call. So I began to wonder, exactly what kind of “bling” is appropriate for an assessment conference? In pondering this conundrum, my mind wandered just a bit and led me to come up with more of a list of “best ever” giveaway options for assessment folks. I know I would very much like to discover the following tucked inside my conference bag: Magic dust that I could spread on any faculty members resistant to assessment Continue reading Takeaways on Giveaways→

Time and Space

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Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased. —John Steinbeck I enjoy discovering quotes. In fact, I have saved a few particularly poignant ones that I would be happy to share if you want to drop by my office. Recently, I came across this one by John Steinbeck. I’m a fan of several of Steinbeck’s books, but, interestingly, I didn’t find this in a book. It appeared in one of those little “inspirational” calendars that are very popular gifts at this time of year and for which it seems wholly appropriate. As I was musing on the quote, it came to me that assessment is very much like a trip that continues “long after movement…have ceased.” When assessing students, the movement generated in the collecting of data on student learning has an impact on the curriculum long after the actual data collection has stopped. With the act of analyzing the data, this movement amplifies as Continue reading Time and Space→

We Are All in the Same Boat

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All of my life, I have heard the phrase, “We’re all in the same boat.”  Growing up on the water in Florida gave me ample opportunity to hear it.  I recently tried to track down the original quote and found references all the way back to Sophocles, so I think it is safe to say that it has been operative for quite a long time. I thought of this phrase recently in chatting with some colleagues from a community college in St. Louis.  The campus is bringing a team here to JCCC in October to visit with our office and the college’s Assessment Council about assessment issues.  They want to know how we are approaching assessment, what is working well, and what doesn’t work.  I believe they are hoping we have a magic pill that we can share that will help them engage more of their faculty in assessment initiatives on campus. It is a conversation I have often with Continue reading We Are All in the Same Boat→

Assessment is Like a Chicago Hot Dog

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I was recently in Chicago for a conference and made my regular pilgrimage to obtain the ultimate of all hot dogs, a true Chicago dog.  Now, please understand that in my family we considers ourselves connoisseurs of hot dogs:  my dad loved them, my brothers still find them tasty, and I’ve certainly consumed my fair share of them. But let’s be honest, there is just something special about a Chicago dog. First of all, the Chicago hot dog has LOTS of ingredients.  The hot dog has to be served in a poppy-seed bun with yellow mustard and white onions, and should be smothered in sweet pickle relish with a touch of mint.  Next added are a couple of peppers, some tomatoes, a kosher dill pickle spear, and just a pinch of celery salt.  My very favorite version includes an all-beef “char-dog” where the hot dog is grilled over charcoal.  Now that is the penultimate hot dog treat! You would think Continue reading Assessment is Like a Chicago Hot Dog→

Joining the Debate: Does Assessment Matter?

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I have read with interest an ongoing debate taking place in the Chronicle of Higher Education and on some assessment listservs to which I subscribe. The basic question is this: after two decades of colleges doing assessment work, is there evidence that such work is efficacious?  I really don’t mind the question; it is a wholly appropriate question to ask ourselves. Unfortunately, the writer of the Chronicle article that generated all the chatter tied assessment activities specifically to accreditation requirements.  He questions whether accrediting bodies should still stress assessment as one of the criterion for accreditation.  Honestly, I prefer we go back to the original and most fundamental question upon which good assessment is based: “How do we know our students are learning?” The posts and opinions I have read in response to the article suggest to me that the problems we face regarding assessment exist on several levels. While I haven’t posted my two-cents’ worth online, I will share my Continue reading Joining the Debate: Does Assessment Matter?→

New Beginnings!

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I love the beginning of a new school year.  Everything seems fresh and new.  New students, new classes, and, of course, new assessments! If you are a faculty member, the beginning of the academic year is a great time to consider if assessment strategies from last year accomplished your goals.  Did the rubric measure what you expected?  Did the pre/post test show the gains that your students achieved?  Did students meet the benchmarks you established?  Were the student results well over, or well under the mark? These are some pertinent questions to ponder as you review assessment strategies for the coming year: What student learning did you measure? Did the assessment instrument capture the learning as expected? If not, can the instrument be tweaked? Or Do you need to start over? How are you examining the assessment data? Are you looking beyond averages? Is the data evenly distributed? Are there large gaps in performance? How will you impact the curriculum Continue reading New Beginnings!→