strategies – Assessment by Design

Do It Yourself

Posted on March 22, 2016 by mmcmull5 — No Comments ↓

My husband and I decided after 15 years in the same house that we were exceedingly tired of our kitchen. The kitchen is original to the house which was built in 1964 and has gone through a few half-hearted face-lifts but truly needs to be gutted and reimagined. The planning stage of this type of project is always the most fun. We picked out flooring and cabinets, discussed paint colors and wall treatments. That represents the fun part of Do-It-Yourself (DIY). The decidedly harder part is bringing these plans and choices to life. At the Assessment Conference next month, the Office of Outcomes Assessment will offer a breakout session to discuss some basic DIY strategies as they apply to assessment on campus. The tasks associated with building and then maintaining a culture of assessment necessarily change over time. Sometimes you just need a little sprucing up with a quick touch-up here or there, and other times it is important to Continue reading Do It Yourself→

New Beginnings!

Posted on August 18, 2015 by mmcmull5 — No Comments ↓

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!→