Assessment of Competence in Radiography Education

An action research project concerning the development of clinical assessment procedures in radiography education investigated the views of university‐based clinical lecturers and hospital radiographers concerning the existing assessment framework. Based on the outcomes of this initial review a revised summative assessment tool was developed, including assessment of professional conduct as well as technical competence. Evaluative comment from radiographers and students on the trialling of the tool was positive, and would seem to indicate a sound basis for further development.     

Formatives Assessment im Leseunterricht der Grundschule – Implementation und Wirksamkeit eines modularen,materialgestützten Konzepts

Definitions of formative assessment include assessment, feedback and differentiated instruction as key components. We investigated the effects of prepared teaching materials designed to support teachers using learning progress assessment (LPA) to give feedback and adapt differentiated instruction. We also examined to what extend this modular approach can be implemented in regular reading lessons in third grade. In a three-group design all teachers (N?=?44, N?=?945 students) employed a computer-based LPA tool, while teachers in two conditions additionally received prepared feedback material (FB) or feedback and reading instruction material (FB+FM), to support the implementation of the different components of formative assessment. Over the course of one schoolyear, we assessed the implementation outcomes using questionnaires as well as students’ reading achievement and further student outcomes. While acceptability is high, teacher ratings of feasibility are low. In comparison to the LPA group, the additional support in form of prepared materials had no effects on student outcomes. Results are discussed regarding the question of how teachers can optimally be supported in using formative assessment.     

Facilitating Student Learning,the Assessment of Learning,and Curricular Improvement Through a Graduate Social Work Integrative Seminar

Social work programs undertake to educate competent professionals and to promote critical thinking among students who are expected to become lifelong learners. In addition, programs are called on to develop reliable and valid measures for assessing student learning outcomes and to use assessment results to reflect upon and strengthen curriculum. This study explores the use of a graduate integrative seminar to accomplish these goals. The authors describe the learning and assessment processes of the seminar. The authors used a mixed-method research design to analyze data from students over a 3-year period regarding the effectiveness of the seminar as well as from graduate faculty regarding student achievement of curricular objectives. Results indicate that formative assessment processes promote student learning in a manner that mobilizes students to strive for excellence, and that an embedded measure of learning outcomes in the form of a final integrative project may serve as a rigorous assessment tool.     

The importance of gender in the assessment of historical knowledge

Current efforts to assess higher education have highlighted the need for better evaluation of student outcomes and educational needs. Several recent studies have called for an increase in the use of tests as part of assessment activities. However, assessment research has not evaluated whether tests are an appropriate technique for measuring student outcomes, particularly when women or minority students are involved. Using data gathered from a 1992 historical knowledge exam, this study illustrates how the assessment of women's academic achievements can be distorted by using tests as measures of student outcomes. At the same time, the results indicate a need to rethink how we teach history at the university level. Consequently, this paper suggests that the use of tests as an assessment tool should be limited to questions about curricular shortcomings and not be expanded as a means to evaluate student proficiency.     

ICT and pupil assessment

The role of pupil assessment in ICT is often seen by teachers as problematic. This article will explore the relationship of the two and will argue that research in assessment has not kept up with the opportunities offered by ICT. Conversely, some of the new developments in ‘assessment for learning’ have not yet found their way into ICT. The article will explore the various roles and relationships that ICT has in assessment, for example, the assessment of ICT skills, the assessment of curriculum learning when work is done with the aid of ICT, assessment within computer-assisted learning, and ICT as a tool in supporting the assessment process in general. It will also look at ways forward, including ‘assessment for learning’ (with its concern for questioning, feedback, sharing assessment criteria and self-assessment/peer assessment), and new outcomes that could be in­corporated into ICT.     

It’s not fair! Students and staff views on the equity of the procedures and outcomes of students’ choice of assessment methods

Giving students a choice of assessment methods is one approach to developing an inclusive curriculum. However, both staff and students raise concerns about its fairness, often described as its equity. This study investigates their perceptions of the fairness of the procedures and outcomes of this approach to assessment, in nine modules in a University setting. Using a tool validated as part of the study, students’ views on procedural fairness were gathered (n?=?370 students). In addition, seven module co-ordinators were interviewed. A seven-step approach to the design of the approach was used. The results demonstrated that students were satisfied that their assessment choices were fair in levels of support, feedback, information and, to a lesser extent, student workload and examples of assessment methods. In exploring fairness of the outcomes, the students’ grades were not significantly different between the two sets of choices. However, based on staff interviews, the overall grades were higher than previous cohorts and higher than average for current student cohorts in the institution. The discussion highlights some of the complex issues surrounding fairness (equity) using assessment choice and, in addition, the paper refers to some practical tools for its implementation.     

Curriculum Mapping: A Method to Assess and Refine Undergraduate Degree Programs

Over the past several decades, there has been increasing interest in program‐ and university‐level assessment and aligning learning outcomes to program content. Curriculum mapping is a tool that creates a visual map of all courses in the curriculum and how they relate to curriculum learning outcomes. Assessment tools/activities are often included in the curriculum map. The School of Food Science, a joint program between the Washington State Univ. and the Univ. of Idaho, recently completed a curriculum mapping and assessment exercise. The goal of this exercise was to determine the alignment of the undergraduate curriculum with program learning outcomes and the degree of student mastery of these outcomes. Curriculum learning outcomes were revised from existing learning outcomes to better align with university learning outcomes and the IFT Core Competencies. All undergraduate courses were mapped to the IFT Core Competencies, and several competencies were assessed to determine student mastery. The mapping and assessment activities revealed potential gaps and redundancies in course content, as well as student ability to meet standards for competency. The results of the mapping and assessment exercises will be used to refine the content delivered to undergraduate students in the School of Food Science, with the overall goal of increasing the quality of the education provided to these students and helping them to be more prepared for a successful career in food science.     

Curriculum assessment as a direct tool in ABET outcomes assessment in a chemical engineering programme

The chemical engineering programme at the United Arab Emirates University is designed to fulfil the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) (A–K) EC2000 criteria. The Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering has established a well-defined process for outcomes assessment for the chemical engineering programme in order to ensure that its graduates achieve the programme educational objectives. Different direct and indirect tools are implemented in the assessment process. Among these tools, the greatest weight in the assessment process has been given to the curriculum (30%). The course and curriculum assessment usually plays an important role in improving the course content and quality; as it should provide considerable information on the effectiveness of an academic programme. This paper aims to discuss the methods used to assess the courses/curriculum of the chemical engineering programme as an important direct tool in the assessment process for ABET accreditation. Application of the curriculum assessment results in the continuous improvement of chemical engineering programmes is also addressed.     

Not seeing the wood for the trees: developing a feedback analysis tool to explore feed forward in modularised programmes

This paper considers feedback in the context of modularised programmes in higher education in the UK. It is argued that the self-contained nature of modular assessment may limit feedback dialogue between staff and students to assignment-specific issues, and may impede student progress towards holistic programme-level aims and outcomes. A feedback profiling tool was developed to categorise feedback on draft and final work. The analysis of feedback on 63 samples of draft work and 154 samples of final work showed different patterns. There were more feedback comments on draft work, and the feedback comments were dominated by advice and critique, while the feedback comments on the final work were overwhelmingly dominated by praise. This pattern of feedback is problematised in terms of feed forward from one module to the next, as students work towards the development of programme-level outcomes. Ipsative feedback (on progress) and feed forward in terms of disciplinary-specific skills and programme-level outcomes are recommended to enable students to act on feedback on end-of-module work, and develop students’ capacity to recontextualise disciplinary-specific skills throughout a programme. Some developmental applications for the feedback profiling tool are also suggested.     

Sex does not matter: gender bias and gender differences in peer assessments of contributions to group work

This paper considers the possibility of gender bias in peer ratings for contributions to team assignments, as measured by an online self-and-peer assessment tool. The research was conducted to determine whether peer assessment led to reliable and fair marking outcomes. The methodology of Falchikov and Magin was followed in order to test their finding that gender has no discernable impact on peer ratings. Data from over 1500 participants at two universities enrolled in four different degree programmes were analysed. The research indicates an absence of gender bias in six case studies. The research also found that women received significantly higher ratings than men.     

Learning Stories – crossing borders: introducing qualitative early childhood observation techniques to early childhood practitioners in Saudi Arabia

Early childhood education has become a focus of government policy across the world. Part of the present increased interest in early childhood education has been a focus on curriculum frameworks and socio/cultural methods of assessment. Currently, New Zealand has emerged as a world leader in early childhood education, and observation and assessment techniques, developed in New Zealand, have become an international focus of research and pedagogic practice. One exemplar practice to have emerged from research in New Zealand is the assessment of children's learning. An assessment project, conducted at the instigation of the New Zealand Ministry of Education, was designed to recognise key outcomes from the New Zealand curriculum, Te Whāriki, and to provide practitioners with a tool that would assist in the development of assessment ideas and procedures. The result was Learning Stories. This present research explored the introduction of Learning Stories into Australia and investigated the potential of Learning Stories as an assessment tool for early childhood practitioners in the context of Saudi Arabia.     

The Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment and real-world outcomes: Cross-national applications

The Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment (HCTA) is a reliable measure of critical thinking that has been validated with numerous qualitatively different samples and measures of academic success (Halpern, 2010a). This paper presents several cross-national applications of the assessment, and recent work to expand the validation of the HCTA with real-world outcomes of critical thinking (e.g., contracting a sexual transmitted infection because you did not wear a condom). The real-world outcomes (RWO) inventory measures behavior in a wide range of domains, such as education, health, finance, and interpersonal relationships. Study 1 examined whether scores on the HCTA predicted real-world outcomes in three qualitatively different samples in the United States. Study 2 used the HCTA to assess the effectiveness of an online critical thinking course, and whether the HCTA predicted real-world outcomes in Ireland. Study 3 describes preliminary research involving the translation quality of the RWO (into Spanish and Portuguese) and explored differences in behaviors in the two countries. Overall, the HCTA is a useful tool for assessing critical thinking and predicts real-world outcomes of critical thinking. Cross-national implications and applications are discussed.     

Bases of competence: an instrument for self and institutional assessment

The Bases of Competence model provides a general framework for learner‐centred skill development and programme‐focused outcomes assessment. Based on previous research, the Bases of Competence model describes 17 skills and four base competencies important to graduates to achieve high performance in the workplace. Taking this work from research to relevant educational application as a tool for student self‐assessment and institutional outcomes assessment is the focus of this paper. Results from a multi‐year, multi‐course assessment initiative indicate that students rate themselves stronger in the foundation base competencies of Communicating and Managing Self, and weaker in more complex competencies of Managing People and Tasks and Mobilising Innovation and Change. Comparisons of skill confidence within each base competence as well as between year, student level, gender and beginning versus end of semester are presented as well. These results are discussed and suggestions made for programme design.     

Use of Feedback-Oriented Online Exercises to Help Physiology Students Construct Well-Organized Answers to Short-Answer Questions

Postsecondary education often requires students to use higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as analysis, evaluation, and creation as they assess situations and apply what they have learned during lecture to the formulation of solutions. Summative assessment of these abilities is often accomplished using short-answer questions (SAQs). Quandary was used to create feedback-oriented interactive online exercises to help students strengthen certain HOCS as they actively constructed answers to questions concerning the regulation of 1) metabolic rate, 2) blood sugar, 3) erythropoiesis, and 4) stroke volume. Each exercise began with a SAQ presenting an endocrine dysfunction or a physiological challenge; students were prompted to answer between six and eight multiple-choice questions while building their answer to the SAQ. Student outcomes on the SAQ sections of summative exams were compared before and after the introduction of the online tool and also between subgroups of students within the posttool-introduction population who demonstrated different levels of participation in the online exercises. While overall SAQ outcomes were not different before and after the introduction of the online exercises, once the SAQ tool had become available, those students who chose to use it had improved SAQ outcomes compared with those who did not.     

The Use of Decision Cases to Foster Critical Thinking in Social Work Students

This article discusses the vital importance of developing critical thinking skills in social work students and explores the use of case-based instruction as a means of fostering those skills. The challenges inherent in the teaching and assessment of critical thinking are addressed. The history and theoretical underpinnings for the use of decision cases as a valid and efficacious teaching tool are presented. Literature evaluating the outcomes of the case method and related strategies is reviewed.     

Exploring formative assessment as a tool for learning: students’ experiences of different methods of formative assessment

This study aims to provide a greater insight into how formative assessments are experienced and understood by students. Two different formative assessment methods, an individual, written assessment and an oral group assessment, were components of a pathology course within a medical curriculum. In a cohort of 70 students, written accounts were collected from 17 students and group interviews were carried out to explore the students’ experiences of these two forms of assessment. All students were engaged in both assessment methods, which were conducted a few weeks apart, and data were collected soon after each assessment. Our findings suggest that formative assessments motivate students to study, make them aware of what they have learned and where they need to study more. Thus, formative assessment can act as a tool for learning, contributing to the process and outcomes of learning. A closer look at students’ experiences of each form of assessment reveals interesting differences.     

Strategies for Increasing Faculty Involvement in Institutional or Program Assessment

This narrative research study was conducted to explore the experiences of full-time community college faculty members involved in student learning outcomes assessment. Prior research documented the need for more community college faculty involvement with assessment at the program and institutional levels (Grunwald & Peterson, 2003; Kinzie, 2010; Nunley, Bers, & Manning, 2011); however, little research had been published about faculty experiences with assessment at these levels. This study adds to the body of literature about community college faculty participation with assessment by sharing the perspectives of faculty members who had participated with either program or institutional assessment on their campus. One-hour semi-structured interviews with nine participants at three different 2-year institutions recognized for their assessment processes provided the data for the study. The size of this study was limited to nine participants so that an in-depth exploration of each participant’s experience with assessment could be conducted. The shared experiences of the participants in this study revealed that faculty involvement with assessment beyond the course level was primarily influenced by faculty perception of assessment being valued as a tool for institutional improvement. Three indicators of the value placed on assessment by these institutions were that they: (a) allocated resources (time and training) for assessment, (b) clearly articulated the goals of assessment at their institution, and (c) demonstrated how assessment results were used in institutional decision-making. This study also revealed that faculty members’ prior experience working with assessment and individual skills or abilities also influenced decisions to become involved with assessment.     

Developing a Multi-Dimensional Early Elementary Mathematics Screener and Diagnostic Tool: The Primary Mathematics Assessment

There is a critical need to identify primary level students experiencing difficulties in mathematics to provide immediate and targeted instruction that remediates their deficits. However, most early math screening instruments focus only on the concept of number, resulting in inadequate and incomplete information for teachers to design intervention efforts. We propose a mathematics assessment that screens and provides diagnostic information in six domains that are important to building a strong foundation in mathematics. This article describes the conceptual framework and psychometric qualities of a web-based assessment tool, the Primary Math Assessment (PMA). The PMA includes a screener to identify students at risk for poor math outcomes and a diagnostic tool to provide a more in-depth profile of children’s specific strengths and weaknesses in mathematics. The PMA allows teachers and school personnel to make better instructional decisions by providing more targeted analyses.     

Making Critical Connections Between Social Studies Teaching and Student Achievement Using NAEP Data Explorer

In this analysis of promising practice, we demonstrate how social studies methods instructors can incorporate data analysis of the 2010 United States History National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP–USH) to facilitate pedagogical aims, engage teacher candidates in critical discourse, and investigate the contexts of teaching and learning. The NAEP data explorer application is a valuable tool for examining social studies theory and practice in relation to student learning outcomes. Our assessment of teacher candidates' responses to the activity leads to the recommendation that NAEP data analysis and results encourage self-evaluation of instructional practices while simultaneously supporting critical interpretations of the NAEP exam.