November 2006 - Assessment

Have you ever said to yourself, "I hate marking"? The following issue looks at how to creatively develop more meaning assessment strategies. We have included a podcast as well as linked resources that further explore the topic of assessment.

Podcast - Oral Exams in health sciences
Featuring: Dr. Otto Sanchez, Associate Dean, Health Sciences, UOIT
Interviewers: Bill Muirhead, Associate Provost Teaching and Learning

Play it / hear it - MP3 file - 2.1 MB

Mapping Student Progress through the collaborative inquiry process: the progressive e-poster

By Kathy Takayama and John Wilson, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales

Biology education has remained predominantly content-centric focused on prescribed activities with little autonomy. This article addresses the creation of collaborative learning communities and the enhancement of learning through individual and group reflection and analysis of the scientific inquiry process. The aim of this project was to shift the assessment-driven motivation of students toward intrinsic motivation through collaborative inquiry, and encourage them to reflect on their own learning.

http://science.uniserve.edu.au/pubs/procs/wshop10/2005Takayama.pdf

The impact of assessment on student learning

By Chris Rust, Oxford Brookes University,UK

In the context of a worldwide paradigm shift towards student-centred outcomes-based approaches, and at a time when many departments are developing learning, teaching and assessment strategies, this article reviews what the research literature says about the impact of assessment on students’ learning. It then proceeds to translate
this information into practical suggestions for practice.

http://alh.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/3/2/145.pdf

Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment

By The Committee on the Foundations of Assessment, James W. Pellegrino, Naomi Chudowsky, and Robert Glaser, editors, Board on Testing and Assessment, Center for Education, National Research Council

This book, written in 2001, is available free on the Web by the National Academies Press.

http://newton.nap.edu/openbook/0309072727/html/index.html

Learning Assessment module on FacDev.ca

FacDev.ca, a Canadian faculty development Web site, has an online module called Learning Assessment to take you through the process of reflecting on and developing meaningful assessments. UOIT and Durham College are members. If you are new to the site, click on New to facdev.ca to register. Register using your school email address.

http://facdev.ca/index.aspx

Recommended Reading:

Assessing Skills And Practice (Hardcover)
by Ruth Pickford (Author), Sally Brown (Author)

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