Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning

What Is It?

For our purposes Student Evaluation and Assessment refers to the process used to gather evidence of the achievement of the Student Learning Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs).

Who Can Use It?

Montana Tech Instructors

What is it

1. All Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes (SLOs) are specific, well-defined, and measurable.
   1. Learning Objectives are measurable, observable, objective, repeatable, and ideally based upon Bloom’s Taxonomy.  A good explanation of Bloom’s Taxonomy can be found Harvard: https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/taxonomies-learning and a list of verbs for each cognitive level can be found here:  Action Words for Bloom’s Taxonomy | CTE - Miami University (miamioh.edu). Additional resources for assistance in this area can be had by contacting Kathryn Fitzgerald-McCormick at kfitzgeraldmccorm@mtech.edu
   2. For each outcome to be met, the assignments where the outcome is introduced,  reinforced, and mastered should be defined in some fashion within the course itself of the syllabus.
2.  The grading policy should be provided in a manner that clearly defines expectations for the course and respective assignments
   1. Submission policies for all assignments should be clearly stated. This includes the type of file to be submitted and any length or citations requirements.
   2. The grading scale and any weighting of assignments should be available in the assignment itself or in the syllabus.
   3. Deadlines and any penalties for late submission should be added to the assignment.
3.  The learning activities (including the assignments and ungraded activities) promote the achievement of the SLOs.
   1. Learning activities should include an explanation of how they contribute to the achievement of any stated SLO. For example, a quiz asking students to identify and label body parts would align with an objective such as “Students will be able to identify and label body parts of a human female”. A forum having students talk about various body parts, would not align with the objective.
   2. Assignments that do not clearly align to an objective or outcome should not be used in your courses.
4. The assessment instruments (e.g., rubrics, grading sheets) are detailed and appropriate to the student work and respective outcomes being assessed. This includes assessing modes of online participation and contributions.
   1. There should be multiple means by which students can demonstrate mastery of the topics, such as research projects, quizzes, papers, presentations, or multimedia projects.
   2. Student contributions in online discussions should be graded on quality of their contributions as well as their online participation. This can be accomplished by using a grading rubric for participation. Rubrics can be built and assigned to discussions within Moodle. Some examples of participation rubrics can be found at UCF here: https://topr.online.ucf.edu/discussion-rubrics/
5. Throughout the semester, the instructor should provide multiple opportunities to give feedback on students learning and to help students “self-check” their learning.
   1. Ungraded tests can be used for this purpose such as practice tests, shirt assessments embedded in your lectures or content, and providing drafts of papers for feedback.
   2. Requiring students to submit a weekly summary for comprehension check is another approach.
   3. Using Moodle Forums for peer review and for instructor/student Q&A sessions can accomplish this as well.
   4. Graded work should include timely qualitative and quantitative feedback for students.

Ideas:

• Add numbers to your outcomes and objectives and append onto your assignments. For instance: This assignment meets Course Outcome 2 and 4.
• Create a rubric in Moodle and use it for grading submissions. For discussions, use a single discussion rubric across all discussions to provide consistency and for ease of use.
• Break your online lecture into chunks and ask students to complete a comprehension check prior to accessing the next lecture section.
• Create a document for grading that includes responses to common student errors on tests. You can use this to cut paste clarifications into your grading comments.