Techniques for Improving
Student Learning Outcomes
Lynn M. Forsythe
Ida M. Jones
Deborah J. Kemp
Craig School of Business
California State University, Fresno
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Introduction: Central Issues
• Student performance in the
introductory, required business law
class was affected by student’s lack of
preparation
• Surveys: students failure to read textbook
• Diagnostic test: many students cannot read
well enough to understand the textbook.
• Critical thinking skills needed work
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Course Redesign
• Title V funded
• High failure rate course
• Implemented Fall 2011Present
Our focus
Improved student learning
(not on just passing
students through)
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Course Redesign: Format
• National Center for Academic
Transformation (http://www.thencat.org/)
• 6 types of course redesign
– Range from Supplemental to Linked
Workshop
• We selected supplemental
“supplement[s] lectures and textbooks with
technology-based, out-of-class activities, or
b) also changes what goes on in the class by
creating an active learning environment…”
(NCAT http://www.thencat.org/PlanRes/R2R_ModCrsRed.htm)
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Course Redesign: Organization
• Outline of the plan for BA 18
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Common syllabus
Pre-tests and post-tests
Low stakes chapter quizzes
Critical thinking test
Pearson’s My Skills Lab (reading,
writing & study skills)
• Faculty Updates
– Faculty Learning Community format for
meetings among all course instructors
– Blackboard organization
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General Reflections
• We tried to do too
much
• Concern about the
death of academic
freedom
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Question to Audience
• How many teach course with common
syllabus, common tests, common finals?
• What are your goals?
– Rewarding improvement;
– Rewarding changes;
– Moving from less knowledge to more but not
necessarily most
– Satisfying accreditation standards
– Maintaining rigor & consistency
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Overview of 5 Topics
• Common syllabus
– Purpose: to improve student performance
across all sections and to make the student
experience more consistent
• Pre-tests and post-tests
– Purpose: to find out how much students know
when they enter the class and when they
complete the class
• Low stakes chapter quizzes on student
reading
– Purpose: to encourage students to read text
chapters and to read them prior to class
discussion of the topics
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Overview of 5 Topics continued
• Critical thinking test
– Purpose: to measure the ability of
students to think critically and improve
their critical thinking skills
• My Skills Lab by Pearson
– Purpose: to improve student skills in
reading, writing, and studying
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Common Syllabus: Goals
• To present consistent information
across sections
• To reduce professor-shopping
• To promote learning in the same topic
areas
– Content
– Weight
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Common Syllabus
• What worked:
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Good idea and works well
University template used as a base
Includes statement about study expectations
Helpful for lecturers and new faculty
Developed by group with substantial buy in by faculty
Maintains flexibility for faculty
• Challenges
– Encouraging students to read and use syllabus as a
resource
– Reaching agreement on some elements (e.g., weight of
items)
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Pre-tests and Post-tests
• To measure how much students
know at the beginning of the course
and be able to compare that with
how much they know at the end of
the course.
• To discover whether course
instruction is effective.
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Pre-tests and Post-tests continued
Challenges
•Content of the tests
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Choosing appropriate topics
Finding and creating test questions
Determining validity and reliability of questions
Determining the optimal length of the test
• Weighing pre-test and post-test in overall course
grades
– Most faculty count the pre-test as 2-4% of the
course grade.
– The pre-test should count enough for students to
take it seriously.
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Pre-tests and Post-tests continued
• Administering the pre-test
– Online or not
– During class time or not
• Should we inform students that the
pre-test questions will be on the final?
• Discouraging teaching to the test: a
delicate balancing act.
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Pre-tests and post-tests continued
• Is this a movement towards a
common final?
• What needs improvement?
– The current pre-test is not evenly
distributed across the material.
– It does not include many application
questions. It tests terminology.
– Different business law texts use various
terms for the same concepts.
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Low Stakes Chapter Quizzes
• To encourage students to read
the assigned chapters before
class discussion.
• To provide students with
feedback on their reading and
comprehension.
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Low Stakes Chapter QuizzesStructure
• Each quiz: 5 randomly selected questions
from a question pool, 10 minutes to answer
• Students could retake the quizzes; initially
unlimited times, then reduced to 5 times
• The highest score was counted towards
their course grade.
• Students completed the quizzes on
Blackboard outside of class.
• Source: test banks from textbook publishers
• Student and faculty handouts are available
on the conference web site.
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Low Stakes Chapter Quizzes:
Successes
• What Worked
– Results are immediate.
– Students believed the quiz encouraged
them to read the material
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Low Stakes Chapter Quizzes:
Challenges
• Challenges
– Weight of quizzes
– Blackboard glitches that required some
manual grading
– Security of quiz questions
– Small size of quiz pool
– Nature and type of questions (e.g., need
more application questions)
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Low Stakes Chapter Quizzes:
Reassessment
• What needs improvement?
– Assisting students to read and write
effectively
– Consistency among faculty as to how long
quizzes are available (e.g., 3 days, one
week)
– Consistency in administration by faculty (e.g.,
determining as a group whether students
could see quiz answers)
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Critical Thinking Test
• To improve students’ ability to
read and analyze text material
• To improve students’ ability to
apply legal theories to other
situations
• To improve students’ ability to
solve problems
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Critical Thinking Test
• Challenges
– Finding an appropriate test of critical
thinking
– Determining what elements of critical
thinking to assess
• Worked/Didn’t work
– Test selected was inappropriate
• Tested critical thinking vocabulary,
• Did not clearly test critical thinking skills
• Students did not find it to be useful
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My Skills Lab (Pearson)-Goals
• To help improve student reading
skills
• To help improve student writing skills
• To help improve student study skills
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My Skills Lab (Pearson)Challenges
• My Skills Lab—reading/writing diagnostic test
scores
– Get an accurate diagnostic (student resistance if
haven’t had problem in class)
– Difficult to correlate grades and reading ability on scale
and difficult to do easily
– Pearson should coordinate with professors and the
University
– University should do more to coordinate efforts to
develop an effective system to help students become
better prepared
• What Worked
– Student perceptions of value
– Diagnostics demonstrated need
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Course Redesign: What now?
• SIMPLIFY
• Join FLCs for critical thinking & My Skills Lab
• My Skills Lab
– Look at diagnostic test scores
– Grading
– Assess how well/whether it accomplished the related goals
• Assess the impact of the quizzes
– Improved reading skills?
– What’s the appropriate value to encourage taking quizzes
• Revise the pre-/post-test
• No critical thinking test-more research needed
• New effort to improve learning: Develop in class active
learning activity and quick assessment of it
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Where to go next
• Update common syllabus; add syllabus
quiz
• Common final
• Common assignment
• Continue to make adjustments to the
pre-test and post-test structure and the
low stakes chapter quizzes
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