Enhancing the Quality of both
Student Learning and Faculty
Teaching through Assessment
Assessment
Assessment: a term applied to a wide range of approaches
used to measure educational effectiveness.
• Formative
Provide faculty with
timely information on
what, how much, and
how well students are
learning.
“Student Learning”
• Summative
Provide information
summarizing how much has
been achieved at a specific
point in time relative to some
content standards.
“Student Achievement”
Formative and summative assessments are not mutually
exclusive.
Teaching: a dynamic act of
communication
Message
Student
Faculty
Vehicle used
for sending
message
Teaching: a dynamic act of
communication
•
Faculty need to:
– identify what they want to communicate (teach) to their
students.
– make sure students know explicitly what the goals and
objectives are for the course in general or for the topic covered
in class in particular.
– recognize and adapt to the increasing diversity of background
variables in the student population.
– select appropriate means to convey or deliver the “message”.
– determine on a timely manner, the extent to which students are
learning and actively participating in the learning experience.
Learning: a dynamic act of
communication
•
Students need to:
– Cope with course requirements.
– Manage time and effort in a cost-effective manner.
– Understand the new material in relation to previous knowledge.
– Engage actively with the course content.
– Develop an independent approach for understanding new
ideas.
– Move from reproducing knowledge to transforming it and
applying it to new situations.
– Make use of most if not all the resources available to enhance
the learning experience.
An Example of Assessment
Video-Clips For General
Chemistry Lab Experiments
Difficulties in Freshman Chemistry
Lab experiments
• Students are not familiar with common
laboratory equipment:
– Correct names of glassware and other
equipment.
– Proper handling of equipment.
Difficulties in Freshman Chemistry
Lab experiments
• Students are not familiar with laboratory
techniques and safety precautions:
– Correct experimental set ups.
– Proper handling of chemicals.
– Proper disposal of waste.
– Efficiency during the experiment.
Difficulties in Freshman Chemistry
Lab experiments
• Students have difficulties grasping the
conceptual component of the experiment:
– Purpose of the experiment.
– Proper handling of data collected.
– Anticipate sources of error.
– What to do if a mistake is made during the
experiment.
Assessment of students’ attitudes towards a novel
pre-lab approach in Introductory General Chemistry
Laboratory-Fall 2005
• In the fall of 2005, video clips for the lab experiments for general
chemistry (CHE 111) were made available for students to view and
familiarize themselves with the experiment scheduled for each
week.
• The clip showed the basic experimental set up and important
procedural steps.
• The duration for each video clip was about 2-3 minutes.
• Students were asked to fill out a survey (anonymous) which was
then analyzed using the Lickert scale: 1= strongly agree, 2 = agree,
3 = neutral, 4 = disagree, 5 = strongly disagree
Sixty one students participated in the survey and the results are
tabulated below:
Question
#
Question
#Students who
Agreed (1&2)
#Students who
Disagreed (4&5)
#Students who
were neutral (3)
1
CHE 111-My anxiety level for doing the
lab was reduced after viewing the video
clip.
34
18
9
2
CHE 111- I was confident to carry out the
experiment after watching the video clip.
31
15
15
3
CHE 111- Answering the Pre-lab
Questions related to the video clip helped
me be prepared for the lab.
29
20
12
4
CHE 111- Having viewed the
experimental set up I did not seek the
teaching assistant’s help as much while
performing the experiment in lab.
CHE 113- It would have been beneficial
to have video clips available for the CHE
113 experiments for the winter quarter.
33
13
15
42
9
10
CHE 113- Having been through the
experience once, I feel confident to carry
out the experiments without the video
clips for CHE 113.
19
19
22
5
6
% Students
CHE 111 students response to the video-clip survey
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Agreed
Disagreed
Neutral
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Survey Question
Q5
Q6
• Overall, the majority of students have a positive response to the use
of video clips as a pedagogical tool for enhancing their laboratory
experience in the class.
• It would be interesting to create video clips for CHE 113 and CHE
115 experiments and proceed to further assess the goodness of this
pedagogical approach.
• Link to access the video clips
(http://chemistry.che.depaul.edu/rparra/Courses/CHE_111/Fall_05/C
HE_111_05.htm)
An Example of Classroom
Assessment
Problem-solving and Self-reflecting
in CHE113 (W2009)
Problem-solving and Self-reflecting in
CHE113 (W2009)
• Common issues:
– Students tend to work on problems near the
exam day.
– Students tend to go to office hours also near
the exam day.
– Students rarely reflect on their ways to solve
problems.
Problem-solving and Self-reflecting in
CHE113 (W2009)
• Plan:
– Assign a list of problems/exercises from the textbook. Students
are required to turn in detailed, explicitly work out solutions of
these problems. The homework exercises will contribute 15% to
overall grade. However, to earn any points in these assignments
students must include a complete a self-assessment report for
the assignment.
Problem-solving and Self-reflecting in
CHE113 (W2009)
• Objectives:
– Increase the frequency of students going to office hours. During
office hours, I can help students enhance their quality of learning
in a cost-effective manner.
– Help students take better advantage of the review sessions with
their course assistant or SI leader.
– Help students become self-directed learners by determining
what strategies would be more effective for a student’s specific
learning styles.
Problem-solving and Self-reflecting in
CHE113 (W2009)
• Results:
– A notable increase in the frequency of students asking for
clarification on concepts, learning strategies, and so on during
office hours, and beyond.
– I got timely feedback on what seemed to be a major issue or
issues with regard to a particular concept. I then addressed
these issues in class ASAP.
– I also provided feedback to individual students and to the whole
class .
Problem-solving and Self-reflecting: Actual Example
Exercise #
Self-assessment report
8-1
I understand how to do this exercise. I found
this to be an easy problem after going over
the notes.
I found this problem to be very difficult.
What made it difficult for me was how to
apply the change in volume to the problem.
After some help from a friend I understand
how to arrive at the answer. However, I need
to go over this again to fully understand.
I understand 100% how to do this problem. It
took me awhile to figure out how to
determine which one is the strongest because
you have to multiply each constant by –log.
I had a lot of difficulty with this problem
because you don’t set up the constant the
same as we did in chapter 7. I need to go over
this one again to better understand it.
Average understanding of these problems. I
especially need to go over number 9 and 21
and other problems similar to these.
8-9
8-13
8-21
Overall
90% or
more
understa
nding
100%
More than
80% but
less than
90%
Less than
80%
85%
100%
60%