Assessing for Learning
Presented by Peggy L. Maki
June 7, 2004
Seattle Pacific University
PeggyMaki@aol.com
Material from Maki, P. (2004). Assessing for Learning: Building a Sustainable Commitment Across
the Institution. Stylus Publishing and AAHE.
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How Do You Learn?
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Topics:
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Research on Learning That Informs
the Relationship among Teaching,
Learning, and Assessment
Curricular and Co-curricular
Coherence (Maps and Inventories)
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Development of Learning Outcome
Statements
Alignment of Assessment Methods
with Learning Outcome Statements
and Collective Educational Practices
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Terms:
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Learning Outcome Statements—
sentences that describe what we
expect our students to demonstrate,
represent or produce as a result of
how and what they learn.
Coherence—degree to which the
curriculum and co-curriculum
intentionally offer multiple and varied
opportunities for students to learn
what the institution and its programs
and services assert they teach
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Maps and Inventories—strategies that
enable us to ascertain how well we
intentionally develop what we assert
we expect students to learn
Alignment—degree to which learning
outcome statements match how and
what we teach; degree to which
assessment methods methods match
our collective educational practices
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Research on Learning That
Informs the Relationship among
Teaching, Learning, and
Assessment
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Learning is a complex process of
interpretation--not a linear process
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Learners create meaning as opposed
to receive meaning
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Knowledge is socially constructed
(importance of peer-to-peer
interaction)
People learn differently—prefer
certain ways of learning (learning
inventories, such as Kolb or Vark)
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Deep learning occurs over time—
transference
Meta-cognitive processes are a
significant means of reinforcing
learning (thinking about one’s
thinking)
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Learning involves creating
relationships between short-term and
long-term memory
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Transfer of new knowledge into
different contexts is important to
deepen understanding
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Practice in various contexts
creates expertise
 Surface
 Deep
Learning
Learning
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Curricular and Co-Curricular
Coherence
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What do you do in your classes or in
your programs or services to promote
the kinds of learning or development
that the institution seeks?
What do you expect your students to
know and be able to do by the end of
their education at your institution?
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What do the curricula and other
educational experiences “add up
to?”
Which students benefit from specific
teaching strategies or educational
experiences?
What educational processes are
responsible for the intended student
outcomes the institution seeks?
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How can you help students make
connections between classroom
learning and experiences outside of
the classroom?
What pedagogies/educational
experiences develop knowledge,
abilities, habits of mind, ways of
knowing/problem solving?
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How are curricula, pedagogy, and
educational experiences designed to
develop knowledge, abilities, habits of
mind, ways of knowing?
How do you intentionally build upon
what each of you teaches or fosters to
achieve programmatic and
institutional objectives?
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What methods of assessment
capture desired student learning-methods that align with pedagogy,
content, and curricular design?
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When a Student Becomes a Biologist,
Psychologist, Engineer…..
Cognitive
Psychomotor
Affective
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Maps and Inventories
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Help us determine coherence among
our educational practices that enable
us to design appropriate assessment
methods
Provide a visual representation of
students’ journey
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Help students make meaning of the
journey
Help students develop their own
learning map
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Developing Learning Outcome
Statements
Institutional Outcomes
Programmatic Outcomes
Course Outcomes
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What Is an Outcome
Statement?
A sentence that describes what
students should demonstrate,
represent, or produce based on how
and what they learn.
Emerges from what we value and how
we teach or students learn; that is, it
emerges from our educational
practices and is developed through
consensus.
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Relies on active verbs, such as
create, compose, calculate, develop,
build, evaluate, translate, etc., that
target what we expect students to
be able to demonstrate
Is written for a course, program, or
institution
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Is aligned with curriculum and cocurriculum
--varied and multiple ways to
learn that desired outcome
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Is based on intentionality (established
through dialogue)
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Helps students understand
expectations and holds them
accountable for their learning
Can be assessed quantitatively or
qualitatively
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Example from ACRL
ONE OUTCOME: Student examines and
compares information from various
sources in order to evaluate reliability,
validity,accuracy, timeliness, and point of
view or bias.
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Write one outcome statement that
captures what a graduate from
your institution or a program
should be able to demonstrate,
represent, or produce:
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How well does your outcome
statement meet characteristics of
a good statement?
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Describes learning desired within a
context
Relies on active verbs
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Emerges from your collective
intentions
Can be mapped to curricular and cocurricular practices (multiple and
varied opportunities to learn over
time)
Can be assessed quantitatively or
qualitatively during students’
undergraduate and graduate careers
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“The tasks to which students are asked to
respond on an assessment are not
arbitrary. They must be carefully designed
to provide evidence that is linked to the
cognitive model of learning and to support
the kinds of inferences and decisions that
will be based on the assessment results.”
National Research Council. Knowing what students know: The science and design of
educational assessment . Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2001, p. 47.
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Assumptions Underlying
Teaching
Actual Practices
Assumptions Underlying
Assessment Tasks
Actual Tasks
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Development of Assessment
Methods
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Align methods with learning outcome
statements and students’ educational
experiences (verified through maps or
inventories)
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When Will You Seek Evidence?
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Formative—along the way?
For example, to ascertain
progress or development
Summative—at the end?
For example, to ascertain
mastery level of achievement
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What Tasks Elicit Learning
You Desire?
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Tasks that require students to
select among possible answers
(multiple choice test)?
Tasks that require students to
construct answers (students’
problem-solving and thinking
abilities)?
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Some Methods That Provide
Direct Evidence
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Student work samples
Collections of student work (e.g.
Portfolios)
Capstone projects
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Course-embedded assessment
(derive examples; develop agreed
upon prompt and ask students to
respond to it in class or at a
designated time)
Observations of student behavior
Internal juried review of student
projects
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External juried review of student
projects
Externally reviewed internship
Performance on a case
study/problem
Performance on case study
accompanied with students’ analysis
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Performance on national licensure
examinations
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Locally developed tests
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Standardized tests
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Pre-and post-tests
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Response to critical incident
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Essay tests blind scored across units
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Mapping
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Learning Logs or Journals
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Writing, Speaking, Visual
Representation
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Methods That Do Not Provide Direct
Evidence but May Be Combined with
Other Methods-Indirect Methods
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Faculty publications (unless students
are involved)
Courses selected or elected by
students
Faculty/Student ratios
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Percentage of students who study
abroad
Enrollment trends
Percentage of students who graduate
within five-six years
Diversity of student body
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Focus group (representative of the
population)
Interviews (representative of the
population)
Surveys
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Other sources of information that
contribute to your inference making:
NSSE results, grades, participation
rates or persistence in support
services, course-taking patterns,
majors
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“What and how students learn depends
to a major extent on how they think
they will be assessed.”
John Biggs, Teaching for Quality Learning at University: What The
Student Does. Society for Research into Higher Education & Open
University Press, 1999, p. 141.
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Works Cited
Biggs, J. (1999). Teaching for Quality Learning at University: What
The Student Does. Society for Research into Higher Education &
Open University Press, 1999, p. 141.
Maki, P. (forthcoming, 2004., May). Assessing for Learning:
Building a Sustainable Commitment Across the Institution.
Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC, and the American Association
for Higher Education.
National Research Council. 2001. Knowing What Students Know:
The Science and Design of Educational Assessment. Washington,
D.C.: National Academy Press
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