Integrative and Collaborative Assessment: A Contemporary Shift of Improving Students' Academic Performance (original) (raw)
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From Classroom to Practice: A Partnership Approach to Assessment
New Directions for Student Services, 2013
Assessment training, inclusive of design, methodology, and effective reporting, has become a topic of increased interest in student affairs, most recently articulated by calls for competency (Bresciani and Todd, 2010) reemphasizing existing curricular standards (Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education [CAS], 2002). Providing applied instruction to graduate students is an essential fi rst step, as new professionals will be expected to plan and integrate assessment and evaluation into their work as practitioners. Further, assignments that connect students to authentic divisional assessment activities can create valuable instructional opportunities to bridge classroom-to-practice efforts. Such partnerships, carefully supported and guided by faculty, can also yield meaningful contributions to divisional assessment activities. Creating a "seamless learning environment" (Kuh, 1996) related to assessment not only benefi ts student learning, but also addresses calls for data in an era characterized by decreasing personnel capacity to generate and use it due to budget cuts, defi ciencies in training and professional development, increased job responsibilities, and lack of time (Green, Jones,
1998
A Case Study of Assessment in a High School Classroom: The Impact of Changes in Assessment on Curriculum, Instruction, Teachers, and Students This study examined the impact of changes in assessment on curriculum, instruction, teachers, and students. The study describes the complex, developmental process by which a particular course, teachers, and a class evolved, articulated goals and standards, and assessed their learning. My coteacher and I used a variety of assessments: conferences, peer review, reflections, portfolios, group projects, and presentations in addition to traditional tests and quizzes. The methodology was a qualitative study by a teacher /researcher in a high school Humanities class. My findings were that new theories about knowledge and its acquisition necessitate changes in our practice. 1) An integral part of this change is the need to shift assessment toward coaching and feedback and away from ranking and grading. 2) Students and teachers need to openly converse and grapple with ideas to assess their learning and to solve problems with a variety of solutions. 3) Assessment must be ongoing for both teachers and students. A variety of standards including the Massachusetts' Curriculum Frameworks were used to help my co-teacher and me to assess the course. My recommendations are that further research is necessary to study the impact of change on students and teachers. CHAPTER I The Context of the Study This study describes the evolution of an interdiscipHnary course and its curriculum; it looks at the complex process by which a particular course, teachers, and a class collaboratively evolved standards and goals. As a teacher/researcher I assessed a Humanities class from within and without. I discovered that setting high standards and goals must be an ongoing, collaborative process of assessment. Daily we monitored and adjusted our curriculum and instruction to the needs of the students to provide a positive environment for growth. In a complex developmental process, my co-teacher and I collaborated as we tried new assessment methods. We evolved our assessments from paper and pencil tests of skills and knowledge to authentic assessment methods including portfolio/timelines, puppet shows, and conferences. As co-teachers we realized that to evaluate complex thinking, and student competencies, instead of skills and facts alone, required us to fine-tune our judgment and develop a common language both with one another and with our students. In this environment, the students were affected positively when they saw their efforts, not their ability or talent, had a direct bearing on their achievement. This study is divided into three major parts:
Integrated Assessment in Enhancing Tertiary Learning Experience
APS Proceedings, Volume 12, 2024
The proposed innovation seeks to streamline instructional delivery and assessment activities within higher education programs by reducing the number of assessments. Known as integrated assessment this approach facilitates the integration of content from various courses, preventing learning silos, fostering interconnectedness in content delivery and assessment, and improving management and resource efficiency. Currently implemented in the Curriculum and Instruction (EDU555) and Assessment Literacy and Performance Competencies (EDU485) courses across seven teacher training programs at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), the integrated assessment model adopts one of the assessments from EDU555 as a requirement for EDU485's assessment, thereby avoiding additional workload for students. This integrated assessment requires students to showcase a multidisciplinary comprehension of content from both courses, thereby augmenting their ability to discern the interconnectedness of curriculum, instructional delivery, and assessments. The innovation aims to foster interdisciplinary learning and transfer, reduce learning redundancy, promote meaningful learning, advocate for holistic evaluation, optimize management and resource efficiency, and streamline course administration in higher education. Aligned with the Malaysia Qualifications Framework (MQF), the novelty lies in its transformative capacity to revolutionize the traditional approach to course delivery and assessment, introducing a paradigm shift by consolidating and streamlining assessment practices across various courses and disciplines.
Assessment, outcomes, and forays in interdisciplinary curriculum development
An interdisciplinary course titled Issues in Ecology and Environment was developed and taught by an anthropologist and an oceanographer at Florida Gulf Coast University beginning spring 1998. Focusing on cognate interdisciplinary competencies rather than diverging disciplinary content, this collaboration also yielded working definitions of several integrating learning outcomes—an ecological perspective being chief among these. As part of the course development, authentic assessments, cooperative group activities, and opportunities for experiential learning using ecosystems located on campus were developed. Post-assessment debriefings were used to solicit student feedback as part of a continuous improvement model for the course. By structuring the course to target learning outcomes that transcended disciplinary traditions, the instructors were able to look beyond disciplinary barriers toward a point of convergence and benefit from the new perspective.
Keys to Improving Academic Assessment
2009
This paper presents ten critical ideas about assessment that, when placed into practice, can signifi cantly advance and add value to every academic professional's work. Together, these ideas form a set of principles and practices whose impact can be measured to provide a comprehensive picture of the assessment culture in an organization. Each idea presented here is supported by the literature and informed by the use of the idea in practice. Key terms and schema relating to assessment are defi ned, related resources are noted, and ways in which assessment can enhance student learning and growth, enhance faculty performance, and improve institutional effectiveness and quality in its collective learning environment are shown. The ideas presented here fall within three categories. The fi rst category addresses vital issues in the relationship between assessment and evaluation. Specifi c topics addressed in this category are the role of measurement in assessment, common misconceptions about assessment, using assessment to enhance performance on an evaluation, and turning evaluation into assessment. The second category deals with assessment values, practice, and mindset. Specifi c topics addressed in this category are key steps in the assessment process, writing clear performance criteria, assessing assessments, and self-assessment for growth. The third category deals with conditioning and historical cultural norms in higher education that prevent change toward an assessment culture. Specifi c topics addressed in this category are the role of assessment in the mentoring process and the assessment mindset. The paper closes with a brief description of issues regarding cultural change that must be confronted when an organization in higher education begins to embrace and implement these ideas.
1993
This manual offers practical guidelines, based on the work of K. P. Cross (1988) and T. A. Angelo (1991), on implementing a Classroom Assessment Training Project (CATP) at a high school or college. The manual contains information on planning, budgeting, training, and content. The Cross/Angelo Classroom Assessment Model relies on quick, anonymous written feedback from students about their understanding of course content and their reactions to instruction. Unlike tests and quizzes, Classroom Assessment Techniques are ungraded, allowing instructors to adjust instruction rather than assess achievement. Chapter 1 of the manual provides an overview of the Classroom Assessment Model, defining terminology, reviewing the model's philosophical and historical background, and outlining related research. Chapter 2 details the steps to implementing a CATP, covering administrative support, fiscal requirements, training of faculty leaders, reassigned time for coordinators, compensation for faculty participants, clerical support, purchase of textbooks, sources of funding, budget breakdown for sample college, factors to ensure program success, selecting and training a leader/trainer, timeline for implementation, recruitment of faculty, and length and mix of training. Chapter 3 describes the faculty training sessions, providing information on planning, the content of the first training session, follow-up workshops, encouragement of teacher participation, and responses to problematic feedback. Finally, chapter 4 provides supplementary materials, including samples of a faculty leader contract, participant contract, and agenda and handouts for the first training session; the names, phone numbers, and disciplines of California community colleges faculty who have been trained in the techniques; and 18 references. (FAA) L Classroom Research Classroom Research is used to increase the teacher's understanding of the learning process. It differs from Classroom Assessment in that it usually tests a hypothesis or addressed a question-often one that arises from a Classroom Assessment. It capitalizes on teacher's knowledge of their disciplines and their students and does not require the knowledge of formal research design or statistical methods. Classroom The place where an instructor meets and works with students and does assessments, could be a classroom, clinical area or field placement. 4 3 Feedback The data gathered from students as a result of the assessment which is turned into helpful information for the instructor. Retention In this study, those students who receive any grade (A, B, C, D, F, I or CAC) on the final grading report are considered to be retained. This does not include those who dropped the course with a "W." This number is then compared to the number of students enrolled in the class at first census. The percentage generated between the number of students receiving grades and those enrolled at first census is called retention. California Consortium Group The term used to describe the participants in the project who compiled this manual and conducted a large institutional research study on the effectiveness of the Cross/Angelo model. Leaders are listed on cover of document. 5 9 7 1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The Classroom Research Project was originally funded by the Ford Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts in 1988. For the first eight months, the project operated out of Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. It was then moved to the University of California it Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. Dr. K. Patricia Cross (U.C. Berkeley School of Graduate Education) and Dr. Thomas A. Angelo (Boston College) were the developers of the method. They have written a text Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for Faculty. that is now in its second revision. They have spoken to more than 6000 teachers and administrators on campuses throughout the United States and on nationwide tele-conferences. In response to the extremely positive interest that the project generated, Cross and Angelo had to begin developing material that others could use and to begin large training sessions to train trainers in the method. They have done this for three large consortia and continue to receive many more training requests than can be filled. Faculty and administrators at the College of Marin who worked with Cross and Angelo developed and funded an informational videotape called Teacher Directed Classroom Assessment. In 1989, copies were provided at no cost to every California community college. The tape is available for purchase from the Office of Product Development at Miami Dade College. There are two more tapes which illustrate the method that were developed with the Mc,rin College production team. These tapes have proven very useful to demonstrate how Classroon. Assessment works. Two new tapes are available from the University of California Extension Media Center at Berkeley.