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Nancy Falchikov explores key issues relating to the effective involvement of students in the assessment process. Chapters cover a broad range of topics, including self, peer, collective & group assessment & feedback, reliability, viability & maintenance of quality.
The assessment of students an activity central to the role of any professional in further and higher education, and is an area that is the subject of constant innovation and debate. This book provides a scholarly account of the many facets of assessment, with a particular focus on student involvement. Peer and self-assessment are powerful assessment tools to add to the existing tutor-based methods of assessment and feedback, and this book is a comprehensive guide to the the methods and issues involved. Practical and accessible in style, yet grounded in research and rich in evidence-based material, Improving Assessment Through Student Involvement will be valued by all FE or HE professionals wanting to enhance both the effectiveness and quality of their assessment methods.
With a unique focus on the relationship between assessment and engagement this book explores what works in terms of keeping students on course to succeed. Against a backdrop of massification and the associated increase in student diversity there is an escalating requirement for personalized, technology driven learning in higher education. In addition, the advent of student fees has promoted a consumer culture resulting in students having an increasingly powerful voice in shaping curricula to their own requirements. How does one engage and retain a group of students of such diverse culture, ethnicity, ambition and experience? Using examples from a variety of institutions worldwide this edited collection provides a well-researched evidence base of current thinking and developments in assessment practices in higher education. The chapters discuss: Staff and student views on assessment Engaging students through assessment feedback Assessment for learning Assessing for employability Interdisciplinary and transnational assessment Technology supported assessment for retention The book draws together a wealth of expertise from a range of contributors including academic staff, academic developers, pedagogical researchers, National Teaching Fellows and Centres for Excellence in Higher Education. Recognising that a pedagogy which is embedded and taken-for-granted in one context might be completely novel in another, the authors share best practice and evaluate evidence of assessment strategies to enable academic colleagues to make informed decisions about adopting new and creative approaches to assessment. This interdisciplinary text will prove an invaluable tool for those working and studying in higher education.
A comprehensive expansion to the essential higher education assessment text This second edition of Assessment Essentials updates the bestselling first edition, the go-to resource on outcomes assessment in higher education. In this thoroughly revised edition, you will find, in a familiar framework, nearly all new material, examples from more than 100 campuses, and indispensable descriptions of direct and indirect assessment methods that have helped to educate faculty, staff, and students about assessment. Outcomes assessment is of increasing importance in higher education, especially as new technologies and policy proposals spotlight performance-based success measures. Leading authorities Trudy Banta and Catherine Palomba draw on research, standards, and best practices to address the timeless and timeliest issues in higher education accountability. New topics include: Using electronic portfolios in assessment Rubrics and course-embedded assessment Assessment in student affairs Assessing institutional effectiveness As always, the step-by-step approach of Assessment Essentials will guide you through the process of developing an assessment program, from the research and planning phase to implementation and beyond, with more than 100 examples along the way. Assessment data are increasingly being used to guide everything from funding to hiring to curriculum decisions, and all faculty and staff will need to know how to use them effectively. Perfect for anyone new to the assessment process, as well as for the growing number of assessment professionals, this expanded edition of Assessment Essentials will be an essential resource on every college campus.
This book is about student success and how to support and improve it. It takes as its point of departure that we--as faculty, assessment directors, student affairs professionals, and staff--reflect together in a purposeful and informed way about how our teaching, curricula, the co-curriculum, and assessment work in concert to support and improve student learning and success. It also requires that we do so in collaboration with our colleagues and our students for the rich insights that we gain from them.Conversational in style, this book offers a wide variety of illustrations of how your peers are putting assessment into practice in ways that are meaningful to them and their institutions, and that lead to improved student learning. The authors provide rich guidance for activities ranging from everyday classroom teaching and assessment to using assessment to improve programs and entire institutions.The authors envisage individual faculty at four-year institutions and community colleges as their main audience, whether those faculty are focused on their own classes or support their colleagues through leadership roles in assessment. If you plan to remain focused on your own courses and students, you will find that those sections of this book will help you better understand why and how assessment leaders do what they do, which in turn will make your participation in assessment more engaging and increase your expertise in facilitating student learning. Because the authors also aim to strengthen connections between the curriculum and co-curriculum and include examples of co-curricular assessment, student affairs professionals and staff interested in doing the same will also find ideas in this book relevant to their work.Opening with a chapter on equity in assessment practice, so critical to learning from and benefitting our diverse students, the authors guide you through the development and use of learning outcomes, the design of assignments with attention to clear prompts and rubrics, and the achievement of alignment and coherence in pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment to better support student engagement, achievement and success. The chapter on using student evidence for improvement offers support, resources, and recommendations for doing so, and demonstrates exciting uses of student wisdom.The book concludes by emphasizing the importance of reflection in assessment practices--offering powerful examples and strategies for professional development--and by describing appropriate, creative, and effective approaches for communicating assessment information with attention to purpose and audience.
"Responding to the ongoing challenges of understanding and improving assessment and feedback in higher education, this must-read book steps back and asks 'what if' questions in order to unlock some of the systemic problems of assessment and feedback, shifting the debate to focus on students' experience at a programme-level. Based on the 'Transforming the Experience of Students through Assessment' (TESTA) project, this book introduces a different way of thinking about assessment and feedback. It considers a method for understanding the impact of assessment and feedback on student learning and provides practical insights about changing programme assessment patterns to foster student agency and engagement. Giving impetus to change the way academics design assessment and feedback, it invites academics and educational leaders into more transparent, open and shared decision-making about assessment and feedback beyond the module-level. This key title is designed to support academics and educational leaders to make sustainable and systemic improvements to the pedagogy of assessment. It expands on good principles, practices, and theories about how students learn from assessment and feedback by paying attention to a programme-level perspective of the student experience"--
PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION Demonstrating Institutional Effectiveness In this era of increasing pressure on higher education institutions for accountability, Planning and Assessment in Higher Education is an essential resource for college and university leaders and staff charged with the task of providing evidence of institutional effectiveness. Michael F. Middaugh, a noted expert in the field, shows how colleges and universities can successfully measure student learning and institutional effectiveness and use these results to create more efficient communications with both internal and external constituencies as well as promote institutional effectiveness to support student learning. "How can the assessment of institutional effectiveness be used to provide a solid foundation for planning? Middaugh has crafted a comprehensive, practical guide that also explains what accrediting agencies really want and need to know about these topics." Elizabeth H. Sibolski, executive vice president, Middle States Commission on Higher Education "Only Michael Middaugh, the unquestioned national leader in this field, could write such a lucid overview of how to make institutional assessment and planning really work as a tool rather than as a tedious requirement. He helped invent and shape the focus of national assessment rubrics and now offers his insights into how to make them work for your institution." John C. Cavanaugh, chancellor, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education "Middaugh provides extremely helpful and practical guidance and insights on how colleges and universities can use assessment tools and frameworks to improve both academic programs and administrative operations. A valuable and timely book for all higher education leaders." James P. Honan, senior lecturer on education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Student Empowerment in Higher Education brings together the accumulated knowledge and experience of many accomplished teachers and students from higher education institutions around the world, and has much to offer those who are engaged in higher education, as students, teachers or support staff. The authors offer personal reflections in teaching, learning, mentoring, assessment, hands-on activities, course design and student identities in higher education across the globe, supported by academic research and scholarship. Readers are provided with a window into tried and tested empowering practices in varying contexts, enabling them to see what works and what does not, alongside the challenges and possibilities. A distinctive feature of this book, and its paramount strength, is that it explores best practices in student empowerment, whilst reflecting on matters of teaching and learning that are familiar to students and teachers alike, and also explores practices in a variety of disciplines. The intention of these volumes, therefore, is not only to inform readers about the diverse learning and teaching approaches of the authors, but, most importantly, to facilitate processes of student empowerment and promote reflection on teaching and learning practices. "In recent decades, higher education policy discourse has persistently implied that a university education is 'delivered' to students under the impersonal banner of 'the student experience'. Not only does this commodify the diverse, individual experiences of students into one marketable product, it also creates false barriers and power dynamics between students and their teachers. In Student Empowerment in Higher Education, the students and lecturers who collaborated to write this important volume have literally blown such misleading notions out of the window! I highly recommend each varied and autonomous chapter to learn what really inspires confidence and success in university students." Professor Sarah Hayes, Professor of Higher Education Policy, University of Wolverhampton "The two volumes of Student Empowerment in Higher Education offer the reader rich and varied examples and understandings of student empowerment from around the world. The authors provide reflective accounts of learning and teaching from diverse perspectives and disciplines, which focus on many different areas of practice in higher education. It is this variety that will appeal to many readers, as the source of ideas and inspiration for numerous possible routes to empowerment. With many chapters co-authored by students and staff, the book models the collective responsibility students and staff have for enhancing student empowerment." Dr. Catherine Bovill, Senior Lecturer in Student Engagement, University of Edinburgh; Fulbright Scholar, Elon University, North Carolina, USA; Visiting Fellow (Knowledge Exchange), University of Winchester
"This book aims to provide readers with a variety of contemporary solutions to identified educational problems of practice related to the assessment of student learning in e-learning environments"--Provided by publisher.
There has been a dearth of studies on teacher educators using action research to improve their own practice. This book is the first systematic study of a group of teachers examining and enhancing their own practice through the inquiry process of action research. This book presents a broad overview of a variety of methodologies that can be used to improve teacher preparation and professional development programs. It is a ‘must read’ book for those educators who are new to the college teaching profession and for those who are aspired to be outstanding and successful lecturers.
