One of the purposes of assessments is to have students gain
confidence in their abilities, to see that they know something and
can do something with that knowledge.
Teaching for understanding: To
gauge a person's understanding, ask that person to do something
that puts the understanding to work--explaining, solving a problem,
building an argument, constructing a product.
- Traditional quizzes and tests are
adequate for things worth being familiar with and important to know
and do.
- Performance tasks and projects are
better for enduring understanding.
Use a variety of assessment
techniques; these could include:
- Multiple-choice questions
- Short-answer questions
- Essay questions
- Writing assignments: Thought papers, research papers, article
reviews
- Portfolios
- Artworks and other projects
- Poster presentations
For projects and papers:
- Give explicit instructions
- Develop a rubric, a sets of criteria used in grading. This will
make your life a lot easier, because it will give you a reference
to justify your grades. You may want to share the rubric with
students so they know what you expect for a particular grade: what
an A paper must have, for example. A set of guidelines on
developing rubrics might give you a clearer idea of what's involved
in their use. A
rubric for writing assignments is available on the University's
Core Curriculum Assessment site. There are also rubrics for
the other core competencies: Information literacy, critical
thinking, oral presentation, and quantitative reasoning.
For exams:
- Write clear questions
- Give clear instructions
- Think about whether or not you want to return the
questions
- Suggestion: don't give makeup exams; find other ways to deal
with those who miss an exam
Go to Practical Reminders