From the Instructional Media Lab: Assessing Learning (Do They Get It?)

lectureAssessment seems to always be a point of contention among educators. While debate continues about the effectiveness of high-stakes testing, several studies highlight the benefits of regular, formative assessment practices in the classroom. The purposes of such assessment is to offer students timely feedback, which is helpful for adjusting conceptual understanding when necessary and for identifying those students who may need a little extra help managing their studies.

Personal response systems (or “clickers” as they are sometimes called) and online informal quizzes are two technologies through which formative assessments can be easily deployed.

Personal Response Systems (PRS) allow instructors to create formative assessments that can be projected in front of large audiences. Many instructors using PRS create multiple choice check-in style quizzes to gauge students’ understanding during lectures. This can be useful for identifying topics that may need a little more attention in class. More information about using PRS at UMass can be found here: Personal Response Systems (PRS).

Respondus, a software company specializing in educational assessment tools, has a self-quizzing tool called StudyMate, which some faculty on campus have found helpful in preparing students for upcoming exams. Some functions of the tool include classic self-quizzing activities such as flash cards, word matching, and hangman. Another benefit of StudyMate is that is interfaces seemlessly with UMass’s Learning Management System, SPARK. For more information, refer to the OIT StudyMate help page: Respondus StudyMate (UMass License).

SPARK has its own built-in assessment functionality, as well, which can be used for informal, as well as graded assessments. For more information about SPARK and quizzing, take a look at the following link: SPARK Quizzing.

The UMass system is also embarking on a review of ePortfolio solutions which will allow instructors, departments, and administrators to assess student learning and skill acquisition on both an individual (micro) scale, and a university-wide (macro) level. Many of these solutions allow instructors to keep track of student progress on certain pre-defined skills and benchmarks, which are especially useful for certification programs such as education and nursing. Here are some examples of the ePortfolio solutions:

Foliotek

Chalk and Wire

TaskStream

Image Credit: Felix42 via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to toolbar