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Measuring Student Learning• What do we want students learn?

• Do students have the opportunity to learn it?

• How do we know that they learned it?

• What do we do with that information?

Linda Suskie Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide

Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing (2004

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Assessment monitors student learning;

It does not evaluate faculty teaching.

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Write expected outcomes/objectives.

Effect improvements through actions.

View results. Assess performance against criteria.

Ensure students have opportunity to learn

Ensuring Learning

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Learning Objectives

• In 1948 a group of educators began

classifying educational goals and

objectives

• Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive

Domain was completed in 1956

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Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Development

Evaluation

Synthesis

Analysis

Application

Comprehension

Knowledge

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Goals and ObjectivesMoving from General to Specific

Goals

Objectives

General

Specific

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• Student Learning Objectives

describe what individual

students are able to do

• Program Objectives describe

what % of program participants

are able to do it.

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Goals

Writing goals can provide

insight into outcomes desired

but does not provide enough

specificity for assessment and

evaluation

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Goals and Objectives

• Goals are broad• Goals are general

intentions• Goals are

intangible• Goals are abstract• Goals can't be

validated as is

• Objectives are narrow• Objectives are precise

• Objectives are tangible

• Objectives are concrete• Objectives can be

validated

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Goal Examples

– “The essential role of the university is to train students to think critically and creatively.”

– “The student must develop information management skills which enable him to apply theoretical concepts in practice”

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• To make the student capable of carrying out independently the various stages of an information science research project

• To make the student capable of reporting on the findings of his own research.

• To make the student mindful of applying rules of ethics in relation to research and publication.

• To make the student capable of drawing up a realistic work program.

Goal Examples

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Learning Objectives

A Learning Objective is a written

statement of the measurable

achievement a participant will be able

to demonstrate as a result of

participation in a learning activity.

measurable

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• It is always expressed in terms of the learner.

• It is precise and supports only one interpretation.

• It describes an observable behavior

• It specifies conditions under which the behavior is performed

• It specifies criteria for accomplishment

Characteristics of a Learning Objective

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ABCD Model Questions a good objective answers

Audience: Who will be performing the behavior?

Behavior: What behavior should the learner be able to do?

Condition: Under what conditions do you want the learner to be able to do it?

Degree: How well must it be done?

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ABCD Model• Audience - Identify who will be learning

(not the instructor)• The Learner • The Staff member• The Student• The Participant• The Employee• The Trainee• The Organization Member• The Audience Member

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ABCD Model

• Behavior (Performance)

– Should include an action verb indicating what the learner will be able to do

– Should be something that can be seen or heard

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Overt vs. Covert Performance

• Overtrefers to any kind of performance that can be observed directly whether that performance is visible or audible

• Covertrefers to performance that cannot be observed directly, performance that is mental, invisible, cognitive or internal

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Covert Verbs

• know• familiarize• gain knowledge of• comprehend• study• cover• understand

• be aware • learn• appreciate• become

acquainted with• realize• develop a working

understanding of

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When a performance is covert

• Add an indicator behavior to the objective that is overt

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• "Learner will be able to" (LWBAT)

–Cognitive objectives (Bloom’s)

ABCD Model (Behavior)

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ABCD Model

• Condition

– State the conditions you will impose when learners are demonstrating their mastery of the objective.

– What will the learners be allowed to use?

– Under what conditions must the mastery of skill occur?

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Conditions

Givens• Resources

• Environment

• Direction

• Format

• Deadlines

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ABCD Model

• Degree (or criterion)

– A degree or criterion is the standard

by which performance is evaluated.

• The power of an objective increases

when you tell the learners HOW WELL

the behavior must be done.

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Degree

• Accuracy/Tolerance

• Speed

• Number

• Reference or Standards

• Permissible Errors

• Degree of Excellence

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Writing Learning Objectives

Basic Guidelines (and Examples) for

http://www.mapnp.org/library/trng_dev/lrn_objs.htm

How to Write Clear Objectives

http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/research/Write_Objectives.shtml

How to Write Learning Objectives in Behavioral Form

http://www.adprima.com/objectives.htm

Understanding Objectives

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/EDTEC540/objectives/ObjectivesHome.html

Guidelines for writing learning objectives in librarianship, information science and archives administration

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8810e/r8810e00.htm

Quick Guide to Writing Learning Objectives

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/templates/objectivetool.html

Writing Learning Objectives

http://www.arl.org/training/ilcso/objectives.html

Writing good work objectives

http://home.att.net/~nickols/workobjs.htm

Writing instructional objectives: The what, why how and when.

http://www.sogc.org/conferences/pdfs/instructionalObj.PDF

ReferencesBlooms Taxonomy

Affective Domain

http://www.itc.utk.edu/~jklittle/edsmrt521/affective.html

Assessing Learning Objectives Bloom's Taxonomy

http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/assessment/bloomtaxonomy.asp

Bloom’s Taxonomy

http://www.officeport.com/edu/blooms.htm

Cognitive Domain

http://www.itc.utk.edu/~jklittle/edsmrt521/cognitive.html

Psychomotor Domain

http://www.itc.utk.edu/~jklittle/edsmrt521/psychomotor.html

Instructional Design

http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/idmodels.html#isd

Assessment

Curriculum Development Performance Criteria

http://its.foxvalleytech.com/iss/curric-assessment/CRITCOND.html

How to Write an Assessment Based on an Objective

http://www.adprima.com/assessment.htm

Performance Criteria

http://its.foxvalleytech.com/iss/curric-assessment/CRITCOND.html

Multiple Choice Questions and Bloom’s Taxonomy

http://web.uct.ac.za/projects/cbe/mcqman/mcqappc.html