Assessment Methods and Tools

Laura SandersNCLCA Institute 2016

Qualitative or Indirect Methods

Quantitative or Direct Methods

Formative and Summative Assessment

Assessment Methods

Provide the student perception of the

learning experience Are often based on student opinion Can vary widely between students Are useful to determine reasons for

student learning outcomes that are not met or areas

of excellence

Qualitative/Indirect Methods

A description of one person’s experiences. Requires a significant time commitment Extremely valuable in an overall evaluation. Not a strong enough assessment tool by

itself.

Case Studies

Collection of question and answer sessions with

one individual at a time. Significant time commitment to collect and

organize all the data More depth than a single case study Can be difficult to maintain consistency

throughout the interviews.

Interviews

Interviews done in a group Can focus in on a few specific topics Opportunity to gather more than one

perspective. Allows more flexibility for open conversations

emerging from standard questions.

Focus Groups

At least two groups of students that currently

use services. A group of students that do not use services. A group of faculty. A group of staff and tutors. A group of alumni when possible.

Recommendations for Focus Groups

Keep it short but allow comments Timing is very important Pre and post surveys are most effective Acknowledge source if using a created survey You gain more information when you know who

took the survey Don’t overuse

Surveys

Provide direct observation of student

skills on student learning outcomes. Produce the most accurate evaluation

of student performance Require more effort and careful

planning

Quantitative/Direct Methods

Independent learning characteristics

exhibited by students Coaching Session Observations Tutor Evaluations

Observations

Who came to your center?

(unique user demographics) Why did they come? (visit reason) What subject were they studying? How long did the stay? What services did they use? Did they come back?

Usage Data

In the class, semester, next semester, next

year, graduation Need to be tied to the time period and level

of use Use to compare retention rates of frequent

users to non-users Consider incoming characteristics

Retention

Incoming measures need to be considered for a

comparison group Assignment or test grades are ideal to measure

tutoring impact Course grades should only be considered for

consistent users Overall semester GPA could be used in assessing

academic coaching or study strategy programs

Academic Performance

The goal of formative

assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing

feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to

improve their learning.

Formative Assessment

More specifically, formative assessments:

help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work

help tutors recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately

Formative Assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of a program or service by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

Summative Assessment

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when used to guide programs and services in subsequent semesters.

Summative Assessment

Brainstorming Session

Assessment Tool Selection