Chapter 9 - Instructional Media: Chalkboards to Video - CGISS

Essays expose student-reasoning processes. An assignment
of a practice essay (that is not figured into the course grade)
near the beginning of a course gives the instructor an idea of
whether the student’s reasoning skills are adequate for
pursuing the course. If a change in reasoning skills is a desired
course outcome, an essay assigned near the end of the course
is a good way to tell whether the desired skills have been
attained.
• Reports (and term papers) usually have a specific topic that
may be assigned by the instructor or selected by the student.
When a student reports on a set of facts or events, accuracy of
the student’s description is the main concern. The report often
includes a provision for commentary by the student. The
student’s commentary is presumed to reflect the student’s point
of view accurately about the facts, events, or issues of the
report.
Research on which a report is based may be of any variety,
including experimentation and documentation. The amount of
research for a report varies. In a report based on
documentation, credit for quotations and concepts should be
included.
• Research reviews ask a student to find out what research
about a topic area has been done. Unless the student is asked
to synthesize the results of the research, they offer little room
for a student’s free expression or creativity. If the same
research review is assigned to a group of students or a class,
duplication of the research found should anticipated. The
assignment measures the ability of the student to use available
research tools and the ability to judge whether articles found
qualify as appropriate references for the subject at hand.
• Case studies are often associated with problem-based
learning. They are used to assess a learner’s ability to analyze,
make decisions, and solve problems.
Related Chapter – Learning through case studies is
addressed in Chapter 8 – Using Active Learning in the
Classroom.
Case studies measure depth of learning to a greater extent
than most limited choice tests, which focus on memorization
skills. Used as an assessment tool, the instructor usually
creates the case that can be contained within the allocated
assessment time. Like the case studies used for learning,
these contain a number of circumstance descriptions, which
provide guidance through the project. While there are selfconsistent
solutions, there are no “perfectly right” answers.
Students look at the circumstances, bring them into their own
Section: Student Assessment 177 Chapter 12: Testing Issues