Chapter 9 - Instructional Media: Chalkboards to Video - CGISS

Evaluating
Performance
Performance vs. the Recall of Knowledge
In some fields, such as dance and art, students are evaluated on
their performance, rather than on predictors of their performance.
This evaluation generally involves individual observations of
performances and performance evaluation reports. Also, this
method is characteristic of academic courses that result in a final
project, such as computer programming courses.
Guidelines for Evaluating Performance, as identified by Stritter,
Hain, and Grimes (1975):
• The most effective evaluations are descriptive. You should
describe the behavior in clear terms rather than in interpretive
terms. Attempts to report what is observed rather than making
assumptions about students’ intent are most valuable.
• Specific descriptions are preferable to generalizations.
Students need to know as precisely as possible exactly which
parts of their performance need to be improved.
• Evaluation is most effective when it is timely. Provide feedback
as soon as possible after the performance of the tasks. If the
behavior is distant in time to the performance, the student is more
likely to discount it as inaccurate.
• Evaluations should contain information about changeable
behaviors that will be beneficial to the student. Feedback
concerning students’ personalities is inappropriate and unlikely to
produce results. However, evaluations of behavior that can be
altered can result in improved student performance.
• Evaluation is most useful when the students and the instructor
clearly understand precisely what skills or tasks are expected to
be mastered and exactly how those skills will be reflected or
graded in the performance.
Other Grading
Considerations
You should specify in advance if you will be considering
attendance, attitude or effort, and participation in the final
grade. It is essential to make it clear which behaviors are being
targeted and what the expectations of the instructor are.
• Attendance (or the lack of it) in undergraduate (and
sometimes graduate) classes can be a problem. Many professors
tie attendance to grades in that unexcused absences incur a
penalty, which is factored in at grade time. Some examples we
have seen include:
o
Each unexcused absence reduces the total number of
points earned in the course by X.
o Three unexcused absences will result in a grade of F.
Section: Student Assessment 195 Chapter 13: Grading