Assessing student learning

Biology education research has now reached a level of maturity where the expectation is that researchers will assess the effectiveness of their innovation on student learning. This may include an examination of affective outcomes, such as student attitudes and beliefs, as well as student understanding of discipline-based content. A variety of tools are available to generate assessment data, each with certain advantages and disadvantages. They include not only quantitative measures, which lend themselves to familiar statistical analyses, but also qualitative techniques that can provide a rich understanding of complex outcomes. This article describes some of the most commonly used assessment techniques, their advantages and disadvantages, and typical ways such information is reported.     

A View of Current Evaluative Practices in Instrumental Music Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to examine how instrumental music educator skills are being evaluated in current undergraduate programs. While accrediting organizations mandate certain elements of these programs, they provide limited guidance on what evaluative approaches should be used. Instrumental music teacher educators in the College Music Society (n = 303) supplied data about their respective programs through an online survey. Participants reported using written and verbal feedback, self-evaluation, and rubrics most frequently. Similar evaluation processes used across program courses or experiences, such as rubrics and ePortfolios, were described by 35 percent of the music teacher educators. Most programs culminated in a semester-long student teaching period, during which preservice teachers were observed and evaluated by university supervisors three to four times. Weak correlations were indicated between some evaluative practices and music teacher educators’ expectations for program graduates’ music educator skills. Implications for music teacher education programs and suggestions for establishing evaluation policies are discussed.     

American Glass

Exploring the complicated issues of assessment in the arts, the authors discuss assessment of arts education and arts programs from a qualitative perspective: experiential, naturalistic, and ethnographic interpretation. With special attention to the practices of teaching, learning, and administration of education in the arts, quality is sought with emphasis on observations and judgment rather than instruments and measurement.     

Fit for purpose? Evaluation of an MSc. in Medical Physics

The National University of Ireland in Galway established a Master in Science (MSc.) program in medical physics in 2002. The course was designed to be 90 ECTS¹ credits and of one calendar year duration. From the outset the MSc. was designed to be part of an overall medical physics training program. MSc. programs are now widely used as part of the training and education of medical physicists. There is however paucity of data on the effectiveness of such courses and the purpose of the study reported here is to provide information on one particular MSc. course in medical physics. This is relevant to medical physicists who are involved in the development and running of medical physics training programs. The study used as methodology the Kirkpatrick levels of professional training. It was conducted through an online survey, both from students who graduated from the course and from students who were in the process of completing the course.The survey proved to be an effective way to determine attributes of modules such as learning outcomes, knowledge imparted, quality of teaching materials and others. The survey proved to be remarkably able to demonstrate interventions in the individual course modules. Although the course was shown to be effective in the imparting of the knowledge required to become a qualified medical physicist several areas for improvement were identified. These are mainly in the areas of increased practical experience and in course delivery.     

Valid and reliable authentic assessment of culminating student performance in the biomedical sciences

There is increasing pressure, both from institutions central to the national scientific mission and from regional and national accrediting agencies, on natural sciences faculty to move beyond course examinations as measures of student performance and to instead develop and use reliable and valid authentic assessment measures for both individual courses and for degree-granting programs. We report here on a capstone course developed by two natural sciences departments, Biological Sciences and Chemistry/Biochemistry, which engages students in an important culminating experience, requiring synthesis of skills and knowledge developed throughout the program while providing the departments with important assessment information for use in program improvement. The student work products produced in the course, a written grant proposal, and an oral summary of the proposal, provide a rich source of data regarding student performance on an authentic assessment task. The validity and reliability of the instruments and the resulting student performance data were demonstrated by collaborative review by content experts and a variety of statistical measures of interrater reliability, including percentage agreement, intraclass correlations, and generalizability coefficients. The high interrater reliability reported when the assessment instruments were used for the first time by a group of external evaluators suggests that the assessment process and instruments reported here will be easily adopted by other natural science faculty.     

Trends and values of ‘Land for Wildlife’ programs for private land conservation

The Land for Wildlife program started in Victoria in 1981 as a voluntary program with the broad aim of supporting landholders in providing habitat for wildlife on their property. The program has since spread across Australia and is implemented in a range of guises, through a variety of governance approaches. This research collected qualitative and quantitative data on Land for Wildlife programs across Australia to conduct the first national review. Data were gathered on changes in program membership to assess different participation trends. In addition, phone interviews with Land for Wildlife coordinators throughout Australia were conducted to explore how the programs are positioned in delivering biodiversity outcomes in a range of different regions. Over 14,000 properties covering 2.3 million ha are currently registered under Land for Wildlife programs. with at least 500,000 ha of habitat managed for conservation. Limited resources present a large challenge faced by a number of programs, with generally low funding and staffing resulting in restricted biodiversity focus and conservation outcomes. We suggest options to enhance the programs and propose future research directions.     

Assessing precollege science education outreach initiatives: a funder's perspective

We describe an assessment of the collective impact of 35 grants that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) made to biomedical research institutions in 1999 to support precollege science education outreach programs. Data collected from funded institutions were compared with data from a control group of institutions that had advanced to the last stage of review but had not been funded. The survey instrument and the results reveal outcomes and impacts that HHMI considers relevant for these programs. The following attributes are considered: ability to secure additional, non-HHMI funding; institution buy-in as measured by gains in dedicated space and staff; enhancement of the program director's career; number and adoption of educational products developed; number of related publications and awards; percentage of programs for which teachers received course credit; increase in science content knowledge; and increase in student motivation to study science.     

基于工程教育专业认证产业需求为导向的“环境微生物学”课程项目化教学改革

本课程团队以地方产业需求为导向,结合国家工程教育专业认证的标准,实施了“环境微生物学”课程项目化教学改革,构建了“教、学、育、用”一体化的创新教学模式。课程设计了3个教学项目、17个学习任务,设定了4个课程目标,完善了课程各目标达成的评价方法,建立了多元化的考核评价体系。课程教学方法多样,授课形式多元,同时注重课程的特色教学和思政教育。课程改革后学生学习的主动性、积极性明显增强,课程目标的达成度均高于期望值;期末学生及格率、综合成绩、督导评价、同行评价、学生评价均有明显的提升,课程的项目化教学改革取得良好的成效。     

Arts students in debt: Concerns,consequences, and interventions

While there are many educational and experiential benefits to attending professional higher arts education programs, students who incur excessive student loan debt during their studies may experience unanticipated or poor professional outcomes either over the course of their artistic careers, shortly after the expiration of a loan grace period, or after they can no longer defer payments. To date, little to no research exists on the effects of an excessive student loan debt burden on professional arts careers. To address this gap in the higher arts education literature, and in an effort to facilitate scholarly discussion on the topic, this article identifies concerns, consequences, and potential interventions.     

Using immersive healthcare simulation for physiology education: initial experience in high school, college, and graduate school curricula

In the natural world, learning emerges from the joy of play, experimentation, and inquiry as part of everyday life. However, this kind of informal learning is often difficult to integrate within structured educational curricula. This report describes an educational program that embeds naturalistic learning into formal high school, college, and graduate school science class work. Our experience is based on work with hundreds of high school, college, and graduate students enrolled in traditional science classes in which mannequin simulators were used to teach physiological principles. Specific case scenarios were integrated into the curriculum as problem-solving exercises chosen to accentuate the basic science objectives of the course. This report also highlights the historic and theoretical basis for the use of mannequin simulators as an important physiology education tool and outlines how the authors' experience in healthcare education has been effectively translated to nonclinical student populations. Particular areas of focus include critical-thinking and problem-solving behaviors and student reflections on the impact of the teaching approach.     

SongMakers: An industry-led approach to arts partnerships in education

Reported benefits of arts partnerships with schools range from improvements in students' motivation and engagement in learning to teachers' increased confidence in teaching the arts, and strengthened school and community relationships. Yet, in the scholarship on arts partnerships to date, limited critical attention has been given to the impact of programs primarily driven by government supported industry-based imperatives. There may be legitimate concerns that, in primarily servicing economic or employment needs, industry–school partnerships overlook social and interpersonal aspects of learning in favor of goal-orientated skills training to meet “the market.” This article informs arts education policy and industry directions by acknowledging this concern and reporting on the outcomes of an industry–schools partnership where industry “training” appears to be leveraging a number of more holistic student learning outcomes. Jointly funded by industry and government, SongMakers is an Australian artist in residence program that aims to improve the export potential of Australia's contemporary music industry and contribute to the implementation of a contemporary music curriculum. It involves professional songwriters and producers with international recording experience working as mentors to students who create and produce new music in intensive two-day workshops. This article outlines how the program is demonstrating emergent positive impact not only on students' music knowledge and skill development, and understanding of the contemporary music industry, but on engagement, confidence in learning, and self-efficacy. It does not argue that all industry programs can or will achieve such impacts, but that diverse kinds of arts partnerships in schools can contribute to a viable ecology of quality educational practice in the arts.     

Perspectives on facilitating dynamic ecology courses online using active learning

As education methodology has grown to incorporate online learning, disciplines with a field component, like ecology, may find themselves sidelined in this transition. In response to challenges posed by moving classes online, previous studies have assessed whether an online environment can be effective for student learning. This work has found that active learning structures, which maximize information processing and require critical thinking, best support student learning. All too commonly, online and active learning are perceived as mutually exclusive. We argue the success of online learning requires facilitating active learning in online spaces. To highlight this intersection in practice, we use a case study of an online, active, and synchronous ecology and conservation biology course from the College of Natural Sciences at Minerva Schools at KGI. We use our perspectives as curriculum designers, instructors, and students of this course to offer recommendations for creating active online ecology courses. Key components to effective course design and implementation are as follows: facilitating critical “thinking like a scientist”, integrating open‐ended assignments into class discussion, and creating active in‐class dialogues by minimizing lecturing. Based on our experience, we suggest that by employing active learning strategies, the future of ecology in higher education is not inhibited, but in fact supported, by opportunities for learning online.     

Medical students as medical educators: opportunities for skill development in the absence of formal training programs

All physicians, at some point in their career, are responsible for the education of their peers and junior colleagues. Although medical students are expected to develop clinical and research skills in preparation for residency, it is becoming clear that a student should also be expected to develop abilities as a teacher. A handful of institutions have student-as-teacher programs to train medical students in education, but most students graduate from medical school without formal training in this area. When such a program does not exist, medical students can gain experience in education through participation in peer teaching, course design, educational committees, and medical education scholarship. In doing so, they attain important skills in the development, implementation, and evaluation of educational programs. These skills will serve them in their capacity as medical educators as they advance in their careers and gain increasing teaching responsibility as residents, fellows, and attending physicians.     

Using a module-based laboratory to incorporate inquiry into a large cell biology course

Because cell biology has rapidly increased in breadth and depth, instructors are challenged not only to provide undergraduate science students with a strong, up-to-date foundation of knowledge, but also to engage them in the scientific process. To these ends, revision of the Cell Biology Lab course at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was undertaken to allow student involvement in experimental design, emphasize data collection and analysis, make connections to the "big picture," and increase student interest in the field. Multiweek laboratory modules were developed as a method to establish an inquiry-based learning environment. Each module utilizes relevant techniques to investigate one or more questions within the context of a fictional story, and there is a progression during the semester from more instructor-guided to more open-ended student investigation. An assessment tool was developed to evaluate student attitudes regarding their lab experience. Analysis of five semesters of data strongly supports the module format as a successful model for inquiry education by increasing student interest and improving attitude toward learning. In addition, student performance on inquiry-based assignments improved over the course of each semester, suggesting an improvement in inquiry-related skills.     

基于云班课的研究生医学分子生物学文献阅读与讨论教学模式的整合与评价

研究生教育注重培养学生的科学研究和创新能力.文献阅读与讨论(literature reading and discussion,LRD)对研究生创新思维和批判性思维的培养发挥积极的作用.然而,在传统的分子生物学课堂上,如何有效地实施大规模的集体LRD是一个巨大的挑战.云班课是一款专门针对教学而设计的免费移动教学APP,...     

Traditional versus computer-based dissections inenhancing learning in a tertiary setting: a student perspective

This paper describes a study investigating both the use and usefulness of laboratory dissections and computer-based dissections, in a tertiary, first-year human biology course. In addition student attitudes to dissection were investigated. Data were collected from enrolled students using quantitative and qualitative survey instruments. Students were questioned about their usage and perceptions of the usefulness of there sources provided, and their attitudes towards the use of dissections for learning in human biology.

The real dissection was used as a learning resource by 80% of the student cohort while only 15% used the computer-based dissection material. In addition 5% of students reported that they did not use either the realdissection material or the computer-based dissection. Of those students who did use the computer-based dissection, two thirds of them found it useful for learning both structure and function of body systems. Of those students who used the real dissection, 72% found it useful for learning structure but only 62% found that it helped in learning function. Of the entire cohort surveyed, 90% agreed that biology students should dissect ananimal to help learn about anatomy. These outcomes reinforce the need to offer a variety of learning experiences that target different styles of learning.     

Painting masterpieces on Walls

Arts organizations that partner with schools to design, implement, and evaluate arts education programs are rethinking traditional practices of evaluation to more directly engage school partners, artists, and administrators. External arts partners are also being held accountable for learning outcomes that result from their programs. In this article, the authors describe an urban arts organization that is moving toward an institutional culture that engages teachers, artists, students, parents, and administrators in a process of documentation and action research that enhances the ability to evaluate teaching and learning. This layered research approach within an arts organization enables participants to link teaching standards to student work and contributes to the larger dialogue about arts education programs in schools.     

Diving into the Rio Grande Valley: Meaningful experiences in arts educator preparation

As the Texas Education Agency implements new standards for arts teachers and U.S. arts education policy stakeholders articulate a need for culturally competent educators, teacher preparation programs must respond and consider methods to prepare developing teachers to meet such standards. Preservice arts educators need exposure to a variety of art forms and opportunities to practice teaching in diverse settings in order to explore and exercise culturally responsive arts education. This research project examines the impact of a university program that places preservice teachers in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mexico/U.S. border in South Texas. The group surveyed includes 10 student teachers, two thirds of the total program participants. The research specifically examines the value of the experience for student teachers through surveys and follow-up interviews. The study concludes that student teaching in the Rio Grande Valley helps prepare participants to teach across identity markers and offers them important experience that helps prepare them to meet these new standards set by state policy makers. The article recommends offering more support and reflexive opportunities for these student teachers.     

Leisure-time activities--its program and importance in the institutionalized protection of old people

This paper is a "report" or preliminary summation of a larger research project and paper. Leisure activities programs and their importance have not yet been systematically investigated in Croatian nursing homes, so this will contribute to a better understanding of this area of research. Through a ten year period of research study of 60 old people it has been shown that by the application of organized and suitable leisure activities we can prevent and redirect the measures so as to continually improve the life quality of old people living in nursing homes, regardless of their medical condition/place of residence. The topic of this paper is very popular in gerontological science. The research applied modern qualitative and quantitative methods of research in gerontology and therefore represents a novelty to the methodologically obsolete methods that have been in use in this country so far, which included polls and simplified quantitative processing of collected data. The results are useful for practical purposes because programs have been elaborated which will serve to improve the quality of leisure time and active life-planning in nursing homes. The foundations for further scientific research have been set with specific goals to focus on the certain aspects of the problems. In that sense, this paper invites all sorts of other challenging hypothesis to come out (e.g. the ratio of intellectual activities, active and passive types of activities etc.) and also opens the door for this kind of methodology in these types of research. This will help increase the number of such types of research as the qualitative methods of research have been disregarded in our country.