Data from three sections of 200-level college statistics courses (student N = 85) were examined to evaluate the relationship between scaffolded assignments, time spent in the course, page views, and student performance. Strong positive correlations were noted between scaffolded assignments. Key formative and summative assignments also showed…

Midterm student feedback is a common process in post-secondary institutions that can lead to enhanced teaching practices and thereby potentially to higher ratings of instructional skills in summative course evaluations. At McMaster University, midterm student feedback is called a 'Course Refinement' and includes consultation with educational…

Online learning is growing rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down. This growth requires strategies to make online teaching as efficient and effective as possible in order to provide students with a quality education. One of the important factors that help support student learning is timely, quality feedback on assignments and in discussion…

Online and blended learning have become common educational strategy in higher education. Lecturers have to re-theorise certain basic concerns of teaching, learning and assessment in non-traditional environments. These concerns include perceptions such as cogency and trustworthiness of assessment in online environments in relation to serving the…

Although practical laboratory activities are often considered the linchpin of science education, asking students to produce many large practical reports can be problematic. Practical reports require diverse skills, and therefore do not focus the students' attention on any one skill where specific skills need to be enhanced. They are also…

Providing feedback on draft essays is an accepted means of enacting a social-constructivist approach to assessment, aligning with current views on the value of formative feedback and assessment for learning (AFL). However, the use of this process as a means of improving not only content but also students' academic writing skills has not been…

A "knowledge survey" and a formative evaluation process led to major changes in an instructor's course and teaching methods over a 5-year period. Design of the survey incorporated several innovations, including: a) using "confidence survey" rather than "knowledge survey" as the title; b) completing an instructional…

The process of formative assessment in universities has the potential to engage students in reflection and to take greater ownership of their learning. We report on a study involving 104 students taking a statistics course in a degree programme in rehabilitation science in Hong Kong. The assessment strategy was redesigned to include a weekly…

This report outlines a 2-year investigation into how secondary science teachers used professional development (PD) to build scientific classroom discourse communities (SCDCs). Observation data, teacher, student, and school demographic information were used to build a hierarchical linear model. The length of time that teachers received PD was the…

The aim of this action research project was to improve student learning by encouraging more "time on task" and to improve self-assessment and feedback through the introduction of weekly online tests in a Year 2 lecture module in biological sciences. Initially voluntary online tests were offered to students and those who participated…

An instructional method is described that was used in a large, introductory organic chemistry course to ask online, post-class questions and to use the students' answers to design the lesson and learning activities for the following class. Additional goals of this method were to provide relevant, regular, and prompt feedback to students and the…

This study investigated the relationship between middle school students' scores for a written assignment (N = 162) and a process that involved students in generating criteria and self-assessing with a rubric. Gender, time spent writing, grade level, prior rubric use, and previous achievement in English were also examined. The treatment involved…

High-quality formative assessment data are critical to the successful application of any problem-solving model (e.g., response to intervention). Formative data available for a wide variety of outcomes (academic, behavior) and targets (individual, class, school) facilitate effective decisions about needed intervention supports and responsiveness to…

In this case note I report on the introduction of incentive-based preparation exercises into my law teaching. These exercises require students, at each seminar class, to hand in a written summary of their responses to focussed questions on course materials. These questions are directly related to the work required for the final assessment in the…

An interview with David Berliner explores his claims that research on teacher effectiveness will only be applied practically when "connoisseurs of teaching" act as teacher coaches, helping teachers to analyze the effects of their behaviors, specify new behaviors, and assess the results. (PGD)