Colleges implement success courses to improve student outcomes. Since expanding its curriculum to include nine success courses, Illinois Eastern Community Colleges (IECC)--a multi-college community college district in rural, southeastern Illinois--has not determined the efficacy of these courses on student success. The purpose of this study was to…

The wash-rinse-repeat model of refreshing courses each term might be a financially beneficial model for the institution, yet is it serving students the best educational experience? If all that is monitored in the pre-flight check is for broken hyperlinks and refreshed dates, who is ensuring the quality delivery? Many institutions proudly boast…

Aim/Purpose: During the education of future engineers and experts in the field of computer science and information communication technology, the achievement of learning outcomes related to different levels of cognitive ability and knowledge dimensions can be a challenge. Background: Teachers need to design an appropriate set of activities for…

The chemistry department at Washington & Jefferson College implemented an "organic first" curriculum in the fall semester of 2005. Assessment data suggest that the net impact of this change for the department and associated constituencies has been positive: (i) Student outcomes have generally not been impacted by the curricular…

Team-based learning (TBL), although found to increase student engagement and higher-level thinking, has not been examined in the field of speech-language pathology. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of integrating TBL into a capstone course in evidence-based practice (EBP). The researcher evaluated 27 students' understanding of…

While student global ratings of college courses historically predict learning achievement, the majority of recent U.S. college graduates lack proficiency in desired skills. Teaching and Learning Quality (TALQ), a new course evaluation instrument, was developed from extant instructional theory that promotes student learning. A survey of 193…

Recent research has touted the benefits of learner-centered instruction, problem-based learning, and a focus on complex learning. Instructors often struggle to put these goals into practice as well as to measure the effectiveness of these new teaching strategies in terms of mastery of course objectives. Enter the course evaluation, often a…

Importance of stimulating interest in a course rather than reliance on grades or course difficulty. (Editor)

Context: A major goal of any evaluation is to demonstrate content validity, which considers both curricular content as well as the ability expected of learners. Whether evaluation blueprints should be published and the degree of blueprint transparency is controversial. Objectives: To examine the effect of blueprint publication on students'…

The results of an analysis of the achievement of objectives for the integrated science course for Scottish pupils in the first two years of secondary education are summarized separately for three groups of students classified by ability level. (CTM)

The current philosophical position of the project is reviewed and a variety of issues relevant to educational evaluation and achievement monitoring are enumerated. Various past attempts to model the variables of school learning are reviewed and those adopted for the Comprehensive Achievement Monitoring model are discussed. The student variables…

Two different methods for collecting course-specific data on class learning and growth are discussed. The first, Item/Student Sampling, is directly dependent upon assessing class performance both prior to and following instruction. This procedure relies on multiple matrix sampling techniques. The second method, referred to as Self-Report of Course…

Nine college classes on Communist political systems were evaluated, according to students' memory and comprehension of information; ability to apply, analyze and synthesize the information; and beliefs and values toward selected Communist States and issues involving Socialism and Communism. (Author/GDC)

In response to a low passing rate in a general psychology course taught at Howard Community College (MD), as well as to student and instructor dissatisfaction with the course, a systems model was developed and applied to improve course quality. The development of the model involved nine steps: (1) enumerating precise skill objectives which could…