Educators continually strive for better ways to engage students in course content and reflect on learning. Process maps originate from the business field while concept maps are used across disciplines. We adapted the process map to demonstrate its use as an effective assessment tool. This article describes the process of implementing Group Process…

The Department of Mathematics at Bates College has offered a senior seminar capstone course for over a dozen years. In this article, we discuss the coexistence of seminar and thesis, our other capstone experience. We discuss in detail the goals of our seminar, various ways we structure the seminar to accomplish those goals, and methods of…

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…

During the past 30 years, there have been calls for universities and business schools to internationalize curriculum, students and faculty. As most U.S. business schools have added international components to their respective programs, the assessment of these programs was subsequently recommended from accreditation and competitive perspectives. To…

The basic steps of content analysis are: (1) selecting the questions to be asked about course objectives, (2) developing the categories under each question, (3) designing a tabulation card for each objective, (4) coding the objectives, and (5) tabulation of responses. (MW)

A plan to evaluate a college-orientation course required of new freshmen at Mt. San Antonio College was developed. It was designed to help students adjust to college, evaluate their interests and abilities, determine realistic vocational goals, and develop effective educational plans. Opportunities for close personal relationships between students…

In order to move away from reliance on a single questionnaire in university course evaluation and move towards a more formative evaluation, a method was developed for helping a team of instructors specify and evaluate their course and program goals. The method involves small group workshops in which instructors are asked to describe their program…

It is the thesis of this paper that much of the present concern over course evaluation has come about because evaluation has become synonymous with the use of a single questionnaire instead of the broader process of evaluating the course as an educational program. An attempt is made to redefine course evaluation in light of recent work on…

The Continuing Education faculty at the University of Colorado School of Nursing considers the evaluation of the long range effects of their continuing education courses a major concern as well as a problem area. (Author)

Discusses bibliographic instruction evaluation and the need for objectives and proposes a framework for developing well-defined objectives by reviewing evaluative materials based on those objectives. Describes experiences at Southern Illinois University Carbondale that analyzed question weight, question content, and question type. (Author/LRW)

The explicit statement of course objectives and a retrospective analysis of student test results are used in the evaluation of a mathematics course for engineering students. (BW)

A description is provided of Tennessee's Volunteer State Community College's (VSCC's) approach to defining the goals, expected outcomes, and assessment procedures of individual courses, utilizing teacher-developed course instruction manuals and standardized course syllabi. Introductory material explains why and how the approach was developed,…

Analyzes the relationship between learning objectives and assessment items for Technical Education Council physics courses. Suggests improvements. (SK)

A performance measure analysis process developed by the Competency Based Education Committee of the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy to assess the status of the measurement of student performance is described. A taxonomy of levels of learning is appended. (Author/MLW)