Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a public university's design and implementation of an assessment approach that measures the change in undergraduate students' environmental stewardship reasoning and knowledge abilities over time. Design/methodology/approach: In support of a university's strategic emphasis on environmental…

Recent reform efforts in undergraduate biology have recommended transforming course exams to test at more cognitively challenging levels, which may mean including more cognitively challenging and more constructed-response questions on assessments. However, changing the characteristics of exams could result in bias against historically underserved…

In this article, the use of formative and summative online quizzes within a distance learning introductory mathematics module at the UK Open University is described. The rational for introducing such quizzes is outlined, together with how the quizzes are embedded within the module. The use of the quizzes by students is analysed, in terms of the…

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate a recent medical school curriculum change at our institution 3 years ago; specifically: shortening the Psychiatry core clerkship from 4 to 3 weeks and adding an optional 6-week core/elective combination rotation in lieu of the 3-week core. The authors aimed to determine whether clerkship length was…

A study was conducted at the Technical University Berlin involving students who twice failed the written examination in the first semester course Linear Algebra for Engineers in order to better understand the reasons behind their failure. The study considered student understanding in terms of Bloom's taxonomy and the ways in which students…

Students in an introductory biology course who were given open-book exams during the semester earned significantly higher grades on these exams, but significantly lower grades on the closed-book final exam, than students who took in-class, closed-book exams throughout the semester. Exam format was also associated with changes in academic behavior;…

This reference resource provides a comprehensive listing of tests, keyed to behavioral and educational objectives of elementary school education. Each test, or when appropriate, a subtest of a test, was evaluated by educators and measurement specialists. Four main criteria were selected for evaluating the tests: measurement validity, examinee…

This article addresses performance testing based on criterion-referenced measurement. A brief description of performance objectives is presented, followed by a discussion of the different types of performance tests: pencil and paper, identification, simulation, and work sample. Checklists and other types of rating scales are identified. (CT)

A significant role of the testing specialist can be to assist teachers in becoming better testmakers and users. The first step in improving teachers' assessment instruments and techniques is to try to get them to become articulate about their objectives and to state them in concrete behavioral terms. Then the teacher needs to examine his own test…

To help teachers who must produce test items to measure instructional objectives, 54 teacher education candidates participated in an experiment where easily understood constraints on item production were manipulated. Four forms of a test item writing exercise sheet were randomly distributed, each asking for the production of eight sample test…

The nature and purpose of criterion-referenced testing is discussed in light of test design procedures. It is seen that the uses to which test results are put are the chief determiners of the appropriate measurement model. A distinction is made between cut-off scores, criterion scores, and mastery scores. The value of certain test construction…

This publication is part of a series of self-instructional teacher training manuals designed to assist vocational-technical educators or industrial trainers to develop and implement competency-based vocational education (CBVE) programs. The purpose stated for this manual is for the instructor to learn to construct performance and written…