Design
Build
Teach
Improve
Improve
When and How to Assess Your Course
You can assess learning over the course of the semester, or at a specific point in time in the class.
The following questionnaire from UMass Amherst can help you decide:
- Am I trying to gauge student learning of class content in general?
- Do I care about the knowledge students bring into the classroom with them at the start of the term compared to the learning they will take away with them at the end?
- Does the extent of progress or improvement over a period of days or weeks matter?
- Do I want to assess the level of students' reflective thinking about a particular reading assignment?
- Am I interested in specific areas of learning that I have identified as particularly relevant or important?
- Am I concerned about how well students understand a complicated lecture?
If you answered "Yes" on the first three questions, plan on an assessment method that measures student learning over time. If you answered "Yes" on the last three questions, assess student learning at a key point in time.
When to assess | What general questions can be answered at this time | What data addresses these questions |
---|---|---|
Before the course |
|
The Quality Matters rubric is a good guide for gathering data to answer "before" questions. Data sources may include:
|
Mid-course |
|
|
After the course |
|
|