‘Assessment’
CFT offers new guide for writing science exams
Mar. 26, 2021—Are you a scientist who uses timed exams in your course? Would you like to know some research-based recommendations for making your exams more valid, effective, and equitable? If the answer to both those questions is yes, check out our new guide for writing science exams. Put together by a learning community of scientists striving...
Join us for a secure testing Q&A Session all about Proctorio!
Nov. 23, 2020—Do you have questions about using Proctorio, Vanderbilt’s secure testing software? If you plan to give a timed, secure exam using the Brightspace Quiz tool, using Proctorio in Brightspace provides a range of security options. Drop in for a Q&A session at noon on Monday, November 30th or on Tuesday, December 1st. The CFT’s Lead Instructional...
Creating Effective, Equitable Assessments for Online Courses: An On-demand Resource
Oct. 19, 2020—In the transition to online education many educators have been concerned about how to assess student learning in ways that are engaging, creative, fair, and equitable. Not only do students demonstrate widely differing resources and aptitudes for online learning that raise concerns about equity, but online technologies present instructors with many challenges in assessing students...
New CFT Guide on Assessing Student Learning Now Available
Dec. 18, 2019—Student assessment is, arguably, the centerpiece of the teaching and learning process and therefore the subject of much discussion in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Without some method of obtaining and analyzing evidence of student learning, we can never know whether our teaching is making a difference. That is, teaching requires some process through...
Teaching Innovations at Vanderbilt: Dana Kan and Low-Stakes Retrieval Midterms
Sep. 3, 2019—By Faith Rovenolt, CFT undergraduate intern I love interviewing professors for this blog series; every time I do it, I learn something new. Speaking with Dr. Dana Kan, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, I learned that classroom acoustics constitute an important aspect of the...
From the Stacks…
Apr. 8, 2016—Promoting Integrated and Transformative Assessment: A Deeper Focus on Student Learning by Catherine M. Wehlburg Assessment plays a key role in institutions of higher education. However, many colleges and universities simply add their assessment plans onto other teaching, learning, service, and research activities in order to prepare for an impending accreditation visit. In this important...
Reflecting On and Documenting Your Teaching Experiences
Jun. 18, 2015—Reflecting on Teaching: What? For Whom? Why? Often, the motivation to improve one’s teaching by revising practices or experimenting with new initiatives stems from reflection. This reflection often focuses on feedback received from others, such as student evaluations or peer reviews. Reflection further involves one’s own assessment of experiences, through self-observation and activities that foster...
CFT Offers New Guide: “Beyond the Essay: Making Student Thinking Visible in the Humanities”
Oct. 21, 2013—In August, the CFT announced a theme for much of our programming this year: Students as Producers. A new guide written by CFT Assistant Director Nancy Chick applies this theme to the disciplines in the humanities. “Beyond the Essay: Making Student Thinking Visible in the Humanities” explores assignments that fulfill three goals: making student knowledge...
Beyond the Essay, II
Oct. 14, 2013—Print Version Formative Activities: Snapshots of Learning in Process Concept Maps & Word Webs || Word Clouds As Bass noted in his Visible Knowledge Project work with faculty, what “most interested—or eluded—them about their students’ learning” involved the “’intermediate processes’” that occur before students write a paper or take an exam. They were particularly eager...
Beyond the Essay, III
Oct. 14, 2013—Print Version Summative Assignments: Authentic Alternatives to the Essay Metaphor Maps || Student Anthologies || Poster Presentations The essay is often the go-to assignment in humanities courses, and rightfully so. Especially in the text-based disciplines, the craft of the essay is highly valued as part of practicing the work of the field. More broadly, developing...