The Assessment Evaluation Rubric: Promoting Learning and Learner-Centered Teaching through Assessment in Face-to-Face or Distanced Higher Education
It is common to create courses for the higher education context that accomplish content-driven teaching goals and then develop assessments (quizzes and exams) based on the target content. However, content-driven assessment can tend to support teaching- or teacher-centered instruction. Adult learning...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/8/441 |
| _version_ | 1797524092031598592 |
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| author | Rochelle E. Tractenberg |
| author_facet | Rochelle E. Tractenberg |
| author_sort | Rochelle E. Tractenberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It is common to create courses for the higher education context that accomplish content-driven teaching goals and then develop assessments (quizzes and exams) based on the target content. However, content-driven assessment can tend to support teaching- or teacher-centered instruction. Adult learning and educational psychology theories suggest that instead, assessment should be aligned with <i>learning</i>, not teaching, objectives. To support the alignment of assessments with instruction in higher education, the Assessment Evaluation Rubric (AER) was developed. The AER can be utilized to guide the development and evaluation/revision of assessments that are already used. The AER describes, or permits the evaluation of, four features of an assessment: its general alignment with learning goal(s), whether the assessment is intended to/effective as formative or summative, whether some systematic approach to cognitive complexity is reflected, and whether the assessment (instructions as well as results) itself is clearly interpretable. Each dimension (alignment, utility, complexity, and clarity) has four questions that can be rated as present/absent. Other rating methods can also be conceptualized for the AER’s 16 questions, depending on the user’s intent. Any instructor can use the AER to evaluate their own assessments and ensure that they—or new assessments in development—will promote <i>learning</i> and learner-centered teaching. As instructors shift from face-to-face toward virtual or hybrid teaching models, or as they shift online instruction (back) to face-to-face teaching, it creates an ideal opportunity to ensure that assessment is optimizing learning and is valid for instructional decision-making. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:52:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-33f2a5bb3cdf47c3a348997acf4012ef |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:52:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-33f2a5bb3cdf47c3a348997acf4012ef2023-11-22T07:23:39ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022021-08-0111844110.3390/educsci11080441The Assessment Evaluation Rubric: Promoting Learning and Learner-Centered Teaching through Assessment in Face-to-Face or Distanced Higher EducationRochelle E. Tractenberg0Collaborative for Research on Outcomes and Metrics: Departments of Neurology, Biostatistics, Biomathematics, and Bioinformatics, and Rehabilitation Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USAIt is common to create courses for the higher education context that accomplish content-driven teaching goals and then develop assessments (quizzes and exams) based on the target content. However, content-driven assessment can tend to support teaching- or teacher-centered instruction. Adult learning and educational psychology theories suggest that instead, assessment should be aligned with <i>learning</i>, not teaching, objectives. To support the alignment of assessments with instruction in higher education, the Assessment Evaluation Rubric (AER) was developed. The AER can be utilized to guide the development and evaluation/revision of assessments that are already used. The AER describes, or permits the evaluation of, four features of an assessment: its general alignment with learning goal(s), whether the assessment is intended to/effective as formative or summative, whether some systematic approach to cognitive complexity is reflected, and whether the assessment (instructions as well as results) itself is clearly interpretable. Each dimension (alignment, utility, complexity, and clarity) has four questions that can be rated as present/absent. Other rating methods can also be conceptualized for the AER’s 16 questions, depending on the user’s intent. Any instructor can use the AER to evaluate their own assessments and ensure that they—or new assessments in development—will promote <i>learning</i> and learner-centered teaching. As instructors shift from face-to-face toward virtual or hybrid teaching models, or as they shift online instruction (back) to face-to-face teaching, it creates an ideal opportunity to ensure that assessment is optimizing learning and is valid for instructional decision-making.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/8/441higher educationassessmentinstructional developmentvalidity |
| spellingShingle | Rochelle E. Tractenberg The Assessment Evaluation Rubric: Promoting Learning and Learner-Centered Teaching through Assessment in Face-to-Face or Distanced Higher Education Education Sciences higher education assessment instructional development validity |
| title | The Assessment Evaluation Rubric: Promoting Learning and Learner-Centered Teaching through Assessment in Face-to-Face or Distanced Higher Education |
| title_full | The Assessment Evaluation Rubric: Promoting Learning and Learner-Centered Teaching through Assessment in Face-to-Face or Distanced Higher Education |
| title_fullStr | The Assessment Evaluation Rubric: Promoting Learning and Learner-Centered Teaching through Assessment in Face-to-Face or Distanced Higher Education |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Assessment Evaluation Rubric: Promoting Learning and Learner-Centered Teaching through Assessment in Face-to-Face or Distanced Higher Education |
| title_short | The Assessment Evaluation Rubric: Promoting Learning and Learner-Centered Teaching through Assessment in Face-to-Face or Distanced Higher Education |
| title_sort | assessment evaluation rubric promoting learning and learner centered teaching through assessment in face to face or distanced higher education |
| topic | higher education assessment instructional development validity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/8/441 |
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