Workshop given by Gail Matthews-DeNatale to the 2009 NERCOMP conference on assessment in higher education.

1. Qualitative and Quantitative Student Assessment Gail Matthews-DeNatale Simmons College

3. The Cycle of Assessment … is a cycle of research Identify Issue(s) Define Research Question Design, Implement Strategy Interpret Data Act Upon Findings

7. Convergence Culture Transliteracy Research Focus & Question What, specifically, is being assessed? For example, “information literacy” as … University of California, Santa Barbara Transliteracies Project, http://transliteracies.english.ucsb.edu Howard Rheingold, 21st Century Literacies http://www.blip.tv/file/2373937

8. Thought Experiment: What would an “information literate” person DO with the following? Assessment Design Strategy: Begin with Outcomes

9. What type of assessment(s) will yield the desired evidence? How will you know what students DID with these examples? Assessment = Evidence

10. Open-ended Question Focus Group Think Aloud ePortfolio One-on-One Interview Observation or Shadowing Role Play or Simulation Thought Experiment Option: Qualitative Assessment In Conjunction with Novice-to-Expert Rubric

12. Quantitative Tells You “What” Qualitative Tells You “Why” Qualitative vs. Quantitative A False Dichotomy

13. For Example Quant Multiple Choice: You are doing background research for a science project. In addition to perusing library sources, you decide to go online and see what’s available. You come across two web sites. Which site do you think is more credible? Qual Open Ended: Why?

14. Results Only 24% selected the most credible site for the appropriate reasons

16. Use Results to Guide Teaching, Inform Program Development A Comparison of Student Perceptions of their Computer Skills to their Actual Abilities (NC Central University) Focus: Difference in perception and performance Results: Some areas of self perception vs. ability were accurate, others were significantly divergent. Action: As a result of this research, the curriculum for the introductory course was redesigned to focus on areas of divergence http://jite.org/documents/Vol8/JITEv8p141-160Grant428.pdf

17. Cycle of Assessment, Full Circle! Identify Issue Define Research Question Design, Implement Strategy Interpret Data Act Upon Findings

18. Gail Matthews-DeNatale Simmons College [email_address]