ASSESSMENT RESIDENCY

Measuring Student Learning Institute

Biology Scholars begin their Assessment Residency by attending a four-day Measuring Student Learning Institute. The Measuring Student Learning Institute will help biologists address three challenges when designing strategies for monitoring student learning:

(1) aligning exams to reflect course goals

(2) optimizing assignments (e.g. reading, writing, and laboratory) to reflect learning objectives, and

(3) integrating novel techniques to monitor student learning in courses.

THE MEASURING STUDENT LEARNING INSTITUTE IS …

The purposes of the Assessment Residency are to develop biologists’:  

• capabilities to design course goals and assessments that are grounded in research on how people learn,
• skills to create, design, plan, and implement evaluations that provide both formative and summative feedback,
• network of colleagues for ongoing consultation and support to sustain improvements in teaching and learning.

THE INSTITUTE IS NOT …

The Assessment Residency is not a workshop to learn:

• about programmatic assessment of majors or curricula for accreditation or program review,
• about quantitative and qualitative data analysis,
• how to design classroom or biology education research projects.

Institute Objectives

Upon completion of the Institute, participants will be able to:  

• develop course goals that are measureable and effective,
• identify or develop methods and instruments that measure student learning and demonstrate learning gaps or gains,
• develop strategies to examine learning in ways that lead to helping students improve. 

Institute Steering Committee

Carol Hurney, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

Janet Branchaw, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Jenny Knight, University of Colorado, Boulder