Assessing Assessment: Toward a Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Perspective

Assessment is generally not a favorite subject for many teachers, and this is likely due to a perceived tension between the goals they wish to accomplish as educators and the methods of assessments prescribed by accrediting agencies. With even President Obama calling for improvements in assessing education, this paper seeks to develop an innovative phenomenological-hermeneutic…

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When Rubrics Collide: One Writing Tutor’s Experience Negotiating Faculty and Institutional Assessments

This article recounts one undergraduate writing tutor’s experience helping a fellow peer navigate an institutional assessment rubric that seemed to contrast the assessment criteria provided by the student’s instructor. This article presents a reflection on that experience, framed by Hutchings, Huber, and Ciccone’s (2011) work on institutional assessment and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

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Institutional Assessment and the Intellectual Work of Teaching and Learning in First Year Composition

Institutional assessment initiatives can provide opportunities to make the intellectual work of teaching and learning in composition studies more visible. Reciprocally, the scholarship of teaching and learning’s situatedness within disciplinary norms and values can enhance institutional assessments, providing a check on the tendency to rely on singular, overly generalized mechanisms for capturing course- or program-level…

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How Age, Gender, and Class Format Relate to Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions of Effective Course Assessments

Students’ perceptions of assessment used within the learning environment greatly influence their approach to learning. Therefore, this study aims to explore whether various student or course characteristics (age, gender, course format) impact perceptions regarding effectiveness of assessment type (e.g., exam, participation, presentation) and question format. As faculty develop their courses they may wish to consider…

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Service Learning: A Multidimensional Approach to Meaningful Learning Outcomes in a Practice Profession

A service learning project was used to encourage social work student engagement with older adults, support a community need, and meet the course objectives, one being conducting a social work assessment. Paired with an older adult resident, students applied theoretical concepts to a practice experience to meet student learning outcomes and expand comfort levels. Fourteen…

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