Assessing

Student
Learning
BY DEAN HALL
CUR 528
MS. SUSAN KATER
JUNE 1, 2015

Assessing Student Learning

According to our course textbook, Assessing
Student Learning, assessment is the ongoing
process of:
- Establishing clear, measurable expected outcomes of student
learning
- Ensuring that students have sufficient opportunities to achieve
those outcomes
- Systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to
determine how well student learning matches our expectations
- Using the resulting information to understand and improve student
learning (Suskie, 2009)

Assessing Student Learning

Three Examples of Assessments
Formative
Assessments

Assessments taken while

student is actively learning

Allows for immediate

improvement in the
learning process by
allowing adaption to the
direct needs of the
learners

Provides instant feedback

for instructors and learners
Beneficial for instructors
and learners to improve
delivery and retrieval in
future endeavors

Qualitative
Assessments

Uses a more malleable

style of learning, easier to
adapt to the needs of the
learners

Students are assessed

under standardized
benchmarks, but given
alternative methods to be
assessed

Allows emotion, and the

human element to be
included in assessment

Allows for more creativity

and learner ownership over
their learning methods,
and materials

Quantitative
Assessments

Standardized, regulated
assessments that can be
easily converted to
statistics for grading
purposes

Used most frequently due

to familiarity of practice

Loss of the human

element when assessing

Rigid, pre-existing, routine

questioning prevents
instructors from making
appropriate adjustments
beneficial to learning

Assessing Student LearningExample and

Explanation of how Each Assessment is Used
by Schools or Businesses.
Formative
Assessment

Qualitative
Assessment

Quantitative
Assessment

Example:

Example:

Example:

Taking rounds in medical

school with the
doctor/instructor

Addiction and Substance

Abuse
Counseling/Rehabilitation
Centers

Military Training

Explanation:
With these formative
assessments, pre-med
students are able to learn,
teach and develop
understanding of medical
practices as they actively
assist in caring for patients.

Explanation:
Because such assessments
must be individualized, but
also must be accepted
according to a standard,
qualitative assessments allow
program learners to assess
their individual progress, and
have common goals, with
others, to obtain.

Explanation:
Here, the standards must be
identical across the board,
and the standard must be
high. If one soldier does
something, its because every
soldier does it that way. For
these rigid, structured policies
and procedures, quantitative
assessments provide proven
statistics and data necessary
to equally assess all
participants.

Assessing Student Learning

References:
www.academia.edu/3946603/Quantitative_Assessment_in_Support_of_Military_Intelligenc
e_P redictive_Analysis_and_Risk_Assessment_in_Current_Security_Environment

Hashim, Z., Miller, A., & Fahim, N. (2012). The exam skills workshop as
formative assessment for medical students. International Journal of
Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health, 4(5), 578-588.
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1018147289?
accountid=458

Suskie, L. (2009). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide (2nd ed.). San
Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.