Educational Assessment

Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs):  Minute Paper

Classroom assessment techniques (CATs) provide teachers and students with useful feedback on the teaching-learning process as it occurs. CATs are formative assessments that can help faculty assess not only how well students are learning the course content but also how effective their teaching is.

Minute Paper
The minute paper, also known as the one-minute paper, provides real-time feedback to instructors on whether their students understood the important concept(s) of a class.  The minute paper encourages students to reflect on what they have learned in class before they leave the classroom.  Students take a few minutes to answer the following two questions, or a variation of these two questions, provided by the instructor at the end of class:

1. What was the most important thing you learned during this class?
2. What important question remains unanswered?

The instructor reviews the papers and reflects on the themes, and is able to make pedagogical adjustments, if needed, to the subsequent class(es).

Minute papers are appropriate for all disciplines, for classes of various sizes, and for individual students or small groups of students.  There is  minimal preparation time or instruction time involved, and it takes students a few minutes to complete a minute paper.

For a richer description, see:

• ON COURSE:  One Minute Paper
• “Classroom Assessment Techniques Minute Paper” by Michael Zeilik of the University of New Mexico on the Field-tested Learning Assessment
  Guide (FLAG) website for science, math, engineering, and technology instructors
• “The One-Minute Paper” by David Bressoud of Macalester College
• “Assessing Students and Yourself Using the One Minute Paper and Observing Students Working Cooperatively” by Dr. Theodore Panitz and Patricia Panitz.

For a sample minute paper form, see:

• CELT TIP SHEET on “The Minute Paper” from Tufts University

For additional reading, see:

• Angelo, Thomas A. & Cross, Patricia (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques:   A Handbook for College Teachers, Second Edition, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Lucas, Gale M. (2010). “Initiating Student-Teacher Contact Via Personalized Respones to One-Minute Papers.” College Teaching, 58(2): 39-42. abstract
• Stead, David R (2005). “A review of the one minute paper,” Active Learning in Higher Education,” 6(2): 118-131. abstract

The College of Wooster’s faculty members Shelley Judge of the Geology Department and Claudia Thompson of the Psychology Department are among the first cohort of GLCA Teagle Pedagogy Fellows.  They will participate in a learning community with faculty colleagues from other Great Lakes Colleges Association colleges and universities, which will focus on liberal arts teaching and learning.  For more information, link to the GLCA website.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has created a College Completion Website where you can get answers to questions, such as:

• What is the 4-year and 6-year graduation rates of students at private, 4-year colleges?
• How do graduation rates of colleges compare in a particular state or in the United States?
• How do graduation rates differ among men and women, and by race and ethnicity?

2010 rates are provided for 4-year and 2-year public colleges and universities, 4-year private colleges, 4-year and 2-year for-profit colleges by race and ethnicity, by gender, by size of college, and by state.  Rates are also provided over time.  Data are provided for 4-year and 6-year graduation rates, completions per 100 students, spending per completion, student aid per recipient, and students with Pell grants.

In 2010, The College of Wooster 4-year and 6-year graduation rates were 69.9% and 77.0%, ranked 6th out of 54 private 4-year colleges in Ohio for 6-year graduation rates, and ranked 168th out of 1,110 private 4-year colleges in the United States.  The College of Wooster has 21.5 completions per 100 students, $139,472 spending per completion, $21,026 in student aid per recipient, and 18.6% of students with Pell grants.

In his GlobalHigherEd blogpost, “Searching for the Holy Grail of Learning Outcomes,” Kris Olds writes about alternative methods of assessment besides the CLA.  He includes an entry contributed by John Douglass, Gregg Thomson, and Chun-Mei Zhao of the Center for Studies in Higher Education at UC Berkeley, based on their article, “The Learning Outcomes Race: the Value of Self-Reported Gains in Large Research Universities,” Higher Education, February 2012.

John Rudisill’s article, “The Transition from Studying Philosophy to Doing Philosophy,” in Teaching Philosophy, has won the 2012 Lenssen Prize for the best article regarding teaching, learning, and assessment in Philosophy published in 2010 and 2011.  Dr. Rudisill is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The College of Wooster.

Please see: 
Rudisill, J. “The Transition from Studying Philosophy to Doing Philosophy.”Teaching Philosophy, v. 34 issue 3, 2011, p. 241.

The U.S. Department of Education is proposing a new tool, the College Scorecard, for prospective students and their families to compare colleges based on affordability and value.  A webpage provides a sample screenshot of the form with options on the same page to provide feedback on the form to the U.S. Department of Education. 

The tool will be added to the College Affordability and Transparency Center.  The Center’s interactive website generates reports on the highest (top 5%) and lowest (bottom 10%) academic year charges for colleges and universities within higher education sector, which includes combinations of less than 2-year colleges, 2-year colleges, and 4-years or more colleges, as well as public, private, for-profit, and not-for-profit colleges.  Reports are provided by tuition or net price, which is the cost of attendance minus grant and scholarship aid.  The distinction between tuition and net prices can be significant.  If you choose “private, not-for-profit, 4-year or above” as the education sector, and then compare the top 5% of schools based on tuition with those based on net prices, there is no overlap between the two lists. Data are reported by institutions and are for full-time beginning students.

The Other Side of Assessment

Thursday, November 17th at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time

University of Phoenix will present a complimentary webinar on learning assessment in higher education. In this hour-long webcast, thought leaders from within the higher education community will speak to the challenges of assessing student performance and progress, and will raise important questions: “Is it enough to measure cognitive abilities alone? What other factors play a role in student success in higher education programs?”

Discussion will cover some of the following topics:

• Cognitive abilities and other potential predictors of student success
• The affective side of the learner
• Changing student demographics and related affects on learning assessment
• Measuring grit and the ability to persevere through adversity

You may register via the Chronicle link here.

ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE CFP for 2011-12 MINI-GRANTS

The Assessment Committee is pleased to announce the availability of mini-grants to fund one-time projects that will improve assessment at the course, departmental, program, divisional, or college-wide level.  Individual faculty and staff in Academic Affairs or Student Life, academic departments or programs, and Academic Affairs or Student Life offices may apply for a mini-grant.  The Committee envisions funding the following types of requests:

• experimental assessment
• pilots of standardized tests
• attendance at a conference or training
• training materials
• disciplinary resources on assessment
• guest speakers
• external consultants
• technology
• presenting/publishing assessment findings

The maximum allowable grant request is $1,200. Applicants should submit a short narrative (no more than one page) explaining the request and how it will enhance assessment on campus. Because these grants are not renewable, applications should note how any continuing funding needs might be met. Applications submitted by individual faculty or staff members must include an acknowledgement (a signature or email) from the chair or supervisor.  Applicants should also submit a detailed budget and information about any other actual or potential funding sources for the project.

Faculty and staff are encouraged to contact Michelle Johnson, Chair of the Assessment Committee, to discuss ideas for possible mini-grant funding or collaborative funding of assessment projects.

A brief report describing how the funds were used and the results/findings of the project will be required of each grant recipient.  The Assessment Committee may also ask the recipient(s) to share findings and results in a venue on campus, such as a brown bag lunch.

The Assessment Committee will begin reviewing grant applications immediately and will continue until all the money is awarded.  Applications should be submitted to Michelle Johnson.  Electronic submission is preferred (mjohnson@wooster.edu)

With the generous support of a College of Wooster Assessment Committee mini grant, the Office of Educational Assessment has purchased the following publications:

• Assessing Global Learning:  Matching Good Intentions with Good Practice by Caryn McTighe Musil (AAC&U) (2006)
• Assessment Methods for Student Affairs by John H. Schuh and Associates (2009)
• Assessment of Chemistry edited by John Ryan, Ted Clark, and Alexis Collier (2010)
• Assessment of Student Learning in College Mathematics:  Towards Improved Programs and Courses edited by Bernard L. Madison (2006)
• Electronic Portfolios and Student Success:  Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Learning by Helen C. Chen and Tracy Penny Light (AAC&U) (2010)
• The Learning Portfolio:  Reflective Practice for Improving Student Learning (2nd edition) by John Zubizarreta (2009)
• Reading, Writing, & Research:  Undergraduate Students as Scholars in Literary Studies edited by Laura L. Behling (2009)
• Supporting Assessment in Undergraduate Mathematics edited by Lynn Arthur Steen (2006)

Please contact Theresa Ford (x 2517 or tford@wooster.edu) if you wish to borrow any of these materials.