Last week, I posted about some of the multimedia assessment guidelines we’re developing in the Graduate Multimedia Fellows Seminar. This week, I’d like to try to apply those guidelines to a professional video clearly intended to communicate an academic-style argument. Mike Rugnetta of PBS’s Idea Channel posts new videos once a week investigating “connections between pop … Continue reading »
Tag Archives: assessment
Test Takers into Critical Examiners: Active Learning & Exam Review
“What’s going to be on the exam?” If your students haven’t been asking you this question in these final weeks of the semester, they’ve been thinking it. Repeatedly. Even the most enthusiastic advocates for alternative assessment methods often teach courses where some form of a traditional final examination is required. Being a dedicated educator (you … Continue reading »
Last Minute Learning: Assessing the All-Nighter
We’ve all been there: you walk into class with an utterly splendid lesson plan. What discussion activities you have planned! What exciting, insightful, yet accessible questions you have prepped! What engrossing and provocative issues you have to discuss! You can hardly wait to begin. Let’s go! And then it all just fizzles out. Your activities … Continue reading »
The Science of Student Ratings
In early June, the Bok Center hosted a talk by Dr. Samuel T. Moulton, Director of Educational Research and Assessment at Harvard University and part of the team implementing the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching. Dr. Moulton reviewed the research (more than 4000 articles!) that underlies the design and implementation of student ratings systems. … Continue reading »
Around the Web: Time on Task
In the Washington Post last week, Daniel de Vise discussed new findings that the amount of time college students spend studying, reading or otherwise preparing for class is about 60% of what it used to be. Possible culprits include softer academic standards, increases in study efficiency thanks to technology, and more demands on students’ time … Continue reading »
Around the Web: What Counts
Conservatives are pushing back against the Common Core, arguing Continue reading »
Quote of the Day
“What is ‘understanding’ as a goal, and what does it demand of assessment and instruction? How can we achieve understanding (and other key educational goals) by design rather than by good fortune?” – Grant Wiggins, Understanding Understanding*, 3/26/2012 * HUID login required to view lecture video Continue reading »
Around the Web: Grading Like Machines
Here we are: the point in the semester where many a dedicated instructor quails before the giant stack of papers on his or her desk. If your students are handing in their papers only a day or two before they leave campus, writing carefully considered comments can feel like putting a message in a bottle. … Continue reading »
Book Review: The Practice of University History Teaching
Alan Booth, Paul Hyland (eds.), The Practice of University History Teaching. Manchester University Press: Manchester 2000. Reviewed by Martin Kroher, Departmental Teaching Fellow in East Asian Languages and Civilizations At first glance the usefulness of the edited volume The Practice of University History Teaching might appear to be limited to teachers in degree programs in history … Continue reading »
Grant Wiggins Lecture: Understanding Understanding
In February, Departmental TF for Physics Jason Dowd wrote a review of the book Understand By Design. On March 26th, coauthor Grant Wiggins will be speaking to the Harvard teaching community about understanding ‘understanding’. Continue reading »
