Methods of Assessment

 

In this tutorial you learned that assessment plans mainly are comprised of:

• Three to five broad goals, and
• Two to three clear, specific outcomes for each goal

You have also begun developing some goals and outcomes using your Assessment Plan Worksheet. Now we can turn our focus to assessment methods.  Assessment methods can generally be organized into two categories: Direct Methods and Indirect Methods.

 

Direct Methods - Any learning process which requires students to produce work that demonstrates their ability in an intended outcome (Palomba & Banta, 1999; Allen, 2004).

Some examples of Direct Methods include, but are not limited to:

• Course embedded assessment (such as reviewing homework, essays, or course tests with specific criteria).
• Reviewing portfolios or other collections of student work
• Reviewing the percentage of students who correctly answered a published or locally developed test question.
• Group projects/presentations from first year, capstone, or field/internship experiences
• Competence interviews or oral examinations
• Internal/external juried review of performance or student work
• Case study assignments (Allen, 2004, p. 99‐100)

Specific strengths and weaknesses of Direct Methods

 

Indirect Methods - Any learning process which allows students to reflect upon and/or discuss their learning experiences or abilities in an intended outcome. (Palomba & Banta, 1999; Allen, 2004).  Indirect methods are useful in interpreting the findings from direct methods. Indirect methods, however, are not as useful or definitive in identifying and documenting the achievement of specific outcomes of students.

Some examples of Indirect Methods include, but are not limited to: 

• Departmental surveys
• Exit surveys
• Alumni surveys produced for each department by the UAO
• Employer surveys
• Focus groups or interviews
• Graduate or retention rates
• Reflective essays
• Job placement statistics or percentages of students continuing in education
• National, externally developed surveys of students (Allen, 2004, p. 1127‐1129)

Specific strengths and weaknesses of Indirect Methods

 

 

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