Evaluating The Quality Of Learning

Educational Psychology Series: Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) focuses on the approaches, methodologies, and techniques employed in the valuation of the quality of learning. The publication first offers information on the quality and quantity of learning and origin and description of the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) taxonomy. Discussions focus on general intellectual development and the growth of quality; some assumptions and applications of stage theory; from developmental stage to levels of learning quality; and general intellectual development and the growth of quality. The text then examines the teaching of history, elementary mathematics, English, and geography. Topics include interpreting a map and drawing conclusions, explaining a natural phenomenon, appreciation of poetry, implications for the teaching of history, English, and mathematics, numbers and operations, and general application of SOLO to history. The manuscript takes a look at modern languages, place of the taxonomy in instructional design, and some methodological considerations. Concerns include alternative formats for obtaining SOLO responses, instructional processes, curriculum analysis, remediation, and teacher intentions. The publication is a vital source of data for educators interested in the SOLO taxonomy.

The recent trend in innovative school design has provided exciting places to both learn and teach. New generation learning environments have encouraged educators to unleash responsive pedagogies previously hindered by traditional classrooms, and has allowed students to engage in a variety of learning experiences well beyond the traditional 'chalk and talk' common in many schools. These spaces have made cross-disciplinary instruction, collaborative learning, individualised curriculum, ubiquitous technologies, and specialised equipment more accessible than ever before. The quality of occupation of such spaces has also been encouraging. Many learning spaces now resemble places of collegiality, intellectual intrigue and comfort, as opposed to the restrictive and monotonous classrooms many of us experienced in years past. These successes, however, have generated a very real problem. Do these new generation learning environments actually work - and if so, in what ways? Are they leading to the sorts of improved experiences and learning outcomes for students they promise? This book describes strategies for assessing what is actually working. Drawing on the best thinking from our best minds - doctoral students tackling the challenge of isolating space as a variable within the phenomenon of contemporary schooling - Evaluating Learning Environments draws together thirteen approaches to learning environment evaluation that capture the latest thinking in terms of emerging issues, methods and knowledge.

Create a more effective system for evaluating online faculty Evaluating Online Teaching is the first comprehensivebook to outline strategies for effectively measuring the quality ofonline teaching, providing the tools and guidance that facultymembers and administrators need. The authors address challengesthat colleges and universities face in creating effective onlineteacher evaluations, including organizational structure,institutional governance, faculty and administrator attitudes, andpossible budget constraints. Through the integration of casestudies and theory, the text provides practical solutions geared toaddress challenges and foster effective, efficient evaluations ofonline teaching. Readers gain access to rubrics, forms, andworksheets that they can customize to fit the needs of their uniqueinstitutions. Evaluation methods designed for face-to-face classrooms, fromstudent surveys to administrative observations, are often appliedto the online teaching environment, leaving reviewers andinstructors with an ill-fitted and incomplete analysis.Evaluating Online Teaching shows how strategies forevaluating online teaching differ from those used in traditionalclassrooms and vary as a function of the nature, purpose, and focusof the evaluation. This book guides faculty members andadministrators in crafting an evaluation process specificallysuited to online teaching and learning, for more accurate feedbackand better results. Readers will: Learn how to evaluate online teaching performance Examine best practices for student ratings of onlineteaching Discover methods and tools for gathering informal feedback Understand the online teaching evaluation life cycle The book concludes with an examination of strategies forfostering change across campus, as well as structures for creatinga climate of assessment that includes online teaching as acomponent. Evaluating Online Teaching helps institutionsrethink the evaluation process for online teaching, with the endgoal of improving teaching and learning, student success, andinstitutional results.

Drawing on material presented at a one day conference, this collection addresses the need to recognize academics' contributions to higher education, as well as the ways in which academics' efforts in the teaching and learning process can be acknowledged and suitably rewarded.

This book identifies good practices in the design and implementation of evaluation and teacher incentive systems from various perspectives through formulation, stakeholder negotiation, implementation, monitoring and follow-up.

Assessment has provided educational institutions with information about student learning outcomes and the quality of education for many decades. But has it informed practice and been fully incorporated into the learning cycle? Conrad and Openo argue that the potential inherent in many of the new learning environments being explored by educators and students has not been fully realized. In this investigation of a variety of assessment methods and learning approaches, the authors aim to discover the tools that engage learners and authentically evaluate education. They insist that moving to new learning environments, specifically those online and at a distance, afford opportunities for educators to adopt only the best practices of traditional face-to-face assessment while exploring evaluation tools made available by a digital learning environment in the hopes of arriving at methods that capture the widest set of learner skills and attributes.

Effective science teaching requires creativity, imagination, and innovation. In light of concerns about American science literacy, scientists and educators have struggled to teach this discipline more effectively. Science Teaching Reconsidered provides undergraduate science educators with a path to understanding students, accommodating their individual differences, and helping them grasp the methodsâ€"and the wonderâ€"of science. What impact does teaching style have? How do I plan a course curriculum? How do I make lectures, classes, and laboratories more effective? How can I tell what students are thinking? Why don't they understand? This handbook provides productive approaches to these and other questions. Written by scientists who are also educators, the handbook offers suggestions for having a greater impact in the classroom and provides resources for further research.