The Harvard Assessment Seminars

Report of research into Harvard undergraduate students' attitudes and satisfaction with their academic and social life.

What choices can students in America make and what can teachers and university leaders do to improve more students' experiences and help them make the most of their time and monetary investment? Two Harvard University presidents invited Richard Light and his colleagues to explore these and other questions, resulting in ten years of interviews with 1,600 Harvard students. Filled with practical advice, Making the Most of College presents strategies for academic success.

Classroom Assessment Techniques: Formative Feedback Tools for College and University Teachers A practical, research-based handbook for using assessment to improve learning. This completely revised and updated third edition of Classroom Assessment Techniques provides a research-based, engaging guide to assessing student learning where it matters most—at course and classroom levels. Informed by the latest international educational research and 30 years of classroom assessment practice, this practical handbook is designed for postsecondary teachers from all disciplines, faculty and academic developers, and assessment professionals. It offers field-tested guidance, tools, and advice for planning, designing, and implementing formative assessment in face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online classrooms, analyzing resulting data, and using that data to improve student learning. Classroom Assessment Techniques, 3rd Edition, is a practical, clearly written handbook for busy professionals. It contains a wealth of useful resources, including: 50-plus CATs (classroom assessment techniques) – flexible formative assessment tools easily adaptable for use in a wide range of disciplines and contexts. Case studies and examples illustrating how college and university faculty have applied these techniques to improve learning A new “Course Learning Outcomes Inventory” (CLOI)—a self-assessment tool for identifying and prioritizing the most relevant learning outcomes to assess The original “Teaching Goals Inventory” (TGI) which offers an alternate, teaching-focused approach to setting assessment priorities Multiple ways to quickly find the most appropriate tool. CATs are indexed by discipline examples, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Biggs and Tang’s SOLO Taxonomy, the CLOI, and the TGI Brief chapters explaining what formative assessment is, how it can improve student learning, how to gather and provide formative feedback, how to link classroom assessment with broader/other assessment efforts, and how to collaborate with students and colleagues Each CAT provides a brief, self-contained “recipe” including a description, steps for implementation, dos and don’ts, and relevant references

How campus communities of every kind can transform themselves from good to great Becoming Great Universities highlights ten core challenges that all colleges and universities face and offers practical steps that everyone on campus—from presidents to first-year undergraduates—can take to enhance student life and learning. This incisive book, written in a friendly and engaging style, draws on conversations with presidents, deans, and staff at hundreds of campuses across the country as well as scores of in-depth interviews with students and faculty. Providing suggestions that all members of a campus community can implement, Richard Light and Allison Jegla cover topics such as how to build a culture of innovation on campus, how to improve learning outcomes through experimentation, how to help students from under-resourced high schools succeed in college, and how to attract students from rural areas who may not be considering colleges far from their communities. They offer concrete ways to facilitate constructive interactions among students from different backgrounds, create opportunities for lifelong learning and engagement, and inspire students to think globally. And most of the ideas presented in this book can be implemented at little to no cost. Featuring a wealth of evidence-based examples, Becoming Great Universities offers actionable suggestions for everyone to have a positive impact on college life regardless of whether their campus is urban or rural, private or public, large or small, wealthy or not.

Proven strategies for reforming STEM education in America’s schools, colleges, and universities. One study after another shows American students ranking behind their international counterparts in the STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and math. Businesspeople and cultural critics such as Bill Gates warn that this alarming situation puts the United States at a serious disadvantage in the high-tech global marketplace of the twenty-first century, and President Obama places improvement in these areas at the center of his educational reform. What can be done to reverse this poor performance and to unleash America’s wasted talent? David E. Drew has good news—and the tools America needs to keep competitive. Drawing on both academic literature and his own rich experience, Drew identifies proven strategies for reforming America’s schools, colleges, and universities, and his comprehensive review of STEM education in the United States offers a positive blueprint for the future. These research-based strategies include creative and successful methods for building strong programs in science and mathematics education and show how the achievement gap between majority and minority students can be closed. A crucial measure, he argues, is recruiting, educating, supporting, and respecting America’s teachers. Accessible, engaging, and hard hitting, STEM the Tide is a clarion call to policymakers, administrators, educators, and everyone else concerned about students’ participation in the STEM fields and America’s competitive global position.