http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Education/Assessment A listing of the most recently indexed works about Articles and Education and Assessment in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Education/Assessment http://tc.eserver.org/35363.html http://tc.eserver.org/35363.html Discusses the potential of goal-based scenarios as an approach to designing online learning environments. Explores practical applications of goal-based scenarios for online training. Presents a procedural approach to designing a goal-based scenario. http://tc.eserver.org/33569.html http://tc.eserver.org/33569.html In this article we seek to reframe accountability by means of an emphasis not on auditing but on student performance, not on the development of databases but on the creation of reflective practice. We attempt to demonstrate one model of program assessment that focuses on student performance as the center of a reflective assessment framework that can act as a technology transfer model for the diffusion of program assessment knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/33507.html http://tc.eserver.org/33507.html This article describes a pilot effort for an accreditation-driven writing assessment in a business college, detailing the pilot's logistics and methods. Supported by rubric software and a philosophy of "real readers, real documents," the assessment was piloted in summer 2006 with five evaluators who were English instructors and four who worked or taught in business environments. The nine evaluators were each given 10 reports that were drawn from a sample of 50 reports completed in a writing-intensive course. They created 88 individual assessments using a 10-category rubric. While the overarching purpose of the pilot was to determine the effectiveness of the methods used, the results may also be of interest to those involved with the assessment of writing. http://tc.eserver.org/32169.html http://tc.eserver.org/32169.html The authors' goal was to model the role played by the relationship between a writing teacher and her students in the feedback and revision cycle they experienced in an English-as-a-foreign-language context. Participants included a nonnative teacher of English and 14 students enrolled in her English writing class in a Korean university. Data came from formal, informal, and text-based interviews; semester-long classroom observations; and students' drafts with teacher comments. Findings showed that caring was enacted in complex and reciprocal ways, influenced by interwoven factors from the greater society, the course, the teacher, and the student. Students' level of trust in the teacher's English ability, teaching practices, and written feedback, as much as the teacher's trust in particular students based on how they revised their drafts, played a great role in the development of a caring relationship between them. http://tc.eserver.org/31787.html http://tc.eserver.org/31787.html To teach students how to write for the workplace and other professional contexts, technical writing teachers often assign writing tasks that reflect real-life communication contexts, a teaching approach that is grounded in the field's contextualized understanding of genre. This article argues to fully embrace contextualized literacy and better teach workplace writing, technical writing teachers also need to contextualize how they assess student writing. To this end, this article examines some of workplaces' best assessment practices and critically integrates them into an introductory technical writing classroom through a method called student-centered assessment instruments. This method engages students, as workplaces engage employees, in the assessment process to identify local requirements for writing tasks. Aligned with theory and practice, this method is not only an effective classroom assessment method, but becomes an integrated part of students' genre-learning process within and beyond the classroom. http://tc.eserver.org/31669.html http://tc.eserver.org/31669.html The question, what do we gain by assessment, is one that has been asked more and more often by engineering educators. They ask the question even as the changes in accreditation brought on by ABET, Inc. and the Engineering Criteria have been cemented in programs both in the United States and abroad. http://tc.eserver.org/31375.html http://tc.eserver.org/31375.html This hypertext examines from an activity theory perspective the vexed problem of assessment and its relation to planning, accountability, curriculum, and learning. Assessment although only part of the educational process has implications for almost all of education. Local, state, and federal policies that have put great weight and high stakes on a battery of assessment tools that stand outside the daily life of the classroom but are intended to hold classrooms, teachers, and schools accountable for results. While situated evaluation is an aspect of most human practices, institution-wide testing creates substantial difficulties for the local practices of each class, and particularly creates tensions between student-centered classroom practice and subject-centered expectations. Such tensions have been a continuing puzzle for progressive education. Dewey and his followers regularly preferred to keep evaluation and decision-making local, but for various institutional reasons had to seek larger ways of assessing student achievement without ever being able to develop fully appropriate assessment tools. The teaching of writing has faced a similar dilemma, with standardized forms of writing assessment setting reductionist definitions and expectations of writing, and not directing students towards the highest levels of accomplishment. This study considers genre and activity analysis as the basis for defining and assessing writing tasks through analysis of materials collected from a complex sequence of social studies writing assignments on the Maya from a sixth grade class. http://tc.eserver.org/31349.html http://tc.eserver.org/31349.html The importance of oral presentations in professional environments related to Computer Science is unquestionable. Therefore, oral and writing skills are included in the set of competences to be developed by students through the application of recent academic initiatives for Computer Science degrees in an international context. This article describes activities performed at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid aimed at the development of presentation skills in students. This initiative is based on the application of learning activities in combination with the delivery of different presentations that the students themselves evaluate. Results show a significant competence improvement and very satisfactory acceptance results from the students. http://tc.eserver.org/30839.html http://tc.eserver.org/30839.html This article describes a holistic, discourse-based method for assessing the critical thinking skills of undergraduate senior-level finance majors. Rejecting a psychometric assessment approach in which component features of critical thinking are disaggregated, this study is based on a holistic scoring of student memos. Students were asked to recommend and justify a course of action to a lay client facing an ill-structured finance problem. Analysis of student memos reveals critical thinking weaknesses that may be ameliorated by changes in assignments or instructional methods. The memos reveal four kinds of critical thinking problems: (a) failure to address the client's problem, (b) random rather than purposeful application of finance tools and methodologies, (c) inability to translate finance concepts or methods into lay language, and (d) inability to construct rhetorically useful graphics. The curricular implications of this study are discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/30168.html http://tc.eserver.org/30168.html This study examines the effects of acquaintance on performance ratings. Models of cognitive processes in performance rating support the expectation that raters will judge ratees with whom they are acquainted differently from ratees with whom they are not acquainted. To test that expectation, 104 Air Force officers enrolled in Master's Degree communication methods courses watched four video-taped briefings and rated each briefer's performance. This population more accurately represents supervisors in the work force than previous studies. Results show that raters more accurately rated those with whom they were acquainted. http://tc.eserver.org/30097.html http://tc.eserver.org/30097.html There has been a remarkable improvement in access and rate of adoption of technology in higher education. Even so, reports indicate that faculty members are not integrating technology into instruction in ways that make a difference in student learning. To help faculty make informed decisions on student learning, there is need for current knowledge of faculty integration practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the relationship between faculty integration of technology into classroom instruction and students' perceptions of the effect of computer technology to improve their learning. A sample of at least 800 undergraduate students at a participating medium-sized midwest public university was selected using a stratified random sampling technique. The researcher delivered and administered the surveys to the participating students and collected them after completion. 98% of the questionnaires were complete and retained for analysis. http://tc.eserver.org/29730.html http://tc.eserver.org/29730.html Online courseware is being simultaneously hailed and criticized by experts and learners. We're succeeding in delivery and accessibility, but failing in interactivity and interest. What makes online courseware work? This article looks at how online course authors engage their audiences. What kinds of interactivity are successful in Web-based courses? This article reviews strategies for pulling learners into scenarios, encouraging experimentation, and using gaming techniques in e-learning. This article also glimpses into the world of m-learning on a handheld device. http://tc.eserver.org/29876.html http://tc.eserver.org/29876.html Because of the increase of fully online courses within the University setting, educators need to look more deeply at the teacher and student readiness and success in these environments. Assessment measures, such as self-assessments of technological comfort and online-specific course evaluations can assist with this examination. I will focus this discussion on observations and collection of interview data at Bowling Green State University using second semester fully online writing courses. http://tc.eserver.org/29468.html http://tc.eserver.org/29468.html Wiley shares the components of a quality system in higher education and offers examples of quality-management efforts undertaken by institutions of higher education. http://tc.eserver.org/29204.html http://tc.eserver.org/29204.html Because of accreditation, budget, and accountability pressures at the institutional and program levels, technical and professional communication faculty are more than ever involved in assessment-based activities. Using assessment to identify a program's strengths and weaknesses allows faculty to work toward continuous improvement based on their articulation of learning and behavioral goals and outcomes for their graduates. This article describes the processes of program assessment based on pedagogical goals, pointing out options and opportunities that will lead to a meaningful and manageable experience for technical communication faculty, and concludes with a view of how the larger academic body of technical communication programs can benefit from such work. As ATTW members take a careful look at the state of the profession from the academic perspective, we can use assessment to further direct our programs to meet professional expectations and, far more importantly, to help us meet the needs of the well-educated technical communicator. http://tc.eserver.org/29088.html http://tc.eserver.org/29088.html Assessment continues to be an important issue for technical communicators in both practitioner and academic contexts. In this article, we investigate methods of program assessment used by corporate learning sites and we profile value add methods as a new way to both construct and evaluate academic programs in technical communication. Our goal is to introduce value added assessment methods as one way to supplement and expand current methods of program assessment. The article initially reviews Return on Investment (ROI) indicators as a widely used model for assessing programs. However, we are critical of these indicators, suggesting that they are biased against technical communication in both practitioner and academic contexts. The article then examines and critiques assessment methods from corporate training environments. These include methods employed by corporate universities and value added process-based assessment methods. The second half of the article profiles value added methods by applying them in a brief assessment of a technical communications certificate program. We conclude that while the program uses ROI indicators as a marketing device, the value the program brings and adds to its university is the "portal" it creates for university and business community collaboration. This value cannot be fully demonstrated solely through the use of ROI indicators. The article then discusses the kinds of programmatic negotiations value added processes require within university contexts that may impose non-value added activities on departments and programs. The article concludes by critically examining the appropriateness of corporate assessment methods for academic contexts. http://tc.eserver.org/25634.html http://tc.eserver.org/25634.html In many colleges, evaluation remains an in-house affair. But... http://tc.eserver.org/24673.html http://tc.eserver.org/24673.html Entrepreneurship is THE economic mode of the digital age and entrepreneurship is defined by risk. Students who will become workers must be comfortable, even engaged by, risk-taking. http://tc.eserver.org/23884.html http://tc.eserver.org/23884.html Online courses now command a prominent position in composition scholarship where we dream of democratized education and liberating literacies. But... http://tc.eserver.org/23731.html http://tc.eserver.org/23731.html Decisions about distance education, whether from the perspectives of academic or corporate organizations, are often made on the basis of economical, pedagogical, and psychological perspectives. Decisions are also made by potential distance learning students. Distance learning delivery organizations often include student self-surveys in their initial online promotional materials. This metaanalysis of several student distance learning 'readiness' surveys identifies their major common elements, and it offers a checklist of topics to include in distance learning student 'readiness' surveys. Finally, recommendations are offered concerning the ethical and research dimensions of the decision-making required for effective distance education delivery. http://tc.eserver.org/23377.html http://tc.eserver.org/23377.html Behavioral science, with its emphasis on association, reliability, and validity provides a promising set of models upon which to enhance further work in scientific and technical communication. Our proposed model is based on the five independent variables that, when constructed validly and measured reliably, may be associated with effective programs in technical and scientific communication. http://tc.eserver.org/23380.html http://tc.eserver.org/23380.html We recently conducted survey research to discover students' responses to our web-based courses and online programs. We wanted to know their reactions to the course materials, teaching methods, interactions with faculty and other students, as well as their own competence in the particular subject area following such as course. While we are discovering that students are generally satisfied with all aspects of the courses, they express valid and noteworthy concerns. http://tc.eserver.org/23372.html http://tc.eserver.org/23372.html In my recent experience as an external assessor invited to participate in San Francisco State University's Technical Communication Program assessment, I felt that surely the process taught me more than I was able to provide in return. http://tc.eserver.org/23378.html http://tc.eserver.org/23378.html Conversations about assessment for technical communication programs often focus on evaluating features internally, through means such as course evaluations and portfolio reviews. http://tc.eserver.org/23007.html http://tc.eserver.org/23007.html The case for assessment of college writing programs no longer needs to be made. Although none of us would have chosen the words, we all have come to accept the truth of Roger Debreceny’s words: the 'free ride' for America’s colleges and universities is indeed over (1). All writing programs face difficulties in selecting the means for the most effective evaluations for their individual programs. Key concerns include how appropriately, practically, and cost effectively various assessment tools address this problem. http://tc.eserver.org/23006.html http://tc.eserver.org/23006.html Program directors could use data from protocols and interviews to identify 'natural sources of resistance', and 'translation and follow-up problems'. http://tc.eserver.org/22191.html http://tc.eserver.org/22191.html We probably need to think much more than we have in the past in terms of assessment, external evaluation, and accountability. We are hearing ever more frequently the concerns of administrators, regents, legislators, and departments of education for greater accountability by universities-concerns that will be passed down the administrative levels to program directors and teachers. This may be a blessing in disguise, an opportunity to tell the public who we are and why we are important. http://tc.eserver.org/21805.html http://tc.eserver.org/21805.html Enthusiastic comments about 3(g)--one of the most widely appreciated ABET 2000 criteria--have masked disagreements about what 'effectiveness' is and how it should be defined in relation to schools' missions. Most of the methods that have been recommended for assessing engineering communication imitate procedures used for large-scale testing in English composition. The main purpose of this paper is to show that these methods have nothing to do with effectiveness or audience, and that they provide meager feedback to guide curriculum improvement. This uncertainty provides an opportunity for cooperation between engineering and communication faculty in individual institutions as well as between ASEE and professional organizations in engineering communication. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of industry best practices seem well suited to provide engineering schools with assessment strategies that can be updated as communication practices in industry change. Research projects should focus on exemplars' adaptations to new technologies and audiences. Collaboration between organizations for technical communication and the ASEE and between faculty from engineering and faculty from technical communication on individual campuses can ensure that engineering programs are realistically preparing students to meet future challenges. http://tc.eserver.org/20085.html http://tc.eserver.org/20085.html Technical communicators and academics share an interest in higher education program assessment because the quality offiture employees is at stake. If universities fail to adequately educate, on-the-job training must pick up the slack. This paper describes Michigan Tech's efforts to learn what skills their recent graduates use, and where they learned these skills. http://tc.eserver.org/19462.html http://tc.eserver.org/19462.html Courses delivered over the World Wide Web, are an important element in today’s training programs. You can evaluate them by analyzing their content, handling of audience, interactivity, and cost. http://tc.eserver.org/18775.html http://tc.eserver.org/18775.html Recent technological developments have provided a powerful stimulus for the production of a range of electronic materials for education. A number of products and prototypes to assist teaching and learning have been produced and educational materials have been extensively published electronically, but it is still unclear to what extent all of this is of use to students and lecturers/tutors when it comes to real teaching and learning. Looking at the example of electronic books indicates not only the main reasons why electronic materials have not completely replaced the physical counterpart, but more importantly suggests how to improve the quality of the materials and tools currently available. http://tc.eserver.org/18642.html http://tc.eserver.org/18642.html The information that follows is the text of the web-based survey described in 'How Much is Enough? The Assessment of Student Work in Technical Communication Courses,' TCQ Winter 2003. http://tc.eserver.org/14076.html http://tc.eserver.org/14076.html Distance learning technologies make graduate programs available to technical communicators almost everywhere. Do these programs provide an education that is as rigorous and rewarding as those provided by traditional on-campus programs? http://tc.eserver.org/13916.html http://tc.eserver.org/13916.html Assessing the efficacy of technical communication service courses is a complex task, yet it is a task that service course providers should embrace as an opportunity to learn more about student and faculty needs and to update and improve curricula. This assessment has become more immediate for many educators because of ABET 2000 (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), a comprehensive revamping of the way engineering programs are accredited. ABET 2000 criteria require that engineering programs provide evidence of the efficacy of all instruction, including communication. When the new ABET criteria were released, we had already begun a comprehensive evaluation of not only our service courses but also the total writing experience of engineering students at the University of Washington. This paper gives a theoretical rationale for a portfolio evaluation project and describes a directly applicable structure and procedure for such a project. http://tc.eserver.org/13845.html http://tc.eserver.org/13845.html This article argues for a social perspective of the new technical communication service course, a conclusion supported by several premises: the technical communication profession wants and needs accountability, accountability is demonstrated by evaluation, assessment requires that we define literacy, evaluating technical communication literacy requires portfolio evaluation, portfolio assessment supports the social perspective of learning, and the social construction concepts imply teaching strategies. The argument proceeds from a case study that demonstrates reliability, stability, and validity in its technical communication service course assessment, tasks, and instructor community. This article demonstrates that portfolios can help us both conceptualize and evaluate the new technical communication service course. http://tc.eserver.org/13510.html http://tc.eserver.org/13510.html We asked TAs who were using a common assignment sequence to turn in student papers responding to a prompt which asked for the analysis of information in a piece by Clifford Geertz.  We invited departmental instructors to read four unmarked papers and to grade them using the citeria for evaluation that had been given to the students and used by their instructors. These criteria were customized for the assignment from a one-page list of course criteria, not unlike the “outcomes” document recently published by the WPA.  Our idea was simply to see the grading by TAs, lecturers and tenured faculty.   We put the grades on a chart, which showed that there was not perfect consistency of grading for any one paper.  Some were very close, but some papers received a wide array of grades.  The departmental review took place just after we had collected these data, and we shared with the reviewers this interpretive but uninterpreted document. http://tc.eserver.org/13203.html http://tc.eserver.org/13203.html This article offers suggestions about how Technical Communication might reconsider the task of building theory. Beginning with a discussion of the design of a new course called Technical Communication: Theory and Research for the M.S. in Technical Communication Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the author focuses on the intersections between the relatively recent movement known as user-centered design and the foundations of technical communication. Highlighting familiar tensions in the emergence of user-centered design, the essay encourages technical communicators to see theory building as an ongoing effort to refine the practices of technical communication in relation to the predominant mode of technological innovation. http://tc.eserver.org/13082.html http://tc.eserver.org/13082.html Designers today are involved in the development and design of new products and their interactions, software, virtual identities, web sites, strategic plans, wearable computers, digital libraries, games, and interactive exhibitions. The old monikers of graphic and industrial design aren't descriptive of the new fields of practice and research that are being explored today. These disciplines in fact have come to realize that they do not own the word `design.' The activity of design, as described by Simon (1969), is being practiced by a host of disciplines that include engineering, computer science, information systems, professional writing, and business. We encounter job titles such as software design, engineering design, human-computer interaction design, and systems design, to name a few. If design is so pervasive, who, then, is a designer and how is s/he educated?