Assessment Strategies for IL

Assessment Strategies for IL

Ralph CattsUniversity of New England

Australia

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Assessment Options

At institutional level one can Assess competencies Infer competencies Assess background knowledge Self Assess

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Competencies Assessment Validity from observed

performance Credible for students and

academics Costly Subject to unreliability with large

scale data collection

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Assessment by Inference

Involves inferring from other information such as subject grades:

Cheap and easy Possibly Reliable Unlikely to be valid Hence lacks credibility

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Assessing Background Knowledge Pencil and Paper assessment Implies competence but can

“knows about” = “does”? Useful for individual assessment Risk of Cheating by individuals

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Self Report Used for Institutional assessment of

learning outcomes by Ramsden et al Used for assessing academic staff

performance Can be valid and reliable Unsuitable for individual assessment Measures what people do.

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The 7 CAUL standards

1. Recognises need for information2. Access information effectively3. Evaluates information and sources4. Stores and manages information5. Uses information to create ideas6. Uses information legally & ethically7. Uses information as a lifelong

learner

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Self Reporting Behaviours, leads to identified standards Recognises need for information

Eg “When I start an assignment, I decide how much information I need.”

Stores and manages informationEg “When I research a topic I use tools

such as endnote to organise the information

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Australian Information Skills Survey (CAUL and ANZIIL) Content Validity confirmed against

CAUL Standards (edition 1) Construct validity established by

SEM Criterion validity to be reported Reliability determined for one

population

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Plans for 2004 Further development and validation

of Information Skills Survey (ISS) Investigation of effect of IL policy on

curricula (qualitative) and outcomes Relationship between IL of students

and ease of grading for teacher Transfer of IL skills to work places

(nursing and education)

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Post-script - An Invitation

Third International Conference on Lifelong Learning, June 16 -19

Yeppoon, Central Queensland. Attracts business people,

academics and librarians. All papers subjected to genuine

peer review