Assessment in First Courses of Statistics: Today and
Tomorrow
Ann OomsUniversity of Minnesota
GAISE Recommendation 6
Use assessments to improve and evaluate student learning
GAISE Recommendation 6
Assessments: aligned with learning goals
Focus Assessments: on understanding key ideas not just on skills, procedures, and
computed answers.
GAISE Recommendation 6
Formative assessments to provide feedback to students e.g., quizzes, midterm exams, small
projects Summative evaluations to
determine what they learned course grades
GAISE Recommendation 6 Useful and timely feedback is
essential for assessments to lead to learning
Types of assessment may be more or less practical in different types of courses
However, it is possible, even in large classes, to implement good assessments
Assessment Today
Two surveys conducted online Goal surveys: evaluate ARTIST project
Assessment Resource Tools for Improving Statistical Thinking
NSF funded project PI: Joan Garfield, Bob delMas, Beth
Chance RA: Ann Ooms
Assessment Today
Introductory Statistics Educators: n=194 December 2004: ARTIST users: n = 99
Statistics Educators who use ARTIST item database
June 2005: non ARTIST users: n = 95 Used stat ed list serves
Combined data of 2 surveys
Demographics
Years teaching experience: Mean: 14.99 (SD: 10.85) Range: 1 to 48 years
Number of intro stats courses per year: Mean: 2.88 (SD: 2.06) Range: 0 to 17 courses
Demographics: Institution
University 56.3%
4-year College 31.1%
2-year College 5.3%
Technical College .5%
Other 6.8%
Demographics: Department
Mathematics 54.0%
Statistics 17.6%
Business 7.0%
Educational Psychology 7.0%
Psychology 2.1%
Other 12.3%
Types of Assessment GAISE Recommendation:
This should be done with formative assessments used during a course (e.g., quizzes and midterm exams and small projects) as well as with summative evaluations (course grades).
Survey Question: Which of the following types of
assessment do you use in your course?
Types and Use of Assessment
Type Yes Info Grade
Exams 97.9% 2.1% 97.9%
Homework 87.5% 17.9% 82.1%
Projects 73.0% 8.6% 91.4%
Quizzes 71.9% 10.1% 89.9%
Participation 58.3% 42.9% 57.1%
Presentation 16.6% 50.0% 50.0%
Assessment: Focus
GAISE Recommendation: Assessments need to focus on
understanding key ideas and not just on skills, procedures, and computed answers.
Survey question: What percent of items on your in-class
tests are primarily computational?
Percent of in-class tests items that are primarily computational
Use of Computational Items
34.2% 35.3%
21.4%
9.1%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
0-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%
Assessment: Feedback
GAISE recommendation: Useful and timely feedback is essential
for assessments to lead to learning. Survey question:
For which of the following purposes have you used assessment results?
Which of the following actions have you taken based on assessment information?
Assessment: Purposes
Identify misconceptions 86.1%
Provide diagnostic feedback 73.7%
Identify struggling students 51.0%
Assessment: Actions
Modified classroom activity 85.6%
Provided additional resources 71.6%
Developed a new classroom activity
68.0%
Modified assessment tools 53.1%
Modified assessment plan 26.3%
Level of satisfaction with assessment methods
Satisfaction Assessment Methods
0.53%
12.77%
76.06%
10.64%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%
verydissatisfied
somewhatdissatisfied
somewhatsatisfied
verysatisfied
Confidence with writing good assessment items
Confidence Writing Items
3.70%
29.30%
53.20%
13.80%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
notconfident
somewhatconfident
confident veryconfident
Assessment Resources ARTIST: http://www.gen.umn.edu/artist/
Database of over 1100 items focusing on assessment of
Statistical literacy Statistical reasoning Statistical thinking
11 Topic scales: online tests for formative evaluation CAOS scale: online tests for summative evaluation Projects Resources, examples, articles.
Contact Information
For more information, please contact Ann Ooms: [email protected]