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